Earlier today, the College of Charleston informed its swimmers and divers that the program will potentially be cut following this season, according to multiple members of the program.
SwimSwam got a chance to talk with CofC’s interim head coach Bora Yatagan to get more details on the situation, plus information on how the Cougars plan to try to save their program.
Yatagan said he met with the school’s president Thursday morning, where he was first informed that the school was considering cutting the program.
“They did a survey on campus,” Yatagan said, “and I was told they found only 200 people outside of the swimming & diving program who use the pool.”
The pool, a part of the school’s Stern Student Center, is a 40-year-old facility that last underwent a major renovation in 2000. Yatagan says the ventilation system is currently down, and comes with a $1.5 million price tag to get back up and running.
It appears the combination of the survey results and the pricey repairs was the major factor driving the school to inform the swimming program of its uncertain status. The pool facility would be turned into a meeting space for students in the hopes of serving a larger portion of the student population. The rest of the Stern Student Center will remain untouched, Yatagan said, except for the pool, which would be converted following this swim season.
“The kids are really disappointed,” Yatagan said of the school’s announcement. But immediately, even during that program meeting, athletes were willing to fight to save their team.
The Cougars are already starting a campaign to raise the $1.5 million needed to fix the ventilation system. It’s a steep climb, but CofC Swim & Dive has wasted no time in getting the process started.
Still, that’s only one component of the problem.
“They kept using a comparison to an old car,” Yatagan said of the school’s 4-decade-old facility. “They’re worried that even if they fix the ventilation, that soon something else will need to be repaired.”
To help the pool stay relevant (and worth renovation dollars) in the long-term, the team plans to find out exactly how many college members use the pool and work to grow that number.
“We want to try to get info from students and faculty on campus about how many people actually use the pool,” Yatagan said. The team hopes to find out whether that 200-person figure is really accurate, and also get more people on campus to start using the facility.
“I think it’s good to have a pool on campus,” Yatagan said. “It’s bad for student life to be without one.”
During the meeting, the swimmers also asked the athletic department about finding a different place to train. According to Yatagan, the school said it had looked into other sites but told the team the locations, training times and facilities were “not up to Division I standards.”
It’s worth noting that there are still decisions to be made, and that the program hasn’t officially been cut. The school itself released a short statement Thursday evening noting that nothing is official:
College of Charleston athletics statement: “No decision has been made at this time. We are still in discussions with the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs at College of Charleston.”
Still, it appears the team is on the chopping block unless something major changes, and there were hints this was in the works as far back as last spring. Yatagan served as the interim head coach last season, but was not promoted to head coach or replaced by a long-term coach in the offseason. Heading into a second season with an interim coach could be an indicator that the program wasn’t in the school’s long-term plans, Yatagan says.
Still, the team and coaching staff aren’t giving up on their program just yet.
“They’re a great bunch of kids,” Yatagan says of his swimmers, “and they’re ready to fight.”
Stay tuned as we’ll keep tabs on the situation as it develops and pass along any opportunities for readers to help the College of Charleston save its swimming & diving programs.
It is truly time to think outside of the box – there are many non-revenue sports that colleges field and swimming is just one of them. The facility is probably underutilized by the non-athlete student population because of limited availability of times. It is time for COC and City of Charleston to work together and draft a plan to design a facility either on the peninsula or off which will serve not only the swimming athletes but students as well as citizens of Charleston. The College is certainly large enough to field an active club swimming program as well as offer the pool for recreational use by students and citizens. The rationale was used by Virginia Tech in developing the… Read more »
At Maryland, Joe Hull raised over 14 million as the athletic director. Maryland dropped their swim program because it didn’t make money. Joe Hull has an opportunity here to be a hero and keep the program and make money. The city of Charleston needs a facility to host large club meets that bring swimmers from around the state. The University of Florida host several meets a year for age group swimmers, charging the teams combined thousands of dollars. These meets bring in thousands of swimmers that need hotels, dining, etc. In addition the facility can host city and state meets and charge meet fees, etc. It can be done! It can be something that the city and the college could… Read more »
Opening the pool for large age group swim meets not only bring in money for the city as well!
Opening the pool for large age group swim meets would bring in money for the college and the city!
The Alumni and friends must step up! Never,never,never give up!
Obviously the price of real estate is a driving factor in this decision. The cost of bulldozing the pool and rebuilding a student center on the same lot saves millions if dollars. Buying land in downtown Charleston would be a huge cost. Build a pool for the team off campus or leave it!
Please help us, we all love this sport more than anything else
Sorry to hear this day has come, C of C has been a great place for swimmers in the region that weren’t quite top NCAA level swimmers. I agree with others that this seems to be a case of the the administration just not wanting to fund the program anymore (interesting fact that the AD Hull came to Charleston from Maryland, who also cut their swimming programs..hmmm). But let’s face it: way cheaper to fund a new lacrosse team versus running and maintaining an expensive thing such as a pool. I wish them the best!
If they wanted more students to use the facility, they should have spent the time and money to attract more students
if the college was concerned with prolonged costs to keep the facility updated, why did they not spend the time or the money in 2000?
what renovations were done in 2000? anyone who has any basic knowledge of a pool would know the lifespan of mechanical systems, which ones need replacing, etc.
sounds like c of c just doesnt want the program.