Cal Poly has created a GoFundMe page with a goal of $200K after the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs were cut just last week. The programs were cut effective immediately and athletes have been told to clean out their lockers by the end of the week.
GoFundMe Link
The amount has been set at $200,000 as the fundraiser states that was the operational budget that was needed for the 2024-2025 season. The fundraiser also states that donations will be refunded if the programs are unsuccessful in being reinstated.
The team had 29 men and 29 women on its roster this past season. The men finished 3rd out of five teams while the women were 6th out of six teams at the Big West Conference Championships last month.
In the announcement last week, the school cited a loss of $450,000 as part of the decision financially, referring to the House v. NCAA settlement as well.
One day in. Here’s some names and their amounts donated:
Michael Phelps: $0
Ryan Lochte: $0
Katie Ledecky: $0
Rowdy Gaines: $0
Elizabeth Beisel: $0
Chase Kalisz: $0
Natalie Coughlin: $0
Amanda Beard: $0
Katie Hoff: $0
Missy Franklin: $0
Bob Bowman: $0
Todd DeSorbo: $0
Greg Meehan: $0
Anthony Nesty: $0
Ray Looze: $0
Lilly King: $0
Annie Lazor: $0
Gretchen Walsh: $0
Bobby Finke: $0
Alex Walsh: $0
Kate Douglass: $0
Janet Evans: $0
Summer Sanders: $0
Michael Andrew: $0
Regan Smith: $0
Caeleb Dressel: $0
There’s a lot of people out there… Read more »
I mean in fairness if one of those people had actually come through or coached at Cal Poly, I would certainly say there’s some logic in posting this. Many other college programs are facing similar cuts or cut backs, and I don’t think it’s on any individual celebrity swimmer to save those programs.
I’m certain many of them also donate to worthy causes both inside and outside of the sport. I don’t think shaming them helps anyone
Clearly you didn’t read the bottom of my comment, the part about using their voice. And how can you be certain they all donate to worthy causes? You don’t know them. You might *want* to believe they all do that but that doesn’t make it true.
There are lots of anonymous donations on gofundme. I’m pretty sure everyone on your list donated
Grant House is not on that list either…
The gofundme is just part of what’s happening with the fundraising effort. It is there to quickly accumulate smaller donations to move the needle this week.
There is a legitimate effort outside of the gofundme that is gathering commitments for much larger, sustained annual donations. The goal is ultimately a $10M endowment. There are some good people getting traction with this.
The budget was $210K last year, but the AD told the team that the department was only providing $130k, so they had to raise $80k to make it work, which they did.
Whether this saves the program remains to be seen. As others have mentioned, budget is really an excuse and not the primary reason the program was… Read more »
Are you able to provide more information on the effort outside of the Gofundme? And is the person who asked the question about the $10 million real or was that a hypothetical question?
I am an alumni. I have contributed to the Gofundme. I have also contributed monthly for approximately 15 years. I do not have millions of dollars to throw at the team, but I am happy to help to the extent that I can. I have talked with numerous alumni this week who care.
Will there be a gofundme every year for the team moving forward? Wouldn’t the school just cut the program again next year if this is successful? “Oh hey the team will be free if we just keep cutting it”
This GoFundMe is unlikely to save the program.
200k is nice and all but anything short of enough money to permanently endow the program likely will not be enough to save the program. I would guess the 200k does not include coaches salaries. 10+ million is probably the conservative est for endowment size needed to cover the actual costs annually.
We know the team budget is $120k/year, which I assume (hope) doesn’t include coaches’ salaries. Most of the big west has a budget of $200k+.
I don’t think the coaches’ salaries are very high.
Even if you called it all-in at $300k, which would be a budget increase, the endowment would probably have sit somewhere around $6 million. $200k is definitely not enough.
Oof. That is a brutal budget. Regardless go fund me campaigns like this create false hope IMO. I think there is a pathway to the self sustaining endowment for a lot of these programs but this ain’t it.
They do create false hope, that’s for sure. The hope is a little less false than the Change.org petitions, though.
It’s a shame that programs can fundraise more after they’re cut than before it. Speaks to the nature of humanity.
Had they told us we were going to get cut instead of “we want to try and save sports” maybe we could’ve fundraised more.
Or $10-$20 million is what they actually are asking it to be.
Then they’re being intentionally difficult because that doesn’t make sense based on their annual budget.
Since Tom “retired,” coaches have been paid peanuts.
Will Evan Yoo get to swim at NCAAs if this is effective immediately? He transferred to Cal Poly from Army West Point last year. He made such a huge sacrifice in doing so, I feel terrible for him.
Also Coach Kim Carlson is the Big West Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year, she has brought that program to new heights. There couldn’t be a worse time to cut the program.
He isn’t qualified.
He just missed the mark along with Drew Huston. They were both tenths of seconds from making the meet. And yes I agree, he did sacrifice a lot to join this team. To have it be cut like this, you have to feel for him tremendously. Contributed a lot to the team his debut year, but the corrupt AD tarnished his swim career. There’s rumors, however, that he will plan to transfer again. #fighton
We are going to try regardless. The funds are refundable if we do not succeed. But I’m sure aquariums are great to.
An AQUARIUM IS like a SWIM team but With far MORE animals.
Far more potential for revenue as well
Iowa had a donor come in with millions, and the AD still said no. It’s not as simple as raising money… :/
yes I remember that, huge bummer
It’s not just about Cal Poly it’s about the future of Olympic sports in college and how we can save them for future genrations!