UNI to drop baseball

[clone52]

Title IX has a limited impact on this. They can blame they have to cut sports because of Title IX, but that isn't really correct. The fact is, if the don't change their sports complement, they don't have to adhere to Title IX. The likely scenario is that they have to cut their budget and cut a sport. Since they decided to cut a sport, they had to choose a male sport in order to move closer to Title IX compliance.

In fact, I believe if Iowa State decided they needed to cut a sport, it would have to be a woman's sport because of Title IX.

 

[clone52]

That sucks. A kid from my hometown went to UNI for baseball. Since they are dropping the program, can he go to another school and play right away?

I'm 99.9% sure that the baseball players and swimmers at ISU were able to transfer and play right away.

 

[Melvin]

Very Disappointing.

They need to modify that rule, it makes no sense to spend 60% of your budget on womens sports. Too Bad that the State of Iowa will only have (1) major Baseball Team.

Very Disappointing day for Athletics in the state of Iowa. I don't care if your a Hawk, Panther or Cyclone. Very Disappointing.

 

[bfross]

Like it or not, this kind of stuff is going to keep happening to more and more schools especially with the current economic crunch. College athletics is getting so big right now that it is eventually going to cave in on itself and that will be a good thing for the schools like ISU and the other have nots as long as they can sustain themselves until that day comes. Right now even though parity is king, college athletics are on a collision course where only the premier programs can legitimately win a title (it may be close already).

Take a look at the McD's selections by college and see that UNC has 4 in one recruiting class for an example. FOUR. Then think about this. Iowa dumped $100M in their stadium renovations, which have been the first in what? 30 years? Texas is dumping $85M into their stadium after they just went through a $60M renovation 5 years ago. Five! How are other schools supposed to compete with that? Eventually they won't. Until the imbalance in power corrects itself, I think the problem will get worse. The dollar is key and while ISU has more than they used to, the gap between them and the rest of the Big 12 is wider than it was a few short years ago.

 

[clone52]

Very Disappointing.

They need to modify that rule, it makes no sense to spend 60% of your budget on womens sports. Too Bad that the State of Iowa will only have (1) major Baseball Team.

Very Disappointing day for Athletics in the state of Iowa. I don't care if your a Hawk, Panther or Cyclone. Very Disappointing.

Your assumption is that girls have less interest in playing sports than boys do. I wonder how things would change if they based it on intramural involvement or a survey rather than just a straight up percentage based on enrollment.

 

[cybsball20]

I've heard several stories regarding the end of the Banks era, one of which involved a fight with a player named Thieleke (sp?). It appears you have some insight. Is it anything that can be shared?

I don't know any specifics, just general things I have been told, mostly from people that played at Iowa and other local coaches. Combined that with my personal expereinces with Banks and I think I have a pretty good idea about him... The current coach was brought in to clean up the program more than win. They had a bad reputation for getting in trouble and poor grades, not something you want from a non revenue sport.

I would also expect Grandview to seriously contend for an NAIA title shortly with UNI now out of the mix.

 

[clone52]

Like it or not, this kind of stuff is going to keep happening to more and more schools especially with the current economic crunch. College athletics is getting so big right now that it is eventually going to cave in on itself and that will be a good thing for the schools like ISU and the other have nots as long as they can sustain themselves until that day comes. Right now even though parity is king, college athletics are on a collision course where only the premier programs can legitimately win a title (it may be close already).

Take a look at the McD's selections by college and see that UNC has 4 in one recruiting class for an example. FOUR. Then think about this. Iowa dumped $100M in their stadium renovations, which have been the first in what? 30 years? Texas is dumping $85M into their stadium after they just went through a $60M renovation 5 years ago. Five! How are other schools supposed to compete with that? Eventually they won't. Until the imbalance in power corrects itself, I think the problem will get worse. The dollar is key and while ISU has more than they used to, the gap between them and the rest of the Big 12 is wider than it was a few short years ago.[/quote]

Is this true? I'm sure in actual dollars wise, the gap has widened, but I bet that since Pollard came on board, we've closed the gap percentage wise.

 

[coachdags]

It will never be equal as long as guys like Phil Knight, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and more contribute to their favorite Colleges.

There would have to be some governing body step in and set a ceiling of giving and that will never happen.....:skeptical:

 

[cyingreen]

So does this mean that UNI picks up women's wrestling to move closer to Title IX compliance? Talk about chicks doing the chest bump......:biggrin:

 

[Row55]

I believe UNI's womens rugby team is moving up from club status to NCAA (seriously). Was already scheduled before baseball cancellation.

 

[Row55]

I guess yeah, after Duane Banks left the Hawks, Iowa's baseball program TANKED.

Personally, I'd like to see a little more spending on the baseball program, because Duane Banks field sucks. Pearl Field, on the other hand, is an excellent softball venue.

I've said this before, I think it's a shame that these teams are dropping their programs. I would LOVE to one day see a tournament at Principal Park with UNI, Iowa, ISU, and Drake.

What don't you like at Banks Field? Playing surface is like a pool table, seats are close to the action, adequate parking (usually), frankly don't need any more seating.

Pearl Field has limited seating with restricted views, and parking can be a problem. Floods every so often, and will continue to do so. It was originally a mixed intramural/ intercollegiate complex, which caused problems when they needed to add seating. Could use double the seats they have now, but not possible without some fancy/expensive engineering. And they really need a good levee system first.

 

[Row55]

Iowa baseball started sucking well before Banks 'retired'. Once they focused primarily on recruiting Illinois things started to go south in a hurry...

Yup, Hawks went downhill fast after the last Big Ten championship (90-91?). IIRC Bank's retirement wasn't entirely voluntary; unfortunately, things got even worse under Broghammer. Dahm made some initial progress but lost it all last year.

Rumor always was that Banks was an azzhole, one I heard was that he kicked a player in the dugout following a loss, and the player then took a swing but was restrained by teammates.

Overall, an odd decision to name the field after him, considering his only big success was one year in the 70's.

 

[hawkeyeguy85]

Your assumption is that girls have less interest in playing sports than boys do. I wonder how things would change if they based it on intramural involvement or a survey rather than just a straight up percentage based on enrollment.

Except, I thought it was based on scholarships, not budget. Any school that is D-1 in football is dumping 85 scholarships into ONE sport, which consequently means they have to offer a disproportionate amount of women's sports to balance the number of schollies since there isn't a women's sport that sucks up those kinds of numbers. Thus, you have schools killing off all these men's sports to balance things.

It would work a little better if it was just the number of varsity sports offered had to match.

 

[hurdleisu24]

If they drop a sport the players are allowed to transfer and play right away. Its sad that everyone is dropping sports and baseball is the main sport to be dropped. If only they could have made the CWS

 

[SplitIdentity]

What don't you like at Banks Field? Playing surface is like a pool table, seats are close to the action, adequate parking (usually), frankly don't need any more seating.

Pearl Field has limited seating with restricted views, and parking can be a problem. Floods every so often, and will continue to do so. It was originally a mixed intramural/ intercollegiate complex, which caused problems when they needed to add seating. Could use double the seats they have now, but not possible without some fancy/expensive engineering. And they really need a good levee system first.

Because, each time I'm there, the place looks like a dump. The field, the parking, and the view of the football stadium are all it has going for it. The actual stadium itself is outdated, and looks like a cruddy high school field.

Heck, my high school has a better baseball diamond than what Duane Banks is.

More seating isn't required, but if Iowa is going to become competitive with other schools from around the Midwest (Nebraska, Creighton, etc...) they need at least a decent looking stadium and a practice facility separate from the football one.

 

[bfross]

Is this true? I'm sure in actual dollars wise, the gap has widened, but I bet that since Pollard came on board, we've closed the gap percentage wise.

I believe the percentage gap between us and the top of the league has indeed increased. We have shortened the gap between us and Baylor and some of the other lower budget programs, which is good for us to be competitive in the Big 12, but my real point is that Texas has increased their gap over their next highest team (NU) by a large margin in a short time.

Now if money could buy championships Texas would win it every year, but name the last team that won the national title that wasn't one of the top 10 or 15 premier schools in the country. Washington in '91 or Colorado and Ga Tech in '90? Schools that don't have the highest 10% of budgets have won since then (Florida State), but they also have amazing geographical benefits that offset some of their athletic budgets. Hell, Texas has the highest athletic budget in the nation and spends the least money recruiting out of anyone in the Big 12. They don't leave the state of Texas and most of the kids seek them out. How is that fair?

When you think about it, people always complain about the greed of the professional sports, but at least with sports that have salary caps, every team has a more realistic chance of winning a championship. In college, a team like ISU realistically has no chance of ever winning a national title in football and only a slight chance in basketball. The Big 12 specifically caters to Texas. Even conferences with revenue sharing have unbalanced monetary benefits because the teams with the best budgets are built such that TV ratings will get them in the highest paying bowls whether they deserve it or not.

College athletics needs to correct itself.

 

[tube1]

Baseball at the colegiate level is worthless. There are enough levels of 'professional' baseball that anybody with talent will get their chance. Kinda like college hockey.

 

[Wesley]

Looks like you need to recruit some men to UNI.

 

[Wesley]

A gal at Nebraska high school may win the 103 state wrestling title today...

 

[Row55]

Because, each time I'm there, the place looks like a dump. The field, the parking, and the view of the football stadium are all it has going for it. The actual stadium itself is outdated, and looks like a cruddy high school field.

Heck, my high school has a better baseball diamond than what Duane Banks is.

More seating isn't required, but if Iowa is going to become competitive with other schools from around the Midwest (Nebraska, Creighton, etc...) they need at least a decent looking stadium and a practice facility separate from the football one.

True, Iowa's field doesn't compare to what Nebraska, Creighton, Missouri State, etc. have access to, though it's comparable with most B10 schools, even better than some (B10 baseball is weak, I know). But it's getting really tough to compete with the upper level programs, I can't believe the on-campus stadiums that some of the southern schools have.