M. Rick Turner, dean of African-American Affairs, voiced concern yesterday that suggested changes in the athletics department might considerably decrease the number of black athletes at the University. He shares coaches' and athletes' concern that the changes could cause the demise of the men's track and field team, which has many black athletes.
A report by the Virginia 2020 Strategic Planning Task Force for the Department of Athletics recommended that the University restructure its varsity sports into four tiers, eliminate the men's indoor track team and establish a women's golf program. Men's outdoor track and field and men's cross-country would be fourth-tier sports, and participants would receive only need-based financial aid and funding for regional travel.
According to track and field coaches and athletes, the plan would cripple the Virginia men's track and field program. Eliminating the men's indoor track team removes the crucial winter training period between cross-country in the fall and outdoor track and field in the spring. Limiting team travel to regional competitions prevents athletes from attending national meets, and cutting scholarships to need-based financial aid reduces coaches' recruiting power considerably.
"There's just no way we would survive as a sport if all three of those things happened," track and field coach Randy Bungard said.
Turner said he is concerned about the impact the program's demise might have on the number of black athletes at the University.
"You're eliminating a sport that African-Americans have historically participated in," Turner said. "The issue of race and track is a long-term issue that will influence all African-American athletes."
Outside of football and men's basketball, the majority of Virginia's black male athletes are on the men's track and field team. Of the track and field team's 44 members, 14 are black. There are a total of eight black male athletes among the men's lacrosse, soccer, baseball, wrestling, and swimming and diving teams.
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According to Bungard, three athletes already have contacted him about transferring from Virginia because of the proposals, one of whom is black.
First-year runner Herb Reid, a black athlete from Mt. Laurel, N.J., said that he too has thought about transferring.
"I wouldn't have come [to Virginia] if I didn't get a scholarship," Reid said.
Turner, who served on the task force, said race was not an issue the task force considered when it made its recommendations.
Elsie Holland, a Board of Visitors member who is serving on the committee reviewing the task force's report, said the proposal's impact on black athletes is something the committee is considering before submitting its recommendation to the Board.
"That is a concern as well," she said. "Eliminating any [sports] is a concern for us."
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