After announcing earlier this week that the school planned to eliminate baseball and men’s tennis, Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow said he will wait to make a decision until September 1 while private groups seek donors to keep the programs afloat.

In a statement, Gow said that the school was contacted by numerous alumni and parents and will delay notifying Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference officials until the end of the contracts for the men’s tennis and baseball coaches on September 1.

“Although fund-raising for sports activities is a longstanding tradition, we have never thought it possible or desirable to fund an entire program or programs through private donations,” Gow said in a statement. “However, in light of the unique situation we’re currently facing, we don’t want to deny the coaches and the many enthusiastic supporters of our baseball and men’s tennis teams the opportunity to see what might be possible.”

Athletics officials determined that donors must provide $50,000 by September 1 to maintain the baseball team in 2009-10 and $40,000 for the men’s tennis team. Gow, who personally donated $1,000 to the fund, said that the department determined that five years of advance funding will need to be raised before the programs can be called “stable,” and costs are anticipated to rise for both programs over the next five years. Gow gave a deadline of May 1, 2010 for the larger pool of money to be in hand in order to give student-athletes, potential student-athletes and parents the best information in making decisions.

“It is very heartening to see so many members of the Wisconsin-La Crosse community come forward to offer their very generous support to keep Eagle baseball and men’s tennis alive,” Gow said. “To be honest, I’m not sure whether this is feasible over the long term, but the messages I’ve received this week suggest that it is entirely possible to sustain these programs for an additional year with private funds.”