Mike Bottom is the University of Michigan swim coach for both men and women. At Monday's rally he pledged $10,000 to help keep all four programs.

Bottom knows what it's like to have your dreams dashed by bureaucrats. He made the U.S. Olympic swim team in 1980 only to have a boycott enforced by Jimmy Carter.

The myopic people who run our university gave no warning to anyone about their plot. It might have shown that they could raise money and make cuts within the programs to help the financial situation.

Now they're enforcing a gag order on coaches who think it's a bad move. I'm sure they'd try to gag coach Bottom if possible.

Why would the coaches follow the gag order doesn't there contract end July 1st?

(04-19-2018 01:47 PM)fanfrompowellspub Wrote:  Why would the coaches follow the gag order doesn't there contract end July 1st?

I'll bet they're looking at severance pay that will be denied it they don't be quiet.

(04-19-2018 05:14 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  

(04-19-2018 01:47 PM)fanfrompowellspub Wrote:  Why would the coaches follow the gag order doesn't there contract end July 1st?

I'll bet they're looking at severance pay that will be denied it they don't be quiet.

I don't have any idea about severance (who has seen a wrestling or S&D contract!!) but some contracts, usually head coaches, are multi-year.

I believe most asst coaches are year to year.

Who knows what the four head coaches are for (how many more years).

Just saw this....
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/east...revisited_

(04-19-2018 06:09 PM)KPJ Wrote:  Just saw this....
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/east...revisited_

Thanks for posting Keith! I missed the article.

I for one want to keep these sports, just like I wanted GM to keep the Saturn, Hummer and most of all Pontiac brands as well. At some point, however, painful decisions have to be made to insure the survival of the total enterprise. Wetherbee performed the due diligence and per the administration directive to cut costs, he recommended these actions. Surprisingly the responses from the administration have been rapid and direct, a departure from the "namby-mamby let's please everyone" reactions from past EMU leadership.

A $10K donation is deeply appreciated, but in truth is insignificant with respect to the cost of continuing these sports. It is purely symbolic unless someone is willing to put at least two more zeros at the end of that number.

(04-19-2018 07:06 PM)Jerry Weaver Wrote:  

(04-19-2018 06:09 PM)KPJ Wrote:  Just saw this....
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/east...revisited_

Thanks for posting Keith! I missed the article.

I for one want to keep these sports, just like I wanted GM to keep the Saturn, Hummer and most of all Pontiac brands as well. At some point, however, painful decisions have to be made to insure the survival of the total enterprise. Wetherbee performed the due diligence and per the administration directive to cut costs, he recommended these actions. Surprisingly the responses from the administration have been rapid and direct, a departure from the "namby-mamby let's please everyone" reactions from past EMU leadership.

A $10K donation is deeply appreciated, but in truth is insignificant with respect to the cost of continuing these sports. It is purely symbolic unless someone is willing to put at least two more zeros at the end of that number.

Agree 100% with everything you just said.

The university made no attempt to warn coaches, boosters, alumni and other interested parties who could have helped with the budget. No attempt whatsoever. Then they ignored everyone who said they'd help and put out false numbers that vastly overestimated the cost of at least one of the sports.

The administration is inept, showing no foresight or management skills.

Funny that GM was used as an example EMU should follow. If not for bailout by the federal government, they wouldn't exist.

(04-19-2018 11:00 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  The university made no attempt to warn coaches, boosters, alumni and other interested parties who could have helped with the budget. No attempt whatsoever. Then they ignored everyone who said they'd help and put out false numbers that vastly overestimated the cost of at least one of the sports.

The administration is inept, showing no foresight or management skills.

Funny that GM was used as an example EMU should follow. If not for bailout by the federal government, they wouldn't exist.

None of us like the cuts but bureaucracies are not why the cuts were made. It's simple economics. The budget needed to be cut. Once that decision has been made then Title IX comes into play which played a major role in the combination of sports that would be cut. Personally, I wish swimming and softball could have been spared. Perhaps golf, rowing, and gymnastics, would have been choices that seem more appropriate. But we weren't involved with the books or the restrictions that the athletic director had to work with. The complexities of this obviously very difficult.

It's time to put the hard feelings aside and support the programs we do have.

(04-20-2018 05:41 AM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(04-19-2018 11:00 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  The university made no attempt to warn coaches, boosters, alumni and other interested parties who could have helped with the budget. No attempt whatsoever. Then they ignored everyone who said they'd help and put out false numbers that vastly overestimated the cost of at least one of the sports.

The administration is inept, showing no foresight or management skills.

Funny that GM was used as an example EMU should follow. If not for bailout by the federal government, they wouldn't exist.

None of us like the cuts but bureaucracies are not why the cuts were made. It's simple economics. The budget needed to be cut. Once that decision has been made then Title IX comes into play which played a major role in the combination of sports that would be cut. Personally, I wish swimming and softball could have been spared. Perhaps golf, rowing, and gymnastics, would have been choices that seem more appropriate. But we weren't involved with the books or the restrictions that the athletic director had to work with. The complexities of this obviously very difficult.

It's time to put the hard feelings aside and support the programs we do have.

Agree. The one thing we sometimes fail to realize (and we realize the big ones: $ and Title IX) is how the sports we support fit into the MAC sports mosaic.

Some sports are 12 / 12: All schools must have them, obviously FB, MBB, WBB, etc.

Some sports are almost all schools have them e.g., baseball, W T&F, etc.

Some sports are less e.g., M T&F.

Some sports are hardly MAC sports at all, essentially a few MAC schools playing a sport with other schools which are outside the MAC.

To get a thorough and valid look one would need to look at each sport and decide if it is a 'MAC sport." If only a few MAC schools play that sport, then it is in a weakned position.

I hope EMU can invest the money from cutting the four sports back into MBB and football.

(04-20-2018 11:58 AM)Luckeyone Wrote:  I hope EMU can invest the money from cutting the four sports back into MBB and football.

I'm not sure.

Wasn't EMU athletics to cut 5% in FY 2018?

So a lot of the savings actually might have been already 'baked' into the FY 2019 budget.

That said, I do wonder if there isn't say 500K in savings left to boost some sports like the ones you mention.

That said, #2: However EMU will not realize 100% of the savings in 2018/9 because some athletes will remain in school (e.g., a rising senior), maybe some staff will need to be paid for 2018/9 even though they are not coaching, etc.

Where this is brutal is: Athlete X just finished his junior year and would have liked to be a student athlete his senior year.

What does he do? Transfer with only one year of academics left? Redshirt his senior year and be a grad transfer at another school?

(04-19-2018 11:00 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  The university made no attempt to warn coaches, boosters, alumni and other interested parties who could have helped with the budget. No attempt whatsoever. Then they ignored everyone who said they'd help and put out false numbers that vastly overestimated the cost of at least one of the sports.

The administration is inept, showing no foresight or management skills.

Funny that GM was used as an example EMU should follow. If not for bailout by the federal government, they wouldn't exist.

I did not use GM for comparison purposes to be funny, but rather as a companion example where an institution encounters financial difficulties and is forced to take painful and universally unpopular actions. The bailout that GM received contained certain conditions such as pruning brands, closing dealerships and renegotiating labor contracts, all of which were terribly unpopular. Ypsilanti lost the Willow Run Powertrain Plant and two GM dealerships as a result. The comparison is not only similar but local as well.

(04-20-2018 06:11 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(04-20-2018 05:41 AM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(04-19-2018 11:00 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  The university made no attempt to warn coaches, boosters, alumni and other interested parties who could have helped with the budget. No attempt whatsoever. Then they ignored everyone who said they'd help and put out false numbers that vastly overestimated the cost of at least one of the sports.

The administration is inept, showing no foresight or management skills.

Funny that GM was used as an example EMU should follow. If not for bailout by the federal government, they wouldn't exist.

None of us like the cuts but bureaucracies are not why the cuts were made. It's simple economics. The budget needed to be cut. Once that decision has been made then Title IX comes into play which played a major role in the combination of sports that would be cut. Personally, I wish swimming and softball could have been spared. Perhaps golf, rowing, and gymnastics, would have been choices that seem more appropriate. But we weren't involved with the books or the restrictions that the athletic director had to work with. The complexities of this obviously very difficult.

It's time to put the hard feelings aside and support the programs we do have.

Agree. The one thing we sometimes fail to realize (and we realize the big ones: $ and Title IX) is how the sports we support fit into the MAC sports mosaic.

Some sports are 12 / 12: All schools must have them, obviously FB, MBB, WBB, etc.

Some sports are almost all schools have them e.g., baseball, W T&F, etc.

Some sports are less e.g., M T&F.

Some sports are hardly MAC sports at all, essentially a few MAC schools playing a sport with other schools which are outside the MAC.

To get a thorough and valid look one would need to look at each sport and decide if it is a 'MAC sport." If only a few MAC schools play that sport, then it is in a weakned position.

Nickle and Steve I think you both make outstanding points. Our wrestling team was bested by MAC conference rivals Missouri and Old Dominion. In men's swimming we got beat by MAC rivals like Southern Illinois and Missouri St while we did best Evansville. These are NOT peer institutions, Missouri is Power 5, Evansville does not play football and Missouri St is the whipping boy in the Missouri Valley conference. There are no established rivalries with these teams, thus they present little compelling attraction for recruiting new students.

Lets face it as well, dropping these sports will diminish the price tag of Phase II of the Championship Building as well. Natatoriums are expensive to build and maintain.

Our peers are inferior so we should be too. Got it.

The MAC wrestling members performs at a higher level of competition than any other sport. It is light years ahead of football and basketball.

Men's swimming dramatically improved when traditional MAC schools dropped out and others were added.

These are what the league should strive to be.

As for rivalies, are you aware that we have no serious rivalries in football? CMU and WMU have each other. Toledo has BG. We have nobody.

(04-20-2018 08:43 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Men's swimming dramatically improved when traditional MAC schools dropped out and others were added.

These are what the league should strive to be.

So the league should strive to be a hodgepodge of schools varying from sport to sport, and to commit resources to irrelevant sports that few outside of the participants have any interest in, adding almost no exposure to the school and conference. Got it. Sounds like a plan that even prof Bunsis could get behind.

(04-20-2018 10:35 PM)EMU03 Wrote:  

(04-20-2018 08:43 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Men's swimming dramatically improved when traditional MAC schools dropped out and others were added.

These are what the league should strive to be.

So the league should strive to be a hodgepodge of schools varying from sport to sport, and to commit resources to irrelevant sports that few outside of the participants have any interest in, adding almost no exposure to the school and conference. Got it. Sounds like a plan that even prof Bunsis could get behind.

......exactly what I was thinking reading his nonsense!

The swim team dramatically 'improved' when it started competing against vastly weaker competition. That's great!

(04-21-2018 08:31 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  

(04-20-2018 10:35 PM)EMU03 Wrote:  

(04-20-2018 08:43 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Men's swimming dramatically improved when traditional MAC schools dropped out and others were added.

These are what the league should strive to be.

So the league should strive to be a hodgepodge of schools varying from sport to sport, and to commit resources to irrelevant sports that few outside of the participants have any interest in, adding almost no exposure to the school and conference. Got it. Sounds like a plan that even prof Bunsis could get behind.

......exactly what I was thinking reading his nonsense!

The swim team dramatically 'improved' when it started competing against vastly weaker competition. That's great!

You misunderstand. The MAC dramatically improved when some schools dropped men's swimming and were replaced by better teams.

(04-22-2018 05:33 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  

(04-21-2018 08:31 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  

(04-20-2018 10:35 PM)EMU03 Wrote:  

(04-20-2018 08:43 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Men's swimming dramatically improved when traditional MAC schools dropped out and others were added.

These are what the league should strive to be.

So the league should strive to be a hodgepodge of schools varying from sport to sport, and to commit resources to irrelevant sports that few outside of the participants have any interest in, adding almost no exposure to the school and conference. Got it. Sounds like a plan that even prof Bunsis could get behind.

......exactly what I was thinking reading his nonsense!

The swim team dramatically 'improved' when it started competing against vastly weaker competition. That's great!

You misunderstand. The MAC dramatically improved when some schools dropped men's swimming and were replaced by better teams.

Good point, one completely missed by EagleLite.

(04-23-2018 11:33 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(04-22-2018 05:33 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  

(04-21-2018 08:31 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  

(04-20-2018 10:35 PM)EMU03 Wrote:  

(04-20-2018 08:43 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Men's swimming dramatically improved when traditional MAC schools dropped out and others were added.

These are what the league should strive to be.

So the league should strive to be a hodgepodge of schools varying from sport to sport, and to commit resources to irrelevant sports that few outside of the participants have any interest in, adding almost no exposure to the school and conference. Got it. Sounds like a plan that even prof Bunsis could get behind.

......exactly what I was thinking reading his nonsense!

The swim team dramatically 'improved' when it started competing against vastly weaker competition. That's great!

You misunderstand. The MAC dramatically improved when some schools dropped men's swimming and were replaced by better teams.

Good point, one completely missed by EagleLite.

Sally protecting Francis. You ladies are too cute.