The Men's and Women's Tennis and Men's Golf teams will be eliminated after this season, AU Athletic Director Joni Comstock announced Thursday.
The cuts were made to stabilize an Athletics Department that has developed a $500,000 deficit during the past fiscal year and lacked administrative consistency over the past four to five years, Comstock said.
The move came as a "complete shock" to players who were expecting to spend four years playing tennis or golf at AU.
"No one really thought it was real because they addressed it so nonchalantly," said sophomore tennis player Brynne Ward. "It was like someone needed to wake us up."
The end of the programs is part of an ongoing athletics budget restructuring that has included other major reductions, most noticeably the cutting of 20 scholarships, including all 15 Swimming and Diving scholarships, in November 2003.
Comstock said the cuts were made to supplement a current fiscal deficit that represents about 8 percent of the department's overall budget. She added that while the changes will spare the department much of the teams' costs, they won't affect the tennis teams' five scholarships, which will be honored should the athletes remain at the AU. Once all the players graduate or transfer, the scholarships will be reallocated to other teams.
Current students and recruits who have signed national letters of intent, agreements to attend a school, will keep their scholarships as long as they remain at AU. All members of affected teams can transfer and be eligible to play next year, according to NCAA rules.
While Comstock declined to comment on the specific reasons these teams were cut, she said it had nothing to do with performance.
"AU has been very happy with the performance of all of the sports programs, and that certainly includes the golf and tennis programs," Comstock said. "This does not have anything to do with their performance or anything about them personally or the coaches."
Men's Tennis has won three Patriot League titles in its three years in the conference, while Women's Tennis has won two. The five victories represent 25 percent of AU's PL championships since joining the league in 2001.
Comstock, who was hired 15 months ago, said the Athletics Department has been undergoing evaluation since she arrived, especially with regard to its finances, and that resources needed to be refocused for the overall benefit of AU athletics.
"There has been a challenge to get a stable system in place, and we were running in the red in the past fiscal year," Comstock said. "We need to get the department to the point where if difficult decisions have to be made, then we make them [if it puts us] in a stable position."
Comstock added that while the cuts were being made under her watch, the factors leading to them can be traced to years before.
"The Athletic Department has been through lots of different directions over the last four or five years," Comstock said. "That's one of the things that has been difficult, the many athletic directors who've been here."
AU has had four athletic directors since 2000, and Comstock was hired in December 2003.
Players took the news harshly Thursday, as many congregated outside the Athletics Department offices to console one another. Afterward, they discussed their frustration at what they said was an unfair move.
"This is very unfortunate," said senior tennis player Juan Jaysingh. "AU tennis is an invaluable asset to this University. Over the years, AU tennis has represented the school with great class and success."
Players expressed more distress at the decision's timing and presentation than at the decision itself.
"There was not even a glimpse or an indication that this was going to happen at all," said sophomore tennis player Tessa Hollyn-Taub. "We would have done everything we could to save the program."
The athletes said they now have to scramble to make college transfer deadlines, which can be as early as March 1, though extenuating circumstances exist due to the programs' elimination.
While students understand they will be granted eligibility elsewhere, most said they had no previous desire to leave AU.
"None of us wants to pick up and start a new life," Hollyn-Taub said. "We gave our best to the University, we have midterms, we have a season to complete, we have friends here, and we have a life here. We love it here."
Former Men's Tennis coach Martin Blackman, a three-time PL coach of the year who led the Eagles until this season, said he thought teams were eliminated because the department didn't fully balance its options.
"It boils down to vision," Blackman said. "In the vision of the decision maker, it didn't include Men's and Women's Tennis. That probably reflects a little lack of knowledge, a lack of creativity."
He said the scholarship reduction 16 months ago was a wake-up call, but more should have been done to help the teams save themselves rather than have the news come as a surprise.
"From a coach's and administrator's perspective, it would've been a good opportunity to give the programs a running start," he said. "They could have given them a heads-up and said, 'We'll make decisions based on competitiveness, integrity, community involvement and fund-raising.' If that were the case, it would be fair."
Blackman said the Men's team has supported itself in the past, such as by organizing a professional-amateur event last year that grossed about $20,000.
He said he supports reinstating the program through internal fund-raising, following the model of the wrestling program, but Comstock said having the teams raise funds for themselves wasn't in the best interest of the department or the teams.
Players expressed distress at losing one of the fastest-growing sports, especially for women, in the world.
"Tennis is the premier sport for female athletes across the world, and it's a shame that American University will no longer have it," said sophomore tennis player Julia Colarusso. "We have the highest cumulative GPA [of any team and we're being cut], so what does that say?"
Other players showed disgust at a system that they feel cheated them.
"I feel that there are a lot of biases coming from the athletic director and that what she wants affects people in a lot of ways," said sophomore golfer Todd Shagin. "The way they handled it was pretty embarrassing, to tell us a week before the transfer deadline is pretty outrageous."
Shagin said he thought Comstock was unfamiliar with the golf team, which made him particularly angry. He said didn't understand why successful teams were being cut for the sake of others.
"We are a golf team that gets no money, is still pretty young and healthy, and has a good chance of succeeding if they let us exist," he said. "I don't understand how you tell a team that because you're winning, you can't exist anymore."
Comstock dispelled rumors that the Athletics Department was pursuing new sports, such as men's lacrosse, baseball or softball. She said the money that had been raised as part of the department's campaign for $7.5 million had been used to support pre-existing infrastructure.
"The $2 million already collected was given with donors' wishes, the main item being the turf field, which will benefit everybody," Comstock said. "The other dollars have been to improve other items we purchased, including a new floor for the [basketball] teams and improved bleachers in Bender Arena."
Comstock said the money is also being spent on scoreboards and work at the Massachusetts Avenue and Reeves fields for the soccer teams.
Students not on the three teams have also responded to the news.
The General Assembly, the legislative branch of the Student Confederation, held a forum Sunday as student government officials and players announced their goal to reverse the decision. Petitions have already been circulated as those close to the decision attempt to save their programs.
Comstock said she expected that her decision was not going to be well-received.
"I understand how difficult it is for everyone involved," Comstock said. "While I don't expect that the players will like my decision, I hope that they will stay interested and proud of AU as an institution."
The players, however, were not so sure they would.
"I'm not proud of American and I'm disappointed," said freshman tennis player Emily Anderson. "I never felt like a proper student-athlete, and I don't feel like the people higher up at American University ever supported me"
