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Sunday, April 20, 2003

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

This was the toughest match for every member of the West Virginia men's tennis team, and not because visiting Maryland-Baltimore County was a colossus on the court. The Mountaineers' worst enemy in their 4-3 loss Thursday was inner turmoil.

Twenty-four hours earlier, they had faced a searing serve that they neither saw coming nor had the training to handle. They learned from university athletic officials that men's tennis is one of five sports being discontinued after this school year.

"It was just too much to overcome," said eighth-year West Virginia men's tennis coach Ed Dickson.

Also dropped were men's indoor and outdoor track, men's cross country, and rifle, which is coed. The five teams represent the equivalent of about 21 scholarships. Officials said spikes in tuition led to the cuts, which are expected to save at least $600,000 a year from a budget that this year reached around $27 million.

West Virginia athletics are self-sufficient. That is, no money is provided from the university or the state. The budget is achieved through team revenue and fund-raising.

Since the announcement Wednesday, players and coaches from the five affected teams have sorted through feelings ranging from shock to disappointment to anger.

"It was horrible," said tennis player Eric Kochanski, a sophomore from Canonsburg. "I guess the finances make sense, but we feel lost."

It is little comfort that other major universities across the country have been dropping so-called non-revenue or Olympic sports programs over the past several years. Besides West Virginia in the Big East Conference, St. John's dropped men's track, cross country and football and will phase out swimming; Seton Hall cut men's tennis; Providence discontinued baseball, golf and men's tennis; and Syracuse cut gymnastics and wrestling.

The trend has put Title IX, the law designed to ensure equal opportunity for women, under siege because it has been blamed for the fact that men's programs take the brunt of the cuts.

Of the 56 Mountaineers athletes on the five discontinued teams, 54 are men and two are women, junior Nicole Allaire and freshman Amber Crist of the rifle squad.

West Virginia now has six men's teams -- football, basketball, wrestling, baseball, soccer and swimming -- and 10 women's teams -- basketball, volleyball, soccer, rowing, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, and cross country. The 16 varsity teams is the minimum needed to remain in NCAA Division I.

"Tennis teams are always getting cut because of Title IX," Kochanski said.

Terri Howes, West Virginia associate athletic director for sport development, said cuts were necessary to keep the athletic department solvent, regardless of gender issues, but that Title IX was a consideration in terms of which teams got eliminated.

"Gender equity was not a deciding factor, but it was part of it," she said.

In December, the athletic administration decided some sports would have to be dropped because things were stretched too thin to make across-the-board cuts and expect teams to remain competitive. Five teams were considered untouchable -- football, men's and women's basketball, gymnastics and women's soccer. Over the ensuing months, the other programs were rated according to factors such as cost; competitiveness; in-state vs. out-of-state athletes; popularity locally, nationally and among young athletes; and gender equity.

Athletic Director Ed Pastilong and other athletic administrators held a wave of meetings Wednesday to break the news. None of the affected coaches and players had an inkling cuts were coming.

"It was a tough day for us, and it was an even worse day for the student-athletes," Russ Sharp, associate AD for finance and administration, said. "It was a very emotionally charged day."

Allaire, an All-American junior on the rifle team, called her father, Richard, in New Jersey after she found out.

"It took about 15 minutes for her to stop crying so I could understand what she was saying," Richard Allaire said. "I could see dropping a failing program, but not this. They have proven that tradition means nothing at West Virginia."

Nicole Allaire believes news of the elimination of the rifle team will reverberate around the country. In Coach Marsha Beasley's 14 seasons, the Mountaineers won eight NCAA titles and had recently renovated their range.

"When you're a football player you dream of going to a school like Nebraska," Allaire said. "When you're in rifle, your goal is to shoot for West Virginia."

Allaire has another year of eligibility, but she also wants to complete her sports psychology degree. She's not sure whether she will transfer. Under NCAA rules, athletes whose teams are cut don't have to sit out a season if they transfer.

West Virginia officials pledged to help students left in limbo find spots on other school's rosters, make academic transfers as smoothly as possible, and get out from under their leases. Many athletes, including Allaire and Kochanski, renewed their leases earlier this month.

Kochanski figures he will sit out for a year, maybe teach at the Pennsylvania Tennis Academy in Wexford and play in satellite tournaments, then try to catch on with a school where the tennis program is highly ranked and not in danger of being cut.

For those who wish to remain at West Virginia, their scholarships will be honored and they will have use of training facilities. Dickson and Beasley can draw their salary until June 2004. Track coach Jeff Huntoon will continue as coach of women's cross country and indoor and outdoor track.

"We recognize the hardship this decision put on our players and coaches, and we are taking measures to assist them," Pastilong said in a statement.

While the rifle, cross country and indoor track seasons are over, outdoor track and tennis were in season when the cuts were announced.

The track team decided to cancel its only home meet, scheduled for this weekend. Team members instead went to meets in Charleston, W.Va., and Walnut, Calif.

Members of the men's tennis team decided to try to collect themselves and play in their last scheduled match of the season Thursday.

"We wanted to play so we could play together one more time, but it was real tough," said Kochanski, the squad's No. 1 singles player. He struggled through a 6-2, 6-0 loss.

"He was almost a vegetable trying to play," said Dickson, whose team finished 11-13 in its final season.

"I'll be OK somehow, but this is devastating for the players."