University of New Mexico Drops NCAA Ski Program

[Muleski]

UNM announced that they are dropping their NCAA men's and women's ski teams. Both Alpine and Nordic.

It's hard for many state universities to justify the expense. The press release in skiracing.com mentions a $600K budget savings. With five coaches, and more than 20 athletes, scholarships, travel, entries, I would have thought that it would be a bigger number.

Having been through this exercise {looking at the option, but never really seriously contemplating abandoning the sport}, the cost per athlete is very considerable. Evidently the university system in NM has a lot of financial pressure.

In the East, UNH made this same decision years ago, and a very strong alumni group raised enough money to endow the program and put it on solid footing. UVM
is not going anywhere.

Sadly, the sport is probably a better fit with private colleges that have big endowments, or public universities with big athletic programs including a lot of revenue generating sports...and history with the sport. CU, DU, Utah, etc.

I took a quick look at the roster. One guy from New Mexico, and for that group a surprising amount of Americans. Maybe eight? That is pretty unusual in these days.

The university will honor any scholarships until the athletes graduate, or would no longer be eligible {normally an age issue}.

Will be interesting to see how many find new homes. I assume many will.

In the fall Alaska Anchorage announced that they were dropping the sport, but they reversed that decision. Maybe there is some hope for UNM.

I have the impression that these discussions with the University leadership might be even shorter when you have a team that is almost entirely loaded with European skiers, many on scholarship.

Being objective, what do those teams really "do" for their respective states? Still I hate to see them gone. So many have been shut down.

 

[pais alto]

Interesting. I was wondering about that team. I work at the nearest reliable ski hill to UNM and didn't see them training at all this last season.

Being objective, what do those teams really "do" for their respective states?

Good question.

 

[BGreen]

I saw that too, though I had not heard Alaska reversed its decision. I wonder where Ben will end up. He's a good guy and a good coach. There was a time when almost the entire team was Norwegians.

 

[BGreen]

@Muleski
https://www.change.org/p/unm-board-of-regents-save-the-university-of-new-mexico-ski-team

 

[newfydog]

I have a friend who is an alumni of the UNM ski program who is working hard on facebook to drum up support. I have to say. I have some mixed feelings. She is Swedish, spent four years there on a full ride, and was an NCAA champion. It is great to bring over athletes of that level to show our student athletes what world class skiing is, not to mention that she was a terrific student (picked up a MS in mathematics) and is a nice person, and drop dead gorgeous.

At the same time I had a friend who was the top high school skier in Colorado, went to CU, and could not make the team. Only one American was in their top five.

I think we ought to limit the number of foreign athletes allowed, so each school has a few for examples of excellence, but a limit would make the programs more affordable, and perhaps Colorado's top skier could then actually ski for Univ of Colorado, and a smaller school like New Mexico could afford a team.

 

[BGreen]

@newfydog One of my pet peeves is coaches and programs pushing kids harder and longer with the carrot being a full-ride scholarship to a NCAA D1 school, but the reality is when you look at how many spots are available to Americans, a spot on the USST is more likely. Now, this is also the case because USSA/USST turned up their noses at collegiate skiing while the Europeans recognized the opportunity.

 

[ScotsSkier]

Didnt Dykester do a season as coach there as well?

 

[Muleski]

@newfydog One of my pet peeves is coaches and programs pushing kids harder and longer with the carrot being a full-ride scholarship to a NCAA D1 school, but the reality is when you look at how many spots are available to Americans, a spot on the USST is more likely. Now, this is also the case because USSA/USST turned up their noses at collegiate skiing while the Europeans recognized the opportunity.

Good point. I never had any conflict with this until some of the better funded national ski federations make the very open and transparent decision to cut back on the funding of a chunk of their programs, and pretty aggressively try to place their skiers in US Universities. My son has two age group peers, friends of his who are Norwegian and doing VERY well on the World Cup.

There is something about the recent changes that to me sort of feels wrong. CU had an exceptional freshman, who is a German WC skier. A number of WC and EC starts, as well as the NorAm SL crown.

So, you can look at these athletes coming here, and "taking" our scholarships, etc. it has become strange to see most of the field at the NCAA Champs be foreign. At the same time, they tend to be really great people, and they contribute in many ways.

I have found the perception of the realities of college racing at the NCAA level to be often very misunderstood. The full ride is rare. In the East, the EISA, you have some of the finest private colleges in the world fielding teams. Parents often don't realize that the level of competition is high, and fun. They also have no clue about how generous the financial aid is at most schools....if you have a need. Combine that with the admission push of being a recruited athlete, and it can be a great opportunity.

The AD's at the two Ivy League schools that ski are friends of mine. Essentially, it's one of the most affordable educations in the country.
Same with the NESCAC schools with NCAA programs. My daughter had a teammate who paid about $5K a year, versus a sticker price of $60K plus.

The European/Canadian ranks are growing in the East, as well, but nothing like Utah, CU, DU, etc. I find it very interesting that Westminster, which has a relationship with the USST, has an Alpine team that may have one or two Americans. Depends on the year. Once again, they are great "kids."

Just sort of strange. I was just shocked at the NCAA's about 5-6 years ago. And my reaction was just kind of confusing. Is this good, bad, or a non-event?

Making the case to the board of regents at UNM to keep the team might be tough. One New Mexico resident, who went to a ski academy in Utah, on the team. And a lot of Europeans.

The college coaches will tell you that they can't compete without global recruiting. Not sure that I totally buy that.

Interesting topic, either way.

The NCAA, IMO, is not a great organization. They have a lot of issues that they should be wrestling with, but seem to avoid....in most sports.

 

[Muleski]

Didnt Dykester do a season as coach there as well?

Yep. Alpine assistant a number of years ago.
When they won the NCAA's.

 

[Brian Finch]

Didnt Dykester do a season as coach there as well?

Yes, my wife & some of her friends actually sponsored/ funded some early season camps.

 

[Brian Finch]

Shame to hear, there are so many talented athletes & absent opportunity to race/train, development will be cut short. Not only in terms of USST development, but future coaches, program directors & assistants.

Youth coaches don't grow on trees.

 

[newfydog]

The whole topic of recruiting and foreign students goes way back....

In the mid- Pleistocene, college skiing included jumping. The jump was the highlight of the winter carnivals. Every little town in New England had a little municipal jump, and the eastern schools could recruit jumpers locally. I guess it was hard to get eastern jumpers to leave home or something, but the western schools found they had to get them from Scandinavia. Both eastern and western schools could recruit alpine skiers locally, and both eastern and western schools went to Scandinavia for cross country skiers. Americans really sucked at XC in those days.

At some point, there was a limit on how many scholarship skiers a team could have. I don't know if it was imposed by the NCAA or just by budgets, but the western schools figured if they eliminated jumping they wouldn't have to spread the scholarships over two events. Citing insurance costs and difficulty of finding facilities, the western schools voted 100% to eliminate jumping and the cross country relays were added. A big loss in my mind.

Soon the XC events were mostly a foreign affair. The limits on scholarships faded away. The CU Buffalos had some pre-race chant in Norwegian, and there were rumors they had an interpreter to make sure they didn't miss and instructions. { A side note: Once (only once) UVM won the XC relay in with a home grown team --- it was a huge shock, and they showed up at the awards with "Born in the USA" shirts.}

The XC model spilled over into Alpine, and soon the teams were filled with Europa Cup veterans. Now it is out of control. The CU freshman who swept the NCAA's this year is from Germany and will turn 24 next month. In the last year he has raced in SLO, LIE, AUT, GER, FRA, SWE, NOR, CAN, and apparently in the USA. This is crazy shit. NCAA football and basketball players are more genuinely student athletes than some of our skiers. If we let it continue, we'll have about four schools in the NCAA represented by B level world cuppers, and the genuine student skiers will all be in the USCSA.

 

[Muleski]

Newf,

GREAT post, as always. Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Aside from everything already mentioned, what gets my goat here is that the budget of the entire team probably covers the salary for one assistant tackling coach on the UNM football team.

Mu uncle coached a Div I wrestling team that won the NCAA Championship multiple times. His program was eliminated when Title IX came in and they had to cut men's sports to add women's sports. I think that pretty much drove him to an early grave.

 

[newfydog]

Yeah, Northern Arizona had an NCAA ski team until the early 70's. They got rid of it, but built a domed stadium so they could play football indoors. Unlike the bigger schools, football didn't pay its own way, but they still had money to load up the scholarships and fly all over the Big Sky Conference.

 

[Muleski]

Great points. Football, even at the D-III level, is insanely expensive. I have served on the board of one of my kid's schools and chaired their commiteee on athletics. They have what I consider to be no powerhouse program, though like every college there is some legacy there. Over the past 150 years, I guess we had some great success. And the development and fundraising types were convinced that getting rid of the sport would have dire consequences. Not sure if I agree. In fact, I don't.

Twice in my tenure we came to conclusion that the smart thing to do would be to eliminate the sport, BUT, every other school in their athletic conference played football. Too much inertia.

Costs. This was a school of about 2500 students. 50/50 male/female. The football roster had numbers 1-99 ALL assigned, with some duplicates. 115 guys. This was a very demanding academic school, and the majority of players required the admission requirements being relaxed to be there. The current full cost to attend is close to $70K a year. All financial aid is need based. The percentage of football players with some aid package is huge, as is the average grant.

The size of the staff Is big. No Alabama big, but compared to one Alpine ski coach and a seasonal assistant.....HUGE.

So I am fully on board with this thinking. Newfy and I were college classmates and teammates. I also played football for two years. I would be delighted to see the New England Small College Athletic Conference {NESCAC} flush football. You scan the campuses of these schools, engage with the student body, and it's clear that football is just not what it once was.

But it sure as hell drives the bus of every athletic department. The revenue that comes in the door at the D-III level is minuscule. Puts a tiny dent in the football budget, and does almost nothing to help with other expenses.

I hope that UNM can save this. I also hope that the world of NCAA skiing might look a bit more American down the road....and I am pretty apolitical, to say the least. At least on subjects like this.

Save the Lobo's!!!!

 

[BGreen]

A bit further from what @Muleski posted, this was posted to their Facebook page this morning:


Read and see what you think.

 

[Muleski]

I've already drafted my email, and it's very straight forward and honest. I have no dog on the hunt, as I have been to New Mexico about five times in my life. I do have a pretty decent background in intercollegiate athletics. And I have the perspective of decades having been removed from college...other than as a parent.

This is probably a decision that seemed easy and logical to make. My suggestion is to give the program another year, and let the team and their stakeholders go to work right now to help raise the funds to make it sustainable for UNM. There are PLENTY of ways to make this sustainable, and $500K is a fairly small number.

It's in the interest of anybody who cares about ski racing to see it survive. They can cut back on scholarships, and sharpen the pencil. It can be done.

Good luck Lobo's!

 

[newfydog]

Mule, what do you think about the USCSA? They have held regionals and nationals here, and I'm always impressed that they look more like the college skiing I loved so much. I think I'd be more inclined to donate to that sort of program than the NCAA Div I.

I'm behind you 100% on the football issue. For every mega bucks producing program like Ohio State there are 10 schools paying way too much for it. And the detriment runs deep. I recall sitting at a lunch of the Rocky Mt Association of Geologists, where everyone at my table, some of them wealthy oil producers, was boasting about how much they have given to their alumni football program. I asked how much they have given to their alma mater geology programs....silence.

 

[pais alto]

Times are tough for school sports in general in NM. For perspective:
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_9edf5afc-4ea7-5aa8-a803-db02aba715f1.html