Lehigh Football Nation
May 6th, 2010, 05:14 PM
http://chronicle.com/article/Should-We-Ditch-Football-/65356/
Jettisoning the football program, the athletic director said, would be shortsighted, especially since student participation in athletics is a much more complex endeavor than merely winning or losing.
I have to admit, I was similarly shortsighted several decades ago, when the university where I worked proposed creating a football team. We were in a state where, in any given year, you might find two or three football teams listed in the top 10 nationally.
Many professors on that campus thought it would be foolhardy to invest in a new football team to rival the other, highly competitive ones at public universities in the state. "Why not invest in raising faculty salaries?" some of us argued. "Or in student scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships?"
As it turned out, I was wrong. The university created the team, largely with private money, and it went on to become nationally competitive and the pride of many of us who had originally been skeptical. Far from draining money from academic programs, it helped bring cash into the university, not only in the form of direct revenue from events but also from auxiliary contracts—sales of memorabilia, fees for playing certain games, revenue from media companies, and the like.
Today, at the university where I am provost, some faculty members have made similar arguments: "Why not close the football team and reallocate the funding to academic programs?" And that sentiment is echoed at other institutions across the nation in these challenging economic times.
A real interesting read. He talks at length about his conversations with provosts, athletic directors, etc. A must-read for PL fans who should have no problem imagining similar conversations within their hallowed halls.
Jettisoning the football program, the athletic director said, would be shortsighted, especially since student participation in athletics is a much more complex endeavor than merely winning or losing.
I have to admit, I was similarly shortsighted several decades ago, when the university where I worked proposed creating a football team. We were in a state where, in any given year, you might find two or three football teams listed in the top 10 nationally.
Many professors on that campus thought it would be foolhardy to invest in a new football team to rival the other, highly competitive ones at public universities in the state. "Why not invest in raising faculty salaries?" some of us argued. "Or in student scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships?"
As it turned out, I was wrong. The university created the team, largely with private money, and it went on to become nationally competitive and the pride of many of us who had originally been skeptical. Far from draining money from academic programs, it helped bring cash into the university, not only in the form of direct revenue from events but also from auxiliary contracts—sales of memorabilia, fees for playing certain games, revenue from media companies, and the like.
Today, at the university where I am provost, some faculty members have made similar arguments: "Why not close the football team and reallocate the funding to academic programs?" And that sentiment is echoed at other institutions across the nation in these challenging economic times.
A real interesting read. He talks at length about his conversations with provosts, athletic directors, etc. A must-read for PL fans who should have no problem imagining similar conversations within their hallowed halls.