Lock Haven University has removed women’s swimming from its list of programs proposed to be cut, but head coach Joel Blesh won’t be leading the program.
Lock Haven swimmers were informed in January that their team was proposed to be cut, sparking an outcry on social media behind the hashtag #SaveHaven. Swimmers also reported that the school’s men’s track team was slated to be cut alongside swimming.
The school finalized its proposal this week, removing swimming from the programs to be cut, but leaving both indoor and outdoor track & field on the chopping block. Lockhaven newspaper The Express indicates that the women’s swimming program’s continued existence is tied to Title IX, with “a trend toward higher women’s enrollment at the university in the coming years.”
Program Continues, Coach Will Not
But the swimming program isn’t out of hot water yet. The proposal included “modifications” to the women’s swim program, as called for by University President Michael Fiorentino, Jr. and athletics director Thomas Gioglio.
The first of those modifications appears to be the removal of head coach Blesh, who said he was told he wouldn’t be heading the swim program anymore right after a Monday meeting announcing the program wouldn’t be cut.
“On Monday at 9:30 AM we had a scheduled union meeting to discuss the possibility of cutting programs,” Blesh told SwimSwam. “I was texted by the athletic director at 9:24 AM and was told that he wanted to see me after the meeting.
“At the end of the meeting, Gioglio and LHU’s Vice President for HR Deana Hill stayed behind and gave me a letter saying that Monday was my last day at LHU. They exercised their right to buy out my contract.”
The school termed the move as choosing not to extend Blesh’s contract, which runs through June 30, 2017. Lock Haven said the school can decide on contract renewals or non-renewals at any point after the season ends.
Blesh just finished his 5th season coaching Lock Haven, which is a bit of a milestone in contractual terms. The Pennsylvania state colleges faculty and coaches union (ASPCUF) contract allows a university president to set the length of head coaching contracts over the first five years. But once a coach has completed five full years, the collective bargaining agreement requires the school to give that coach a 3-year “roll-over” contract. Blesh will come up a few months short of that contract.
Troubled Waters
Lock Haven and its swim program have had their fair share of bumps and bruises of late. Last month, a Lock Haven swimmer came forward with the news that the program may be cut, and also claimed that the school had canceled the team’s training trip without offering a reason.
Shortly after, a parent of a Lock Haven swimmer contacted SwimSwam with an open letter to the University’s president. In the letter, Carolyn Bingham criticized President Fiorentino for claiming that athletes “have not made any noise about [the] proposal to eliminate both the swim team and the track team” while forcing the athletes to sign a “gag order” not to talk about the proposed cuts to the media, under threat of suspension.
The school confirmed to SwimSwam that it wasn’t allowing its athletes to speak to the media, and Blesh confirmed that the school’s policy required athletes to go to the school’s sports information personnel to get permission before speaking to the media.
The training trip is another area of confusion between reports from both sides. The swimmer who originally came forward, indicated that the athletes had fully funded the training trip themselves. Coach Blesh confirms that the travel plan he submitted to the school for permission didn’t request any school funds.
“The travel form that I put forward had $0 requested,” he said. “It was all coming out of our fundraising account.”
The school didn’t respond to our original request for comment on the subject of the training trip, but this week directly contradicted what Blesh said. “The swim trip that was not approved was considered a recruiting trip by the coach,” said Director of Athletic Communications Doug Spatafore. “There would have been funds requested from the university to support the trip.”
Blesh says he followed university policy in turning in his travel plans months ahead of time, but that the school decided not to approve the team’s training trip.
“The other thing is that they refused to meet with me about it,” Blesh said. “They wouldn’t give me an answer as to why.”
The swimmer from the earlier story says the school’s vice president, Rodney Jenkins, at first refused to respond, then told athletes that the trip wasn’t approved due to financial constraints. The swimmer says that when Jenkins was told that the trip wouldn’t cost the school any money due to fundraising, he said the trip wasn’t approved “because I said so.” Jenkins denies having said that.
Lock Haven and APSCUF
While Lock Haven and the swimming program have had their own clashes this year, the broader conversation has been between the school and APSCUF, the faculty and coaches union. According to The Express, the school originally gave its proposal to APSCUF, and that the union responded with its own counter-proposal, titled “Points for Consideration from Coaches, Faculty, Student Athletes.”
The Express reports that the original proposal had to do with falling enrollment, which was leaving less student fees available for athletics, which uses student fees at 85% of its budget. The union suggested that cutting sports would hurt enrollment even further and recommended instead adding more sports: women’s bowling, women’s water polo, women’s tennis and women’s golf. The union’s counter-proposal claimed that the new sports would both draw more students to the school and help the school stay within Title IX requirements.
Lock Haven’s local APSCUF chapter vice president Tim Baylor described the counter-proposal this way:
“We have had the issue as presented to us as an enrollment problem… Each athletic team obviously brings in a certain number of students. Doing anything that is seen as negatively affecting a particular sport is more likely to further increase or exacerbate the enrollment problem.”
But the school noted that it didn’t have the funding to launch new sports, noting that “it generally takes one to three years for funds raised by a new sport to exceed the expenses.” Vice President Jenkins said the school couldn’t guarantee that any new team would bring in enough new students to make the addition of sports financially viable.
“I can’t add costs with no detailed projections that those costs will turn into revenue,” he said in The Express.
Jenkins also noted that surveys of incoming female students showed 0% interest in bowling, water polo and golf and that interest in tennis was at about 2.5%.
That disagreement between Lock Haven and APSCUF is the backdrop to all of the swimming-specific drama of the past few months. In addition to coaching swimming at Lock Haven, Blesh served as vice president of the APSCUF Coaches Council. He pointed to the other programs affected by Lock Haven’s proposal:
“You look at… the only sports that were affected in the initial proposal by administration: The track and field coach [Aaron Russell] is our elected union president. Swimming, I’m the vice president. And the field hockey coach [Pat Rudy] is our elected grievance chair.”
Indoor and Outdoor Track & field were the programs cut, while field hockey is currently under review with a possibility of moving to Division II. When asked about those specific sports and union official coaches being affected, the school gave this statement: “All program decisions within the proposal we considered based on industry trends and information obtained through research of the director.”
For now the swim program, which took 12th at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships last month, will have to wait for further news on a new head coach and whether the university’s president approves the current proposal to cut track & field, as well as find out if any further “modifications” are in line for the swim program.
I am so disappointed that they would remove coach Blesh! I’m glad that they are keeping the swim team but it still feels like a loss! As far as cancelling the training trip we as parents past and present helped with fund raisers and those wonen have always shown respect and honor during those trips to give Lock Haven an honorable reputation! There is no reason for you to deny that trip! Thise students deserve to be trwated better tban that and so does Joel Blesh! Whatever the reason is for his dismissal sounds like it’s come down to money! Although I feel no sports should be cut it think there are other ways to come up with what you… Read more »
Let me ask all of you negative posters this, what are you gaining from these posts? You got what you wanted, didn’t you? The person you wanted out is gone and now your kicking him while he’s down, probably at his lowest point, and for what reason? Those of us posting on behalf of him are trying to pick him and and support him during this tough time. Someone just lost a job. Now he is left worrying not only about the team he was forced to leave behind but also about how to make ends meet. We shouldn’t wish that upon anyone. Those of you might not know that Joel has been around this program for far longer than… Read more »
With all of this, all I keep thinking back to was this years alumni meet. For all of you alumni who came out to support the team once it was at risk of being cut. Where were you? Coming back to 3 other alumni (two of which live still live in Lock Haven) was honestly one of the most disappointing moments I have had as a Lady Eagle. We might not all agree with the leadership whether that is the coaching staff or athletic department. But in order to have a successful team there needs to be a successful alumni base.
I hope that the lesson we all can learn is that we all swam together. We might not… Read more »
YES! Lets show LHU all the wonderful alumni we have and ALL come out to the alumni meet!
I agree it’s sad that only a few people were at the alumni meet, but there are a ton of alumni who live out of state, some out of the country. Many now have babies/kids and professional jobs and were unable to make it. Being back together at PSACs, it felt like no time had passed. Alumni got to laugh and reminisce while supporting the current swimmers. LHU swimming has produced some amazing swimmers and people. I’m proud of where I swam in my collegiate years and who I got to swim with. I think life can get busy, but look at the alumni who rallied when they realized the team was at risk for being cut. I was taken… Read more »
I can honestly say I’ve only been to 1 alumni meet since graduating. I work on saturdays so it makes it difficult to come to those. However, I’ve been to every single PSAC meet since graduating minus 1 when I was out of town so that’s how I’ve shown my support to the program. As well as donating to the program. Well at least that’s where I though my money was going. Not sure if it actually did. You’ll find that committing to the alumni meet year after year is difficult when you start a family, buy a house, commit to a career, etc. but just know we show our support in other ways. I’m sorry to hear how disappointed… Read more »
I think Blesh got what he deserved, I’m sure they didn’t fire him for no reason. My swimmer qualified early in the season for the PSAC Championships and was taking off the team with no explanation! She worked very hard and gave her all. Coaches are supposed to support and help athletes grow. Just because he has issues he didn’t have to punish a hard worker. The program is better off without him.
Knowing Joel personally it’s not the coaches fault and being closer to the program than you are it’s Swimmer’s fault you’re obviously a helicopter parent
Didn’t she violate team policy? Check your facts.
Again, get YOUR facts correct, because no she did not violate team policy.
No! And she never would have! She was raised the right way!
As a former LHU swimmer I can honestly say that for the majority of the recent alumni this has been a day in the making for the last 5 years. Many of the swimmers worked tirelessly for years to try and get the administration to see what was happening to the team. There is no other reason for the downward progression of the team other than the lack of knowledge from Coach Blesh. Even after being in the position for 5 years he did not try and improve the team. It takes a certain person to step in and keep a winning team and unfortunately Coach Blesh was not this person.
This is not in any way saying he… Read more »
It’s interesting…there have a few seasons that included monsters on the team. Are you one of them? I wonder how insecure a person must be to go out and attempt to destroy a person’s lively hood just because they had their feelings hurt. There are a few “swammers” who this may be…and if it’s one of 4 that I think it is, well, you aren’t the nicest of people. In fact, the team has been stronger than ever since a certain group of girls have graduated on. Something you obviously didn’t learn is that sometimes people will hurt your feelings. News flash: get over it. Grow up. Move on. You obviously have ZERO love for the program if you really… Read more »
Why would I move on if I want the team to succeed? When PSAC qualifiers are dwindling how is a coach supposed to recruit? I look at all of this as numbers and why would someone want to go to a program that wasn’t turning in results.
Do you have any idea how big the incoming recruiting class is? Didn’t your group also have an issue with the previous coaching staff? That would be a big ol’ YES. How can a coach even possibly recruit when a few on the team are actually horrible people? Who turned the team into one big cesspool of drama? You and your gang of know it all’s. And lack of knowledge?! Do you even have ANY clue who Joel has worked alongside and learned from? Do you understand that most of the current team won’t tell you that they are happy that group of girls (you included) graduated. You guys were terrors, and obviously still are. Move on = stay out… Read more »
From how close you, Mamajune, know the team, you must have been a swimmer. As a recent swimmer, my heart is sad because of the way you are talking about what seems like a fellow teammate(s). I would hope you wouldn’t talk about a teammate(s) like this no matter how much you dislike them. From the comments you have made, I believe I was on the team with this women/woman you speak horribly about. I was also the captain of the team last year. I hope for the sake of my team you are not a swimmer or swimming alumni, just from the language you have used. I felt the need to comment because I feel that LHU swimming will… Read more »
But am I wrong? Build each other up? Go take a walk. Did you not read the entitled garbage spewed by another so called proud swimmer? Don’t even attempt to lecture me on what it means to be a good teammate. Those girls never gave Joel a chance and you know it.
I respect you because you seem to care a lot about Joel. But you don’t care about any girls who have or who are currently on the team the way you are talking. We have done our best to represent the team in a positive way. I hope people reading these comments don’t believe that YOU represent the LHU swimming team,
with all of this anger and hate. I have known Joel almost my whole life, and am not going to even start to talk about him, even in a good light, on a online comment section and I can’t imagine doing it behind a username.
LHU is wrong the way they have acted towards Joel, this isn’t… Read more »
Emily, I have 2 conditions on revealing who I am:
1. The LHU Swammer and Swammer people tell the other comment readers who they are
2. You go at them for what they are saying because what they are saying doesn’t represent the LHU coach or program that I know. You won’t only because a. you are friends with them and know who they are or b. They needed backup for their comments and you were a willing voice for them and thereby agree with what they are saying about someone you seem to respect based on your comments above.
Your move.
It doesn’t matter who he “worked for” or “learned from”, it matters what he brings to the table which unfortunately was not what LHU needed to succeed. No one is saying that Joel is a bad person, they simply stated that Joel was not a good COLLEGE coach. He may have been a good YMCA youth coach but did not have the background that he truly needed to coach a Division II program. He was under qualified for the position, the university needed a head coach fast he was there. All in all it is the universities fault for hiring an unqualified person for a position that needed someone who had more experience than a YMCA coach or a “sideline”… Read more »
And you are the judge of what a good college coach is? I don’t think so.
And who are YOU to judge what a good college coach is? By the looks of it, you are just a follower of the team, and who thinks they know EVERYTHING about the team, inside and out. When in fact YOUR facts are incorrect, stop hiding behind “MAMAJUNE”.
Actually his numbers increased from year-to-year believe it or not
Who wrote this? It’s pretty cowardly to write something like this and then not have the balls to stand up and own it. Also, change your name. No “LHU Swammer” would ever come out and say something like this. When we were fighting to keep the swim team at LHU, we were also fighting for Coach Blesh to remain apart of it. As much as I loved swimming for Andy, when he left the team – it was a mess. Joel Blesh came into a program that had lost 6 seniors – 4 of which were PSAC swimmers. That’s a pretty hard blow. On top of that, Coach Blesh had to deal with swimmers who were angry, bitter, and selfish.… Read more »
As a former LHU swimmer shame on you for blaming your lack of accomplishments on your coach!
Congratulations Lock Haven Administration! You get the award for being the biggest joke in the PA. You’ve got a lack of students problem and you’ve created more negative publicity because of the actions of your President, Vice President and non-existent Athletic Director. Why would any serious athlete want to go there? Why would any parent allow their son or daughter to go this dumpster fire of a University?
Also, doesn’t Rodney Jenkins have a history of harassment filed in HR? That’s the real story.
It’s cool Doug, we all know you had to sell your soul to keep your job. Bravo and good luck!