The reason Mike Waddell wants to dump the funding into the big sports and fully fund almost all of the rest, is because it could make winning easier, and would get him a better job faster. But doing this at the expense of two very popular sports is absurd.

You say ALL D1 sports do this. I totally disagree with that. Maybe the SEC, or Big East, or PAC 12 do this, but mid major division 1 schools? Is that really how we want the University to be thought of?

I think of Towson as a well rounded liberal arts university that gives you everything that you would expect a large university to have for your college experience. I also believe part of the student body experience is having the basic spectator sports for the whole student body to enjoy. That would include, baseball, soccer, football, basketball, and in Towson’s case, lacrosse.

Baseball and Soccer may not have as many fans as the football games, but there are usually a couple of 100 fans at those games. Having these sports as part of the athletic program, enhances the student experience. That’s why close to 90% of all Division 1 universities have baseball. I’m not sure of the percentage of soccer, but I’m sure that is high as well.

As far as Title IX is concerned, part of the compliance can be if the female student body is happy with the opportunities presented to them by the university. Based on the feedback I’ve seen on twitter and facebook, most of the comments have been made by females asking to save these sports. So if you were to take a poll of the female student body at Towson, I bet they would be overwhelmingly in favor of keeping these sports as part of the athletic department, rather than add a few more scholarships to the women’s teams that aren’t spectator sports.

Baseball and Men’s Soccer is enhancing the college experience for more of the female student body then a few more additions to the other women’s sports would.

In my opinion, if Towson spreads the wealth ( funding) throughout the athletic department, instead of dumping it into the few priviaged teams that would benefit from these cuts, we could still be very competitive. We may not win championships in every sport year after year, but we will win some. Is mid major college sports really just about winning at all costs? If it is, I think our student body would have gone to an SEC or Big Ten school if it meant that much to them.

There is so much more that can be done, but Mike Waddell has his agenda and he is not wavering from it. Hopefully, the president of our university sees the value of spreading the wealth and letting the new students experience everything that the past alumni were able to.

Save TU baseball and Men’s Soccer

Since you bring up my examples, I felt I needed to illuminate more specifics: The new field turf could have been provided by the manufacturer for free due to an installation error, but Waddell needed the “new” stuff, the “revolution” model that the Terrapins have. I haven’t heard one fan say, “Oh I love going to those Towson games because the music is so loud and the experience is great.” In fact, all I’ve ever heard is that the music is repetitive, loud, and annoying. Aside from football, attendance is down significantly at most athletic events. I’m assuming you’re smart enough to know that the football turnout is consistent with their rapid improvement, which by the way, was the result of Mike Hermann and Dr. Caret’s work as well as Coach Ambrose’s.

Since we’re bringing up severance packages and new hires too, you’re telling me that nearly 50 employees were soooo tremendously bad but Hermann kept them? That makes no sense. Mike Waddell has an ego problem and people who aren’t worshiping at the feet of the Mike Waddell shrine are treated with contempt. If you are saying that these employees were suddenly ineffective, I would argue it’s an indictment of Waddell’s awful leadership.

The fact is that to much of the budget has gone to things like billboards, radio ads, trainer table reupholstering, lame signage in athletic facilities, “cool” new court (instead of a more basic court) and field designs, instead of just spending wisely. There’s the new tiger statue which Athletic commissioned. All of these awful expenditures have caught up with the department and new revenue hasn’t magically replaced the ridiculous deficits.

You can always formulate reasons for any decision, that doesn’t make those decisions any less awful. Wayne Edward and Mike Hermann were able to keep programs, even if it meant sacrificing full funding for some programs. They were able to keep the department afloat even if it meant whining about free hotel breakfasts and penny-pinching left and right. There is no argument that can support why Mike Waddell can’t manage his funding when he has been given so much more to work with than his predecessors. Waddell has a pattern of awful spending. This isn’t about emotion, Title IX, or about funding other programs. The issue is that Mike Waddell not only a terrible ambassador for the athletic department, but not he is proving to be an awful fiscal manager too.

#MWmustgo

I think you’ve got to spend money in the right areas to make money. Fact is that football and basketball drive the machine. If they’re not healthy, it doesn’t matter how good the other sports are, all the other programs suffer. In this day and age you’ve got to feed the monster. And that’s at all levels, or you should just go Division III.

I don’t know the reasons why money was spent as it was, but I can easily turn the tables and guess possible answers to every expense cited here: locker rooms, tvs (recruiting); new employee positions and severance packages (poorly performing employees need to go to bring in better employees); stereo equipment for games (fan experience at flagship sports); a new basketball court (old floors are notoriously unsafe); ipads (all computers were outdated and then the department is all on same equipment). Any expense you’ve named probably has very solid reasons for being made. Have you asked the guy?

I don’t know about outbursts. Maybe he’s just passionate and comes across strong. But I think if sports were cut it was truly as a last resort and not done recklessly or without deep analysis. Hopefully he at least brought in outside recommendations/consultants before doing this, but even if he didn’t, every AD knows this is the typical reaction and avoids it at all costs.

So am I a MW apologist? Sure to an extent. I just doubt all this emotional vomit is valid.

Waddell authorized ridiculous spending on: locker rooms, TV’s, new employee positions (and severance packages simultaneously), stereo equipment for games, a new basketball court (instead of waiting for it to go into the new arena), iPads, and he used some of the potential sponsorship dollars as collateral to bring an influx of cash to the department but unfortunately those sales projections have not caught up to the spending.

He has done all of these things and has advocated for cutting two of his sports (arguably two that have produced most of the professional athletes and solid donors for the department), despite receiving almost every funding request from other offices and from Dr. Caret at the beginning of his term as AD.

Mike Hermann and Wayne Edwards did a lot of things that annoyed their employees and student-athletes, but at least they did everything they could to keep sports, even if it meant funding things at lower levels or having mediocre facilities and operations. They kept the department afloat with far less. So I don’t see a single excuse why Waddell needs some slack here.

#MWmustgo

I also want to point out that not a single member of the staff or faculty have come out to support Mike Waddell. Not a single one. I think that says something about the relationships this guy has created over the last two years on campus. Everybody hates Mike!!!!

There’s a lot of anger when sports are cut. I’ve seen this across the country and usually it’s directed at the athletic director, who by all accounts only does this as a last resort and is pretty miserable inside when they have to do it. Even large BCS programs have had to cut sports due to Title IX – if they have money issues (and certainly have more fans/money than Towson), smaller schools like Towson most certainly will have trouble getting Title IX compliant without drastic measures.

Waddell seems to have what it takes to elevate Towson athletics and it is fortunate he’s at Towson – a vision of being great. And if money’s being spent on some things at the expense of others, well I am absolutely positive that’s what goes on in every athletic department (and university!) across the country. Heck at every business. Of course, there will be dissent on how the money’s allocated, as there are always different parties wanting the funding.

And I just have to say, the country club thing should not have been posted, imho. I have a strong suspicion there’s a lot more to that story than just one side. You don’t get these high level jobs without being deeply vetted by the university, and I’m sure Waddell had a good credit report and pays his bills on time. There’s something else going on there.

Axes are being ground. We need to be looking at who and why.