Duquesne has become the latest cold-weather school to drop baseball. The school announced Monday afternoon that it is cutting four athletic programs after the 2010 season—baseball, men's swimming, men's golf, and wrestling. Vermont and Northern Iowa dropped baseball last year.
In a bit of disingenuous management-speak that seems straight out of the film "Office Space," the university framed the cuts as "a strategic restructuring of its varsity sports program in an effort to maximize financial resources and ensure sustained athletic success."
Athletics director Greg Amodio said more than $1 million will be reallocated annually throughout the athletics program as a result of the cuts. "The fiscal challenges facing collegiate athletic departments across the country require making difficult decisions to ensure viability," Amodio said in the release.
Duquesne is far from a baseball power. It has never been to a regional and finished in last place in the Atlantic 10 Conference last year at 7-19 (14-41 overall). But the Dukes do have some notable supporters—Duquesne alum and big league reliever Joe Beimel, plus former Pirates managers Jim Leyland and Jim Tracy—and two players likely to be drafted in June: senior catcher/first baseman Mark Tracy and junior two-way talent Andrew Heck, who ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the Jayhawk League last summer. We'll see how that pair and the rest of the Dukes handle this unfortunate situation this spring.
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I played baseball back in the early 80's at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. It was a huge part of my college experience.
Posted by Bill Rogan | January 31, 2010 at 1:16 am | ShortcutToday, while reading the Denver Post, under the transactions section, I saw that Duquesne was eliminating the baseball program along with wrestling, men's tennis and men's golf. No women's programs were eliminated.
My first reaction? Screw Duquesne and Athletic Director Greg Amodio.
After calming down and thinking things over, my second, rational reaction was screw Duquesne and Athletic Director Greg Amodio.
Reading the bio on Amodio on the Duquesne website, I read about all the glowing and wonderful things he has done in his 3 years on the job, including the athletic department experiencing "unprecedented growth" under his leadership. I hate to use bad language but it is appropriate after reading this unprecedented growth ****. I call bull****!
Want more bull****? The press release said "Duquesne University today announced a strategic restructuring of its varsity sports program in an effort to maximize financial resources and ensure sustained athletic success." What? It went on to say, "Focusing on and strengthening a core group of sports will maximize our ability to compete at the highest level, enhance the student athlete experience, and better utilize existing funding." I hope a Duquesne University journalism grad didn't write that garbage.
So back to the point, getting rid of baseball will help the basketball team reach the NCAA's for the first time since 1977? I don't see the logic there.
Four men's programs get the boot. Was this a financial issue? Perhaps. Title IX? Could the programs have been saved? If people knew the programs were in danger, probably.
Bottom line is, it is easier to quit and Amodio quit on four programs with the stroke of a pen. Women's programs were not cut because, in my opinion, Amodio didn't want to deal with the backlash that would get.
Quitters quit, that's what they do. And that's what Duquesne did to the athletes involved in those four sports. They quit on them without trying to find a viable solution.
I hope those student-athletes all transfer and earn a degree that has another school's name on it.
Oh, by the way, I'm pissed off and I'm throwing my diploma in the garbage.
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Posted by Seahawks opponent eliminating sport following season – UNCW Baseball – Wilmington Star News – Wilmington, NC – Archive | February 10, 2010 at 12:50 pm | Shortcut