What ever happened to USF's Swimming team?!?!?!

[smazza]

We had reached the point where we were not competitive...don't know if it was coaching, funding or what but those two can often go hand in hand.  I believe the national championship was at a D2 or D3 level.  Is swimming a strong Big East sport?

Actually, the team was cut 1 year after winning the national championship at the D2 level.  That also means the team would've been somewhere in the top 25 of D1 schools if swimming at the same level.  The Big East is an ok swimming conference.  Of the BCS conferences, it's definitely the bottom of the pack, however still lands some schools in the top 25 (louisville, notre dame, sometimes wvu).  If a program was put in at USF and given any sort of resources at all (scholarships and a coach who knows what he/she's doing), given the talent in the state of Florida and the south for swimming, the big dropoff from FSU/UF to the next level (FAU, Univ of Tampa, UNF), and just the shear location, the program would be atop the Big East in literally no time at all.  

Doug Woolard has been quoted as saying he wants the best athletic department in the Big East.  You can't do that if you don't field the sports, especially the top Olympic sport.  The only other schools that don't have swimming programs in the Big East are the bball-only schools (Marquette, DePaul, and St. John's).  As an athletic department, it's pathetic that a football school in the state of Florida does not have a swim team.

(edit: Rutgers just announced they dropped their program.  The state of NJ cut funding to all state schools, and something had to go, especially after Schianno's pay-raise.  A bunch of programs were cut there)

well

put

the women's basketball coach gets paid as much as schiano

[MikeG]

I hate Title Nine-- it has completely killed college wrestling at so many schools. It is sickening

[Herman_Momart]

MikeG is right about Title 9 and wrestling, sorry for the sensitive type on the board, but title 9 is bunk.  

[Apis Bull]

While Title IX has done a lot for women's sports, in it's current form it's a problem for men's sports.  If they took football out of the equation (or partially) that would help.  Or they could say that if you offer a men's sport you have to offer an comparable women's sport.