Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion College Another Athletic Program Cut - NOT WRESTLING!

Western State College Ski Program to be Discontinued

Western State College Department of Athletics announced today that it will discontinue the intercollegiate ski program effective with the 2008-09 academic year.

Three years ago a decision was made to discontinue institutional funding of the ski program primarily due to a series of extreme budget cuts in higher education in the State of Colorado. With these cuts, the decision resulted in institutional funding being discontinued for the sport of skiing.

The administration of WSC launched an effort with friends and alumni of skiing to attempt to privately fund the program so that WSC would continue to sponsor the sport. Five years of private funding was initially pledged and an effort to use this time to endow the program was launched.

Alumni and friends of the College were making annual commitments of more than $150,000 for the next five years to ensure the program would continue through 2010 in hopes that an endowment could be raised by then.

These pledges were to fund annual operating, scholarships and salary expenses. After three years the endowment drive struggled and the annual pledges have fallen short, resulting in a substantial deficit in the ski program budget.

“School officials worked hard up until the close of the fiscal year to jump start the pledges, but fell short despite their efforts,” said Athletic Director Greg Waggoner.

“WSC applauds the efforts that the friends and alumni of the ski program for their valiant effort to privately fund this program in order to continue the tradition,” said Jay Helman, President of Western State College. “The college simply does not have the funds to adequately fund all needs on campus or all needs within the athletic department. WSC greatly appreciates the generous efforts of these friends and alumni of skiing that have pledged and donated to the program. It is very rare that a group of friends and alumni can fund an intercollegiate sport for three years.”

"In the midst of our regret that this situation has not ended the way anyone had hoped, we are heartened by and grateful for the passionate generosity of Western's family of alumni and friends," added Tom Burggraf, Executive Director of WSC Foundation.

“Nothing can diminish the important role intercollegiate skiing has played in neither Western’s history, nor the successful men and women it has helped produce,” said Helman. “Within an environment of declining public funding for higher education, a difficult decision was made regarding the allocation of limited resources.”

"The school will honor the current scholarship levels of each student-athlete in the program through graduation as long as they are in good academic standing and should they choose not to transfer to another school to continue their collegiate career," said Waggoner.

The purpose of this post is to remind my antagonist from NE Kansas there are other non revenue intercollegiate athletic programs affected by budgetary constraints and cuts.

To save the antagonist from searching for the article and to provide assurance there has been NO editorial content added or deleted from the Western State News Release the link is provided below.

Western State College Ski Program to be Discontinued

Richard,

If you consider me to be your antagonist, it is because you have chosen it to be that way between us. Just by making that type of remark you have chosen to say it in an antagonistic manner where you are almost trying to pick a fight with me on it. I pointed that out in your last topic that I couldn't tell what the source of the article was because you never sited the source. Also it was difficult for me to tell if some of it was your personal opinion due to the way that you highlighted some of it in red. By the way, I thought that was an excellent topic that you introduced. I do think it is important for wrestling and other non revenue sports to keep in mind that athletic departments are not all as flush with money as we sometimes think they are.

Why would you think that I thought wrestling was the only intercollegiate athletic program affected by budgetary constraints and cuts? I will admit it is the sport I am most individually concerned and that is why I post about it on WRESTLING forums. By the way I capitalized to emphasize wrestling not because I am shouting at you.

This topic almost seems to be a message to me so let me try to see what your main point is. In the other topic and in several others, I have been advocating a strong increased endowment approach by the wrestling community both to individual schools and potentially to a proposed National College Wrestling endowment fund that the NWCA is currently considering. In this topic you have given an example of Western State College ski program that the ski community of that institution did evidently try to build an endowment but apparently fell short of saving their program.

So Richard, is your purpose of introducing this topic to show me that this approach of trying to increase endowments for college wrestling programs is doomed to fail? Richard, where do you stand on that issue? Do you think it is a good idea to try to increase endowment gifting for wrestling programs like Duke is trying to do along with many other wrestling programs across America? Do you think the National College Wrestling Endowment fund could be a good idea? I really am interested in your opinion on it. I am also interested in hearing what your approach to trying to save and start more college wrestling programs might be if you don't believe in the increased endowment gifting approach to addressing the problem.

I really am not wanting to pick a fight with you on it. I am just genuinely interested in what your true thoughts are on those questions.

Richard, you may not like me but know this my main goal is for more college wrestling programs and for more opportunity for our young wrestlers. I plan on investing my time and resources to help attain that goal. I don't mind you telling me though if you truly believe that I am going about it the wrong way. I may alter my course due to yours or another person's suggestions.