Kutztown University Dropping Two Sporting Programs
Kutztown University President Dr. F. Javier Cevallos announced Wednesday that men’s soccer and men’s swimming will be cut from their athletic program effective immediately. This decision will save the university up to $150,000.
The current economic situation has forced us to make some difficult decisions,” Cevallos said. “Our first priority is always to protect the core academic component of the campus. I believe this decision allows us to honor that priority while maintaining our athletic integrity and competitiveness.”
Kutztown Athletic Programs and Policies Committee meet and discussed all 23 of KU athletic sports in hopes of finding a solution to their economic problem. Six elements were discussed including attendance, athletic success, academic success rate, fundraising, facilities, and media coverage. After collecting all this data, athletic director Greg Bamberger and vice president of Student Services and Campus Life Dr. Charles Woodard recommended to Cevallos to cut men’s swimming and soccer ultimately solving their financial situation.
Kutztown will honor current athletic scholarships for men’s soccer and men’s swimming if they choose to stay with the University throughout the remainder of their academic endeavors. Between the two sports, 32 athletes (20 soccer and 12 swimming) will be assisted by the University if they choose to play elsewhere. No head coaching jobs will be affected by this decision as Tim Flannery, who was men’s and women’s swimming coach for the past 13 season, will remain head coach for women’s swimming team. Otto Ormosi, retired early this year after 10 seasons as head coach of men’s soccer.
Bloomsburg University Athletic Department was reached for comment concerning this matter, but nobody responded.
Kutztown men’s soccer program started in 1971 and had success in its first few seasons, posting five winning seasons and appeared three times in the postseason. However, since 1980, the program only posted three winning seasons and advanced to the postseason once. Since 2004, men’s soccer posted a miserable 8-65-4 record including a 2-15-1 record last season.
Men’s swimming started in 1970-71 and produced 22 winning dual meet seasons. They placed as high as 12th nationally twice and placed third in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship meet in 2003-2004.
“We want all of our student-athletes to experience the opportunity to have academic and athletic success, including a chance to compete for a championship at some level,” Bamberger said. “Ultimately, we feel our 21 remaining programs have the resources to be competitive at least at the conference level and/or to contribute significantly to the quality of campus life.”
Wow, I hope this trend does not continue to keep occurring in collegiate sports! To cut the programs completely doesn’t make sense to me, regardless of the economic crisis.