(This is the first article in a four-part daily series examining the proposed restructuring of the Virginia athletics department.)
Success in the hyper-competitive world of Division I sports requires tremendous commitment, both from the athletes themselves and also from the institutions they represent. The weight of increasing financial strains and fears of negligence in student-athletes' academic studies have become an important issue at the University.
Last week's official report of the Virginia 2020 Strategic Planning Task Force for the Department of Athletics contained recommendations for many aspects of the student-athlete experience at the University. Public response, however, has focused most intently on its proposal for the establishment of a four-tiered system. A team's placement would determine its scholarship allocation and the extent of funding for operational, travel and personnel expenditures.
Task force chairwoman Carolyn M. Callahan said the task force considered many ideas before writing the proposal.
"We put on the table every possible option," Callahan said, "from the most severe, which is cutting a number of sports, to the perhaps - from my perspective - most unacceptable, where we would have all sports and, given the money that is available, have them all play at a mediocre level."
Baseball coach Dennis Womack acknowledged the difficulties that the athletics department faces.
In order to compete at a higher level, Womack said, "We've always recognized that certain things would have to occur, and we've always felt that there was not a lot of money laying around to move in that direction. I'm disappointed, but at the same time I'm not casting blame."
The report is now under scrutiny by the Board of Visitors. If the Board accepts the plan as proposed, Tier Four would encompass baseball, wrestling, men's golf, men's tennis, men's cross country, men's outdoor track and field, and men's indoor track and field (if not dropped by the Board to meet Title IX standards).
To control expenditures, these teams would be allowed to offer only need-based financial aid, limited regional travel schedules, limited coaching staff and what some claim as little hope of extended success.
"Tiering is done informally at many schools," Callahan said. "It has even been done informally here for a number of years. This is the more honest way of doing it."
Echoing the sentiments of many students and alumni, Womack voiced his disagreement with the task force's plan.
"I don't think it's better to have this stated," he said. "Nobody wants to be in Tier Four - you'd at least like to move up a tier or two."
Other coaches of proposed fourth-tier sports have expressed concerns that if the Board passes the proposal and removes athletic scholarships, recruitment of first-class athletes would become nearly impossible.
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"Scholarships are the absolute highest priorities," men's golf coach Michael Moraghan said. "No athletic team can compete today in the NCAA without them - you can have mediocre facilities, you can be in a cold climate for an outdoor sport, you can be at an extremely demanding academic institution - none of these matter."
Wrestling coach Lenny Bernstein concurred.
"In order for us to be where we've been - our position in the ACC - we need to at least remain with the scholarships that we have had," Bernstein said.
Without the infusion of highly talented new student-athletes, the coaches also foresee serious challenges to their teams' competitiveness within the next several years.
"If the Board of Visitors were to approve it - and I think that's a big 'if' - I certainly think that in three to four years, our competitiveness would be greatly hurt," Bernstein said.
Womack forecast storms closer to home than merely the ACC.
"Five or six years down the road, we'll probably be the laughingstock of the ACC," he said. "It's a devastating blow in terms of competition, not only in the ACC, but also throughout the state of Virginia."
In addition to the competitiveness of individual sports, Moraghan raised even greater questions in relation to the University's overall mission and the removal of athletic scholarships.
"The effectiveness of this proposal would have a detrimental effect on athletes in all the tier three and tier four sports," he said. "Speaking of diversity, you will not be able to recruit any international athletes, since they do not qualify for need-based aid."
Callahan disagreed that the proposals signaled the end of these sports at the University.
"If I thought that by tiering we were sounding a death-knell for sports, I wouldn't have agreed to it," she said. "I honestly believe that there are enough students who want to come to the University and want to play those sports, and that the coaches are creative enough in finding ways in supporting students with need-based scholarships that we will not be sounding a death-knell for the sports."
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