Chicks Heart Fights

Today, Arizona State announced that they dropped wrestling, men’s swimming and men’s tennis, effective immediately. They cite: financial impact, potential competitive success, conference/regional support and gender equity.

I cite: bullshit.

If their finances are such a problem, why can they pay football coach Dennis Erickson $5.6 million over five years? That is what you earn when you take your team to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl? If they are just trying to be competitive with their Pac-10 brethren, they’ve got a long way to go.

If a lack of competitive success is the issue, then why cut the second most successful program in school history? The news of the cut came the day after ASU received signed LOIs from five recruits. In addition to these recruits, ASU had 5 NCAA qualifiers this year, including the fantastic Anthony Robles (pictured above). Not only did Robles come within one match of being an All-American as a freshman, he is one of the best stories to ever exist in wrestling. A native Arizonan, he will now have to travel out of state to continue wrestling. Is he the type of wrestler who won’t be competitive?

If conference regional support is the problem, then why are there 10 schools in the Pac-10 for wrestling? That’s double the amount that the Big 12 have. There is plenty of competition in California, not to mention that Nevada hosts two huge tournaments every year. Is it that hard to get to Vegas?

Finally, if gender equity is the problem, then why didn’t adding women’s water polo two years ago help? If gender equity is the problem, why did it take this long to get into compliance? 70 athletes are being shown the door due to these cuts. Were they really missing quotas by that much?

These cuts were not about money, winning or Title IX. They are about mismanagement, and choices that the AD made. Is it more important for Dennis Erickson to get a bonus, or should we have a wrestling program? Jason Bryant of InterMat interviewed some ASU alums today, and Aaron Simpson, who coached at ASU until the past season, said it best:

“I heard ASU was in a deficit, but (ASU) is building a multi-million dollar indoor football practice facility in a place where there is no snow,” said Simpson. “If you’re an A.D. who can’t raise money and can’t find solutions to keep programs, you’re not doing your job.”

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