Posted on | May 18, 2012 |
- Sand volleyball at Long Beach State
UC Riverside has announced it is seeking public comment on a proposal to discontinue the school?s men?s tennis program and add a sand volleyball program.
Athletic director Brian Wickstrom said he is proposing that change because swapping one for the other would save money, create additional women?s participation opportunities and enable the program to use the savings to fund additional coaching positions in other sports.
The men?s tennis team this year was 6-18 overall and 0-5 in the Big West, and coach York Strother resigned at season?s end. The program has not had a winning program in the Division I era, with an overall record of 55-162 over that span.
?I?ve talked to the student body, and I?ve talked to the (director of the Student Recreation Center),? Wickstrom said recently. ?Those tennis courts at the Rec Center get no use unless our men?s tennis team is playing there. There?s no demand for tennis. There?s a club sports demand for sand volleyball.
?And we can fund sand volleyball. We didn?t fund men?s tennis at a high enough level ? If we?re not going to be competitive and have success, we should spend money on a sport that? s going to be popular. The city of Riverside has interest in sand volleyball, our students have club sand volleyball, so we might as well spend our money on a sport that is attractive to our community and our student body, as opposed to having a lowly funded men?s tennis program that doesn?t have success.?
Wickstrom?s proposal, outlined in a post on the UCR athletic website, noted that the university spent $174,419 on men?s tennis. A proposed start-up budget for sand volleyball included $74,555 for construction of three courts ? the proposed site is adjacent to the softball stadium on Canyon Crest Blvd. ? and $22,277 for operational expenses, not counting scholarships (initially, indoor players would make up the sand volleyball team).
The annual savings, after the courts are constructed, was estimated at $152,142, and Wickstrom indicated those savings would fund the addition of a full-time assistant for women?s golf and the elevation of a softball assistant from part-time to full-time.
The comment period for the public to weigh in on this matter will run through May 28, through submissions at AthleticsRFPC@ucr.edu. A final decision is expected by the end of the first week of June.
?
jeff dunham young guns concord safe and sound botticelli x factor winner footlocker
No comments:
Post a Comment