College Sports

The University of Oregon announced in 2007 that it was ending the wrestling program to start a baseball program. The reason cited was that in adding baseball, another men’s sport would have to be cut to remain in compliance with Title IX.

Well, let’s just say that the wrestling team and it’s supporters aren’t going to go quietly. In fact, by filing a lawsuit they are making a lot of noise.

Basically, what the lawsuit says is that UO’s decision to drop wrestling to comply with Title IX is flawed, and that the decision was reached without following established University procedures as well as Oregon’s constitution and statutes.

When A.D. Pat Kilkenny announced in July of 2007 that baseball was returning to the Eugene, Ore., campus after a 28 year hiatus, he said that to comply with Title IX wrestling would be cut and women’s competitive cheerleading would be added.

While the lawsuit was filed Friday, the brewhaha really heated up over the winter. When challenged about the decision, the University really stepped in it by saying that, well, um, it’s not really Title IX.

OK, what could be the new excuse?

In both February and March, UO associate A.D. Neil Zoumboukos acknowledged that Title IX did not require UO to drop wrestling. He went on to say that the University was dropping the sport for four reasons:

1. UO doesn’t have a wrestling facility
2. Eugene lacks a fan base
3. There is an opportunity to capitalize on an investment
4. There is a lack of support for wrestling in the Pac-10 and NCAA Division I

This opened the door for the supporters of the wrestling program to allege that the University was violating Oregon’s anti-discrimination laws by not applying the same criteria to all programs evenly. As examples, the lawsuit cites the lack of support and fan base for women’s lacrosse and competitive cheerleading. Cheerleading itself is not even an NCAA sport. They also state the UO wrestling team outdraws several women’s programs in attendance, and while none of the women’s programs are self-sufficient, the wrestling program has been offered significant financial aid by the wrestling community to endow the program.

This is an interesting approach, and I’ll be interested to see how it all comes out. I was at Tennessee when the wrestling program was cut in the early 80’s, but UT’s administration was up front about the reasons… the cost outweighed the benefits. UT was the last remaining SEC team with wrestling, which meant they traveled to every meet, usually long distances. The wrestlers weren’t happy (I still remember the t-shirts that said, “Wrestling Got the Big Orange Screw” with a picture of an orange with a screw through it), but it made sense in the long run.

In the case at Oregon, it seems like the administration is doing the UO Duck Two-Step. Just tell everybody the real reasons, whatever they may be. There may still be a lawsuit, but at least the administration won’t look like a bunch of liars.