The University of Central Florida in Orlando has announced that after the fall 2007 season, it will discountinue its mens cross country program. This is a sad turn of events for our sport in this state. It is a theme that has been recurring all too often in mens cross country and track & field programs in colleges all around the country.
The official reason stated was that the university felt that the experience of the athletes was lacking since there was no official track team for men. However, many teams around the state have successful teams and happy athletes with only cross country and no track. So perhaps the underlying reason lies with Title IX or trying to cut the athletic budget--as has been the case with many other colleges.
This comes on the heels of a lot of turbulance in the program since Coach Marcia Mensur-Wentworth left the post in May. The Golden Knight men though had a good incoming freshman class featuring Miles Harris and Baker Burchfield. Unfortunately, it seems too late for them to transfer out at this point, given the school year is a month away, but the university has promised to honor their scholarships.
We would like to encourage everybody to contact the athletic department and university to express their displeasure with this decision. It is another case of our sport getting the shaft, while others get a brand new state-of-the-art stadium. Keith Tribble is the direcor of athletics at UCF and his email address is askkeith@athletics.ucf.edu if you'd like to let him know your feelings. The atlhetic department phone number is 407-823-3213.
Sign the Petition to ask UCF to reconsider!
OFFICIAL RELEASE FROM UCF
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF Athletics Association (UCFAA) will discontinue its men's cross country program as an intercollegiate sport effective at the end of the fall 2007 semester, announced UCF Director of Athletics and Executive Vice President Keith Tribble.
"It is always difficult to even consider the phasing out of a program. Administratively, we must ensure that the experience that each student-athlete receives meets or exceeds his or her expectations," said Tribble. "We realized through meetings with our student-athletes that men's cross country team members have not received the same type of experience over the years that our other student-athletes have experienced. We believe that without a men's track and field team, the men's cross country program does not fit into our strategic plan moving forward. The experience that these team members have had would not improve without the addition of a year-round program. At this time in our development it is not feasible to add another intercollegiate team."
The decision came with a vote of approval from the Athletic Association's Board of Directors at its most recent quarterly meeting.
The UCF men's cross country program debuted in 1979. After competing in the Sunshine State Conference for the first three years, the Knights were without conference affiliation from 1984-1989. In 1992, they made the move to the Trans America Athletic (now Atlantic Sun) Conference. The past two seasons the team has competed in Conference USA.
The UCFAA will honor all current men's cross country scholarships until their graduation, provided that the student continues to make progress toward earning a degree and follow all rules and regulations required of UCF student-athletes. The UCFAA will also meet with any current member of the men's cross country team if he wishes to transfer to another school, as per the regulations set forth by the NCAA. In addition, any grant-in-aid that have been offered would have the option of attending UCF this current year or be released from the national letter-of-intent, allowing the prospective student-athlete to contact other institutions about participation.