Across the country, there’s been an outpouring of support from all corners of swimming for the College of Charleston Swimming & Diving teams, which found out a few weeks ago that the school planned to cut the program. Pros, high schools, clubs, age groups, and even Olympic Champions like Ryan Lochte have supported the continuation of NCAA Division I swimming in Charleston, South Carolina.
Maybe the most spine-tingling show of support came from the alumni of the University of Clemson swimming program, a South Carolina rival who lost both their men’s and women’s swimming and men’s diving programs after the 2011-2012 season.
The University of Maryland team received similar demonstrations of support 2.5 years ago, but the poorly-run athletic department was so “broke” they could not afford a swimming team, so abolished it, along with several others. But hey, I guess that worked! Now the department has just announced they will spend $155,000,000 to build an indoor practice field for the roughly 100 members of the football team! There are 37,000 students at Maryland, but they will spend $1,500,000 PER FOOTBALL PLAYER on an indoor field so the players won’t have to face those brutally cold autumn days in College Park (today it is 55 degrees in CP). What a disgraceful embarrassment my alma mater has become…..
And Hull used to be in the ad department at UM. I know he was there slightly before they lost their program but you have to wonder what influence he had.
athletic director joe hull has expressed, in no uncertain terms, c of c will not bring swimming back. too bad c of c cant exchange joe hull for swimming… seems like swimming has done a heck of a lot more for the community than he has.
It’s great to show support by tweeting, facebooking, or making a video, but none of those are going to save the program. I went through this years ago, and although those things look nice, money is usually the only thing that can save a program; and sometimes money isn’t enough if Title 9 issues are involved. I hate to be Debby Downer, but it’s the truth.