How many schools will drop lacrosse?

[Farfromgeneva]

I think I’d rather make $12/hr in upstate Ny doing some “Joe” jobs with a name tags than pay full freight for online instruction from a place like my Hobart.

[bauer4429]

It looks like some colleges are being sued by students for partial reimbursement for tuition. Will be interesting to see how that plays out. They are right though .... online classes are nothing like on-campus! If the students win who knows how many colleges will fold.

[spartanslynx]

Furman has dropped

Breaking:
@FurmanU
will no longer sponsor a varsity men's lacrosse program to "help mitigate the significant financial challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic", the school's president announced today in an e-mail to
@FurmanMLAX
players. Story coming on
@Inside_Lacrosse
.

https://twitter.com/tyxanders/status/12 ... 7240381440

[RedFromMI]

Furman has dropped

Breaking:
@FurmanU
will no longer sponsor a varsity men's lacrosse program to "help mitigate the significant financial challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic", the school's president announced today in an e-mail to
@FurmanMLAX
players. Story coming on
@Inside_Lacrosse
.

https://twitter.com/tyxanders/status/12 ... 7240381440

Baseball as well. 45 scholarships over the next 5 years. $100 million endowment hit.

[harflax]

https://news.wjct.org/post/facing-defic ... s-pay-cuts

Jacksonville also has a tenuous future as well.

[bearlaxfan]

Hope this is not the first of too many shoes dropping. Hope D1 comes out of this with well above 60 programs left. I think 20% is a worst case scenario, but I'm just pulling #s out of thin air for discussion's sake.

[Farfromgeneva]

https://news.wjct.org/post/facing-defic ... s-pay-cuts

Jacksonville also has a tenuous future as well.

$700k seems high for a president in his cohort. That might be more of the problem than the ones making $45-$50K. I recally myself and some friends choking when we learned gearan was making over $500k all in a few years back.

[laxfan22]

Hope this is not the first of too many shoes dropping. Hope D1 comes out of this with well above 60 programs left. I think 20% is a worst case scenario, but I'm just pulling #s out of thin air for discussion's sake.

it's infuriating that they won't just proceed without scholarships, cutting expenses as much as possible, and seeing if the players/alums can make up some shortfall until hopefully the budgets can stabilize. Have to wonder if a school like Furman, if they lose 30 plus athletes, many of who are paying tuition to the school, can even replace them with "regular" students. Is the athletic budget "savings" just going to be another hit to the overall tuition revenue?

A quick google search found that Furman pays the director of student services like 240K. Are you serious? In heck South Carolina that's like half a million in most places. And, the lax/baseball budget is the problem? Puh-leeze.

[Kismet]

LSN is reporting that Furman has cut both Mens Lacrosse and Baseball effective immediately.

[Farfromgeneva]

Furman has a better appeal for a southern smaller college than most of the SoCon so if they are in trouble I'd have to assume not only Jax, but Bellarmine, High Point and Mercer would be at very similar risk.

[HooDat]

Going through a university budget will really make you question your (actually their) sanity. The number of "associate director of people with itchy left elbows" types that all make solid six-figure incomes tells you all you need to know about why the cost of higher ed has skyrocketed in comparison to other costs.....

I suspect that many universities are going to struggle to survive at all, let alone maintain athletics.

Lots of 2020 graduates thinking hard about a gap year.

Colleges were under a lot of scrutiny before, COVID and distance learning is a bright light into some of the remaining dark areas that we had been lulled into taking at face value.

Mark my words - the internet is about to do to non top-100 colleges what it did to journalism.

[RedFromMI]

Furman has a better appeal for a southern smaller college than most of the SoCon so if they are in trouble I'd have to assume not only Jax, but Bellarmine, High Point and Mercer would be at very similar risk.

Furman is on of the top couple of small schools in SC academically along with Wofford. Highest tuition I believe as well (within SC).

[Farfromgeneva]

Furman has a better appeal for a southern smaller college than most of the SoCon so if they are in trouble I'd have to assume not only Jax, but Bellarmine, High Point and Mercer would be at very similar risk.

Furman is on of the top couple of small schools in SC academically along with Wofford. Highest tuition I believe as well (within SC).

Yeah I'm sure I've mentioned this at least once before but my in-laws are furmans so I've gotten familiar with the college since moving to Atlanta around ten years ago. No idea on rankings, they'd be in separate categories, but I see it "live" by perception close to Wake Forest, similar to Richmond, W&L, Sewanee, etc. Not as many of these guys in the SC like up in the NE where you have whole solid conferences in a state or two like the Liberty League and Centennial Conference.

[RedFromMI]

Furman has a better appeal for a southern smaller college than most of the SoCon so if they are in trouble I'd have to assume not only Jax, but Bellarmine, High Point and Mercer would be at very similar risk.

Furman is on of the top couple of small schools in SC academically along with Wofford. Highest tuition I believe as well (within SC).

Yeah I'm sure I've mentioned this at least once before but my in-laws are furmans so I've gotten familiar with the college since moving to Atlanta around ten years ago. No idea on rankings, they'd be in separate categories, but I see it "live" by perception close to Wake Forest, similar to Richmond, W&L, Sewanee, etc. Not as many of these guys in the SC like up in the NE where you have whole solid conferences in a state or two like the Liberty League and Centennial Conference.

My daughter went there (FU) her freshman year. Hated it because of too many spoiled rich kids. Switched to USC (the one in SC) and loved it. Another good comparison is Davidson in NC.

I am not sure exactly how much real trouble there is - large endowment which was estimated last year at nearly $700 million has taken about a $100 million hit with the stock market drop. Depending on what things depend on their endowment definitely mean cost cutting, but they should be able to survive a pretty big hit.

[Henpecked]

Furman had one of the largest recruitment classes coming in this fall with 21 players. One 4 star recruit.

What do these kids do now? Nice school. Too late to find a landing pad?

[Farfromgeneva]

Furman has a better appeal for a southern smaller college than most of the SoCon so if they are in trouble I'd have to assume not only Jax, but Bellarmine, High Point and Mercer would be at very similar risk.

Furman is on of the top couple of small schools in SC academically along with Wofford. Highest tuition I believe as well (within SC).

Yeah I'm sure I've mentioned this at least once before but my in-laws are furmans so I've gotten familiar with the college since moving to Atlanta around ten years ago. No idea on rankings, they'd be in separate categories, but I see it "live" by perception close to Wake Forest, similar to Richmond, W&L, Sewanee, etc. Not as many of these guys in the SC like up in the NE where you have whole solid conferences in a state or two like the Liberty League and Centennial Conference.

My daughter went there (FU) her freshman year. Hated it because of too many spoiled rich kids. Switched to USC (the one in SC) and loved it. Another good comparison is Davidson in NC.

I am not sure exactly how much real trouble there is - large endowment which was estimated last year at nearly $700 million has taken about a $100 million hit with the stock market drop. Depending on what things depend on their endowment definitely mean cost cutting, but they should be able to survive a pretty big hit.

Sounds like some of my in laws (many are good people). I'm sure the school is fine overall, but probably ran out of that donor money that started it up ($5MM gift).

U South Carolina (I cant call them USC out of principle) has the most underrated aesthetics in all of southeastern colleges. No joke. I've been to most (not SEC but Southern Miss is VERY NICE as well), but love going for business to Columbia. Intentionally block out extra time to hang at the starbucks on Gervais near the capitol bldg in the train station redevelopment. Just need to make sure my legs are fully under the table at all times, can't get up for any reason for long stretches....

[DMac]

Going through a university budget will really make you question your (actually their) sanity. The number of "associate director of people with itchy left elbows" types that all make solid six-figure incomes tells you all you need to know about why the cost of higher ed has skyrocketed in comparison to other costs.....

I suspect that many universities are going to struggle to survive at all, let alone maintain athletics.

Lots of 2020 graduates thinking hard about a gap year.

Colleges were under a lot of scrutiny before, COVID and distance learning is a bright light into some of the remaining dark areas that we had been lulled into taking at face value.

Mark my words - the internet is about to do to non top-100 colleges what it did to journalism.

Feels as if HSs could be in trouble too. From what I understand, plenty of kid's grades going up with the current work/school from home system. Friend's son-in-law teacher says he works about an hour a day doing what he does, kids are on their own from there. Wife's a teacher too, very nice combined income. Pretty nice gig going on right now, but I'd be worried about the future.

Oh, bout damn time you resurfaced.
Welcome back.

[Kismet]

Furman had one of the largest recruitment classes coming in this fall with 21 players. One 4 star recruit.

What do these kids do now? Nice school. Too late to find a landing pad?

They said they would honor scholarships for the 2020-21 school year. Trouble is Furman is not anywhere nearly fully funded in lacrosse so most of those recruits likely have no athletic financial aid.

[bauer4429]

I agree, if colleges stay online a large number of students will not return in the fall. Can’t say I blame them. After watching not one but two students flog through remote learning, I would recommend taking a pause from college.

[LaxPundit07]

I am not surprised by this decision at all. I foresee others doing the same. Your prime candidates are mid-major schools that also have football. We know football isn't going anywhere. With the roster size of men's lacrosse, and the budgets required for equipment, it makes them prime candidates to be cut. Think Mercer, VMI, etc. High Point isn't going anywhere.