A ROADMAP FOR THE REORGANIZATION OF COLLEGE ATHLETICS & AMATEUR SPORTS
One of the toughest things I ever did as an NCAA Division I Director of Athletics was recommend to my president, chancellor, and board of regents that we eliminate sports.
At Towson University, the reasons behind our proposed baseball and men’s soccer cuts were rooted in a long history of non-compliance with Title IX and gender equity regulations. Then, TU President Robert Caret told me on September 20, 2010, in one of our last one-on-one interviews for the ad position that these cuts would likely have to be made, and asked me if I dared to accept the role knowing the firestorm I would be stepping into. I responded in the affirmative, and what followed was where this blog’s motivation came from.
I spent 28 years in college athletics management, and THE BEST PART was dealing with the student-athletes. They are truly why you wake up and go to work.
The first time I was involved with sports being cut was while I was on executive staff at the University of Cincinnati (2006-2010). Being the External Operations lead, I was in meetings while others talked about these issues, and I grew to become more engaged in the process as these discussions intensified. Early in my UC days, the first issue was whether we would maintain the Women’s Rowing Team. This was more of a financial decision by the Director of Athletics, and he chose to eliminate Rowing and bring in Women’s Lacrosse, a growing sport. Smart choice.
Later on, as our financial issues became more prevalent, the Athletic Director recommended that we eliminate scholarship funding for various men’s sports, namely Men’s Track & Field / Cross Country and Men’s Swimming & Diving, a sport I was overseeing daily. When the time came to share the news with the impacted student-athletes, I was tasked with delivering the news to the athletes and the head coach. I will never forget the look on their faces. We did not take away the program, which at least gave them the opportunity to compete, but we took away their funding to further cover up a variety of other weak decisions elsewhere in the management of athletics, which were made as a trade-off. These types of impactful transactions take place every day, on almost every campus. These student-athletes' dedication and hard work were evident in their response to this news.
Fast-forward to 2020. When cash was flush, Stanford University announced on July 8, 2020, that it was cutting 11 programs effective after the 2020-21 academic year in response to a projected $25 million deficit in the athletic department.
The Cardinal will cut men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball, and wrestling. Two hundred forty-two student-athletes will see their programs cut, and twenty support staffers will also see their jobs cut.
Stanford is well known in collegiate athletics as the gold standard in excellence. While the football and men’s basketball programs haven’t been competing for championships (though those programs certainly more than hold their own), seemingly every Stanford program has achieved nothing short of excellence year in and year out, both in success on the field and in the amount of resources generated and put into the programs.
In the end, it’s not about the athlete's experience, and it’s not about winning championships or the positive impact of sports and life lessons learned. Those cliches have long poorly concealed what is obvious. CASH IS KING.
If Stanford is cutting sports, the floodgates will most certainly open in the coming months. Since January 1, 2020, more than 100 NCAA/NAIA teams have been eliminated under the guise of COVID-19. In my opinion, it’s not the virus that is the root cause of these financial troubles; it’s the true mismanagement of these athletics departments and the broken model that is in play. As the governing body of college athletics, the NCAA should play a more active role in preventing such mismanagement and ensuring the financial stability of its member institutions.
In USA Today's annual look inside college athletics finances,88 out of 230 schools take in 70% or more of their operating funds from their institution. That’s 38.2% of NCAA Division I Athletics Departments requiring welfare from their campus to operate their departments. Something is terribly wrong. I have worked at Towson University (87.17%) and the University of Akron (70.2%).
Somehow, somewhere along the line, these schools have lost their ability to make sound decisions when it comes to intercollegiate athletics. I AM NOT POINTING THE FINGER AT THE PEOPLE WORKING IN ATHLETICS, as they are only the people doing the daily tasks. THE RESPONSIBILITY HERE LAY SQUARELY ON THE SHOULDERS OF THE CHANCELLORS, PRESIDENTS, AND CONTROLLING BOARDS who love to be around the photo ops when championships are won, when bowl trips are being booked, and when rings and other spoils are shared.
When fiscal and operational mismanagement become so bloated that the model implodes, cuts are often made. These are band-aids and not solutions. The impacted sports are called “OLYMPIC SPORTS” or a more pejorative tag like “NON-REVENUE SPORTS”. Talk about making kids and coaches feel inferior, and call them NON anything. It’s a kick to the gut. Even more stinging when Football programs at many of these schools are overspending, swimming in, or drowning in the red.
Something has to change. Be it COVID-19, the American Economy, or, god forbid, someone simply choosing to exercise some common sense, a new model for intercollegiate athletics must emerge. This new model should prioritize student-athletes' well-being and opportunities, ensuring they are not the brunt of financial mismanagement.
Before the virus, the big push for NIL (Name Image and Likeness) was the talk of college athletics circles. How, when, what… a perplexing mix of challenges.
At the same time, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee is undergoing a reformation of sorts, rooted in large part in recurring scandals, at least in part, connected to NCAA intercollegiate athletics.
Thus, the two largest ecosystems of amateur sport in the United States, the NCAA and the USOPC, are in need of a true reformation. Being a True Lutheran, I offer the following as a thought generation, a provocation with the intent of SERVING THE ATHLETE first and foremost. This reformation should involve a shift in focus from revenue-generating sports to the overall well-being and development of student-athletes. Whatever happens to the others involved, coaches, administrators, staffers, sponsors, etc., is truly far down the road in terms of what should be important.
THE PREMISE
The impact of COVID-19 has been devastating in the United States and the World as a whole.
Mismanagement in the current model of intercollegiate athletics has long been bleeding resources from campus needs, which is more in line with the mission of higher education.
The budget ramifications are being felt throughout the economy. Campuses are having to reimagine their overall model, and athletics are following suit.
Intercollegiate Athletics is experiencing a major shake-up, from budget to sport sponsorship to the pending implementation of Name, Image, and Likeness.
Many schools have already announced that they are eliminating sports in 2020-21.
Research by The Associated Press found 97 teams eliminated at four-year schools through the end of May. The count includes only teams cut, with the coronavirus outbreak and its impacts cited as all or part of the reason.
Of the 78 teams lost in Divisions II and III and the NAIA, 44 were from three schools that closed at least in part because of financial fallout from the pandemic.
Olympic Sports are being eliminated at an alarming rate https://www.si.com/college/2020/06/11/college-sports-program-cuts-ncaa-olympics.
The NCAA is run by member institutions, taking its cutbacks by reviewing its bylaws and overall structure.
The Various D1 Conferences are also making cuts and changing their definitions in terms of championship sponsorship and overall structure.
The MAC has eliminated all but four (4) postseason championships for sports.
Likewise, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is already in the midst of an announced restructuring as of Spring 2019, now faces deep cuts https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/national/story/2020-05-07/cost-cutting-more-than-30-at-usopc-take-severance
With the demise of Olympic Sports Programs within the NCAA, the future success of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Teams will be compromised, and many students will leave higher education without the opportunity to compete at the college level
Men’s Gymnastics at the NCAA Division I level cannot absorb teams being cut, as their overall numbers are already dangerously low
THE REFORMATION PROPOSAL
The NCAA Division I Level would cease to provide oversight of or sponsorship of championships of the following (26) sports, with future oversight transferring to USOPC National Governing Bodies. Club locations would be placed on college campuses where there is sufficient interest. Teams would operate as part of the campus CLUB SPORTS system, completely outside of any association with NCAA Sports or Conference Affiliation.
FALL - 4
Cross Country (M&W)
Field Hockey (W)
Water Polo (M)
WINTER - 13
Bowling (Co-Ed)
Fencing (Co-Ed)
Gymnastics (M&W)
Rifle (M&W)
Skiing (M&W)
Swimming & Diving (M&W)
Indoor Track & Field (M&W)
Wrestling (M)
SPRING - 9
Golf (M&W)
Rowing (M&W)
Tennis (M&W)
Outdoor Track & Field (M&W)
Water Polo (W)
LONG-TERM BENEFITS OF THIS PLAN
*Reduces the overall scope of NCAA Oversight
*Gives more opportunities to NGBs to truly develop the best athletes under the NGB scope
*Club Sport mentality on campus gives more opportunities to athletes to have regular lives, free of NCAA influence and restrictions
*Eligibility for more kinds of financial aid and revenue generation opportunities
*Keeps these students engaged in sport, many times at the same school, but truly focused on the elite-level athletes moving up in the NGB world, while the non-elite remain in a competitive environment
The New NCAA Division I Level would provide oversight of, or sponsorship of championships of the following twelve (12) sports;
FALL (2 women’s sports / two men’s sports)
Football
Soccer
Volleyball
WINTER (2 women’s sports / 2 men’s sports)
Basketball
Ice Hockey
SPRING (2 women’s sports / 2 men’s sports)
Baseball
Softball
Lacrosse
*Greatly reduces the scope of what VARSITY SPORTS are on campus
*Costs are drastically reduced across the board, for NCAA, Conferences, and Campuses
*Reduced number of athletes, coaches, and staff means less burden on the University to appropriate institutional resources towards intercollegiate athletics
*Varsity Sports will yield the vast majority of the potential professional athlete pool, and thus, their regular oversight by the NCAA and the Campus can be tailored to their unique needs
•NCAA Championships can be bundled into more manageable segments and marketed accordingly
•NIL oversight becomes more manageable, along with any other NCAA responsibility
NOVEMBER 2019: What's Past Is Prologue...
"What's past is prologue" is a quotation by William Shakespeare from his play The Tempest. The phrase was originally used in Act 2, Scene I. Antonio suggests that all that has happened before that time, the "past", has led Sebastian and himself to this opportunity to do what they are about to do.
If it’s in your past, it’s most likely going to be in your future.
Over the last three decades, I have been blessed to have an exciting career in sports. It’s the only thing I have ever wanted to do, going all the way back to when I was a kid going to football games every weekend with my Father.
I was never content to just be a fan, even when I was in my teens, so when I was in the 7th grade, I started working for my hometown radio station (keeping stats and doing tape duplications) & the local newspaper (taking photos, writing up high school games, and physically inserting ads).
When I went to college I played football (Guilford College / NCAA Division III), worked in the sports information office, served on the Faculty Athletic Committee as the student representative, and, if I was not busy enough, started the sports department of the campus radio station (WQFS-FM) so I could begin my career as a play by play broadcaster.
Following graduation in May 1991, I worked in intercollegiate athletics (10 schools / 3 with the same boss) in most every external job there is from exciting folks as radio/tv talent, to generating revenue selling sponsorships and tickets, all the way up to being Director of Athletics and running the whole show.
Along the way I’ve also been the marketing & game operations catch-all guy for a professional ice hockey team (Greensboro Monarchs / ECHL), a Vice President in NASCAR (Richmond Raceway) and most recently the President of professional football team in the Alliance of American Football (AAF/Orlando Apollos). #TakeAim
In short, Elaine & Lewis Waddell’s only child has never sat still, has always had ideas, has always needed to be overly busy, and has definitely been most happy when he was around anything to do with sports
My Mom is the oldest daughter of a Family Farmer, and she never, ever let me stay in the bed past 7 am, when she knocked on my door. I was usually already up, but if for some reason I was dragging, at 7:01 am she was back, and she was carrying one of those sturdy LIONS CLUB brooms to motivate me to get moving.
As anyone I have ever worked with will share, I sleep about 4 to 5 hours a night max. My mind is usually always racing with ideas, some good, most off the wall, and I love to be in a room filled with open-minded, creative people bouncing thoughts off one another until that one, magic concept reveals itself.
One thing is for sure about working in sports, at some point, if you are out there making waves and getting things done, there is going to come a time when change swings against you in a negative way.
On April 2, 2019 at 12:35 pm, that happened to me when I got word, via Darren Rovell’s Twitter feed, that my employer, The AAF, was suspending operations, effective immediately. This meant that the 24 people that I had hired over the previous 9 months, and myself, were all out of jobs. Ouch.
Over the next month I worked hard, alongside with our Orlando Apollos leadership team, to help our staff all find jobs. On May 1, I woke up and thought to myself…. “Self, what are YOU going to do now?
Good question.
I had been doing some consulting, and brainstorming, and basically keeping myself busy, but nothing really motivated me. Nothing was speaking to my soul. My family had just moved to Orlando and I felt a lot of pressure to NOT MOVE AGAIN. The first week in October I cut the cord and decided to do what my family, and closest friends had been telling me to do for the better part of the last 5 years. I moved Brentwood Partners from a part-time hobby to a full-time consulting business, engaging a variety of different projects, Short Term, Long Term, a little of this and a little of that. Two of my former employees now own their own multimedia companies, so in a fun twist of fate, I now look to them for professional guidance on how to start something, from nothing.
The best thing about this idea is that I get to work with great people. I am blessed to have a solid group of innovative businesses who have welcomed me into their collective worlds. Together, we are building new things and influencing other brands on a daily basis. Pretty exciting stuff.
"What's past is prologue"
I’ve always wanted to be busy.
I’ve always wanted to be involved in a lot of different things.
I’ve always wanted to be creative.
I’ve always wanted to help people.
I’ve always wanted to be out and about engaging people.
Looks like I am doing what I want to do.
Yay me.
I appreciate your dropping by and reading this blog. Check back every week for another walk on the wild side, memory lane, of whatever seems to inspire me to battle the keyboard and generate something worth reading.
Spread the word and if you can, drop me a line and bring me in on your project. No one will put more into it. I’m ready to roll.
Until next time, Wad Out.
#GoWithBrentwood
My Father, Lewis Waddell, Jr, Me, and My Mother, Elaine Adair, circa May 1988