Maryland Swimming Offered Thin Lifeline to Save Program

(Above – Pro Duel 1 Olympians show their support for Maryland Swimming with members of the Michigan dance team).

Today, Maryland President Kevin Loh approved the recommended cuts to the Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Teams, and also signed a released that allows other universities to begin actively recruiting Maryland student-athletes transfer.

But there’s a caveat. Unlike in other situations, the Maryland administration has offered the swim team the opportunity to save their program if they raise enough money to sustain the program for 8-years by June 30th, 2012. Based on the numbers recently released by the Washington Post, this figure would be somewhere in the vicinity of $11.5 million under the current operating budgets (though, with some focus, that number could likely be shrunk significantly). There have even been two Athletics Directors who have been assigned specifically to help the affected programs in their goals of fundraising.

The letter-winners club has already dedicated $1-million, but that may be divided amongst multiple programs. Mind that both programs must be saved (they can’t just save one or the other) because of Title IX concerns.

This throws a bit of a wrench into the plans. Maryland has some very impressive swimmers on their roster, including All-American Ginny Glover, who other programs will be chasing with full might, but at the same time the program believes that there’s a chance that they could put together the fundraising.

The effort to save Maryland Swimming and Diving has set a December 31st benchmark date by which they hope to measure solid progress on their fundraising goal. Because of the difficult situation, those working to save the program have asked that other schools respect that December 31st deadline before making serious moves on the Terrapin athletes.

As for how you can help, the press release below issued by Save Maryland Swimming and Diving gives details on the non-profit that has been set up to receive donations. You can donate online at saveumdswimming.org or send donations to the following address:

Save Maryland Swimming and Diving, Inc.
P.O. Box 30957
Bethesda, Maryland 20824

College Park, MD – 11/21/11 – The University of Maryland (UMD) swimming and
diving programs announced today the formation of a non-profit organization, Save
Maryland Swimming and Diving, Inc., and its campaign to raise the funding required to
permanently endow the programs.

Today, University of Maryland President Wallace Loh announced his decision to allow
the Athletics Department and affected teams to engage in “Save the Programs”
fundraising campaign. The fundraising allowance comes in response to the President’s
Commission Report recommendation to cut men’s and women’s swimming, along with
six other Maryland varsity athletics programs. Under his decision, each team will have
the opportunity to raise funds by June 2012 in order to endow their programs for the
future. The swimming and diving program will work with the department to ensure the
continuation of the swimming and diving teams.

The campaign to save the swimming and diving programs has gone viral since the
announcement, gaining support nationwide. The first-ever Pro Dual swimming meet
took place last week, where more than a dozen United States and International Olympians
took a picture in support of the program. In addition, American swimming standouts like
Natalie Coughlin and Michael Phelps have shown their support alongside thousands of
other athletes and fans on the group’s website.

“We look forward to working with the administration to ensure the sustainability of our
nationally ranked program,” said former Maryland swimmer and current communications
director, Save Maryland Swimming and Diving, Kevin Reardon. “These student-athletes
are among the best and brightest at this University. We encourage our friends, fans,
alumni and fellow athletes to help financially support these outstanding individuals.”
Contributions to the team’s endowment funds can now be made online at
www.saveumdswimming.org or mailed to organization’s address: Save Maryland
Swimming and Diving, Inc. P.O. Box 30957 Bethesda, Maryland 20824