Sports sponsorship: California State University, Fresno, has restructured its athletics offerings because of recurring athletics department budget shortfalls and the state of California budget crisis. The school will eliminate men's soccer, men's cross country and indoor track and field, and women's swimming and diving, effective for the 2003-04 academic year, and add women's golf beginning in 2004-05. School officials say the changes will save the department an estimated $557,000 in the first year. The athletics department must reduce expenses by a total of almost $700,000 in order to submit a balanced budget to the university. "We had to make some extremely difficult decisions," said Scott Johnson, Fresno State director of athletics. "Last year, we made several administrative reductions and asked each of our departments and sports to cut 5 percent from their budgets. We felt at the time that was going help our budget. However, with the continuing economic troubles in the state, we have to create a plan that is going to help us be competitive in the future. I didn't feel like we could continue to water down all of our programs and expect them to remain competitive." Fresno State will honor scholarship agreements for all affected student-athletes through the 2003-04 year. Beyond that, student-athletes may receive scholarships until their eligibility expires as long as they satisfy NCAA and Western Athletic Conference eligibility standards. The coaching contracts for those affected will also be honored. The California State University system is expecting a $447 million budget reduction for 2003-04. Most areas on campus will undergo mandated budget cuts. In addition, a statewide tuition and fees increase is expected next year. "We took a lot of things under consideration before making these changes," said Johnson. "We have a strong commitment toward equity and fairness and that will always be a consideration. These were also budget decisions implemented for the long-term growth and prosperity of our entire program." ... West Virginia University will reduce its number of varsity sports teams from 21 to 16 by eliminating rifle, men's tennis, men's cross country, and indoor and outdoor track beginning with the 2003-04 school year. "This decision certainly does not come easy," said West Virginia Athletics Director Ed Pastilong. "But in these tough economic times, it is a necessary one for us to continue to be self-supporting." Once fully implemented, the annual direct savings will be $591,230, with an additional savings to come from support services now provided to each sport. Variables considered in the decision included financial impact to the department; competitiveness of the sport in the past five years, present and future; viability of the sport on a local, regional and national level; impact on student-athletes; and gender-equity issues. Student-athletes currently participating in the five sports will be permitted to retain their athletics scholarships at the same level for the remainder of their undergraduate careers at WVU based upon their years of remaining eligibility. Jeff Huntoon will continue as coach of the women's cross country and track programs. As part of the transition, rifle coach Marsha Beasley and men's tennis coach Ed Dickson will be reassigned to duties within the athletics department through June 30, 2004. "The cost of operating an intercollegiate athletics program at the Division I level is escalating," said Pastilong. "We must bear the cost of facilities, increased tuition costs, and rising operational expenses, including increased security measures and utilities. We're not unlike many schools across the country experiencing the same budget difficulties and faced with similar decisions. We plan to focus our resources on the remaining 16 sports to build quality, competitive programs." Men's tennis started as an intercollegiate sport at West Virginia in 1936. Men's track began as a varsity sport in 1905; men's cross country first competed on the varsity level in 1929. Rifle became a varsity sport in 1952.