Sports sponsorship: The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has announced it will reduce its number of intercollegiate sports from 29 to 22 at the end of the current academic year. The seven sports to be eliminated are men's and women's water polo, men's and women's gymnastics, men's indoor track and field, women's volleyball, and men's tennis. Positions eliminated will include four full-time head coaches, two full-time assistants and four part-time assistants. Currently, 136 student-athletes participate in the seven sports out of about 800 varsity athletes at the school. According to the school, the cuts will allow a reallocation of some scholarship funds and will keep Massachusetts in compliance with Title IX. Chancellor Marcellette G. Williams said the decision "in no way reflects on the dedication, passion and abilities of the many people who have contributed to these sports over the years." However, Williams said, "Given the financial situation in the Commonwealth and a budget cut of nearly $17 million to the campus in the current fiscal year, we had to make this regrettable move." The athletics department cuts follow an announcement in January of 95 layoffs in campus support units. A statewide early retirement package also may leave as many as 350 positions vacant across the campus, Williams said. Athletics Director Robert K. Marcum said, "Due to the current budgetary crisis that the state and the university are facing, we received a mandate from the university to reduce the program. We have done that with the goal that the remaining programs will be stronger and more competitive. We fully understand what is taking place financially throughout the institution, and that the reduction in athletics is just one of many reductions being considered." Marcum said that sports were selected for elimination based on a variety of factors, including the national and regional health of the sport, Title IX participation considerations, facilities issues, the overall strength and success of the sport, and the financial resources that would be required to bring the sports to a more competitive level in the future. Marcum said to assist with the transition, existing athletics aid that student-athletes in the affected sports are receiving will be extended for one additional year (the 2002-03 academic year). For those choosing to transfer and to continue their athletics careers at another school, he said, "We will do everything in our power to assist them through that process." ... Bowling Green State University has announced it will not sponsor men's swimming and diving, men's tennis and men's indoor and outdoor track and field after this academic year. That action reduces the number of varsity sports offered at Bowling Green to 18. The school said the move also shifts its athletics position in the Mid-American Conference from having the most varsity sports (Ball State University also has 22 sports) with the lowest funding per sport, to having a comparable number of sports as MAC peers with competitive funding. "When I was hired in 1999, the issue of dropping sports already was being discussed," said Bowling Green Athletics Director Paul Krebs. "I opted not to make such a drastic move in an effort to work toward a more positive solution for our budgeting and staffing issues. Unfortunately, no other solution has been found. In spite of our best efforts, the economic realities of funding 22 varsity sports teams at a highly competitive level of Division I athletics has become a financial hardship." Fifty-five student-athletes will be affected by the cuts. Two full-time coaching positions also will be eliminated. The school said that beginning in year two, 2003 to 2004, when all of the scholarship dollars are recovered, the athletics department will save about $360,000. The school also said that the decision means participation opportunities for men and women athletes better reflect the proportion of male and female students at the university.

-- Compiled by Gary T. Brown