YES! - Printable Version
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YES! - crackpot - 05-18-2021
Not cutting any sports after all: https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/annkillion/article/Stanford-will-not-cut-any-sports-programs-in-16185656.php
RE: YES! - Lorcan - 05-18-2021
I wonder what that means for student athletes who have already made plans to be somewhere else next year.
All in all, good news, I think.
RE: YES! - needle - 05-18-2021
[tweet] https://twitter.com/annkillion/status/1394700427258593285 [/tweet]
[tweet] https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/status/1394703094512975878 [/tweet]
RE: YES! - SamuelMcF - 05-18-2021
GRAFFITI WORKS!
RE: YES! - donkey687 - 05-18-2021
My faith in Stanford is restored. I am renewing my season football tickets after all.
RE: YES! - Canalejas - 05-18-2021
That's fantastic!
The affected sports will have taken big hits in recruiting, obviously, but at least they get to keep going.
RE: YES! - dabigv13 - 05-18-2021
This is great news. A stupid unforced error, but at least they corrected it rather than keep driving down the wrong road out of stubbornness.
RE: YES! - donkey687 - 05-18-2021
(05-18-2021, 10:36 AM)dabigv13 Wrote: This is great news. A stupid unforced error, but at least they corrected it rather than keep driving down the wrong road out of stubbornness.
I give credit to MTL, the Board and Bernard for putting their egos and past decision aside for a new decision that is in the best interest of Stanford. That isn't easy to do. That is leadership. Thank you.
RE: YES! - pefloresjr - 05-18-2021
Wow! Not the result I expected. I view the Stanford leadership and trustees as carefully deliberative among themselves but aggressively autocratic when it comes to students, regular alumni (not super donors), and others. If the perspective or information was not in the inner Stanford bubble, it didn't matter and would often be ignored. This decision gives me a little more faith in the Stanford administration that I didn't have before. It really feels like alumni pressure resulting in a lot of negative news coverage pushed them to make a significant change. I actually care less about restoring a few of the sports than I do about the fact that Stanford listened and changed its position. For those reasons, I'm super happy. I threatened to withhold my meager contributions later this year but was unsure if I would follow through. Now, I don't have to worry about it. Congratulations to the student athletes and alumni who put in the hard work to get this done.
Cheers,
Pete F.
RE: YES! - cardfan77 - 05-18-2021
ALL RIGHT NOW!
Who will coach the wrestling team? Borrelli left for American.
RE: YES! - Langdude - 05-18-2021
This is awesome. I did not expect this at all. I am so impressed with the "36 Strong" campaign. They won in an uphill battle. Rare.
Yes; this was a stupid unforced error, which is not normal for Stanford. Guess it goes to show that even smart people do dumb things for various reasons.
Like others, I commend the powers-that-be for not letting ego get in the way of a mea culpa and changing course. I also am really happy for the student-athletes and alums of those sports who found themselves heartbroken -- and fans too, of course. We lost some coaches (including Borelli) and some students, and recruiting will be awful for this year, of course. But we'll recover.
GO CARD!
-m.
I know this has been posted elsewhere, but I wonder how much this played into the decision:
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31440535/stanford-athletes-sue-university-hopes-saving-11-sports-set-eliminated
-m.
RE: YES! - donkey687 - 05-18-2021
(05-18-2021, 11:00 AM)Langdude Wrote: I know this has been posted elsewhere, but I wonder how much this played into the decision:Lawsuit played no factor in the decision. The 36 strong group was very far along with the University in this outcome before the lawsuit (which was unaffiliated with 36 strong) was filed last week. If anything, the lawsuit delayed this announcement as the University has to be careful on what it says and run all communication on the topic through lawyers. Those 8 individual athlete plaintiffs need to make their own decision on what they are going to do with the lawsuits, but hopefully they will be dropped in short order. Time to move on and look forward rather than point fingers and blame.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31440535/stanford-athletes-sue-university-hopes-saving-11-sports-set-eliminated
-m.
RE: YES! - BobK - 05-18-2021
Awesome news. Still an extremely stupid decision to begin with and I hope to hell the BOT recognizes how stupid and painful this was
RE: YES! - 2006alum - 05-18-2021
Awesome! brobdingnagian congrats to everyone involved in dogging them into rethinking this. And I think a lot of credit to MTL, as it's not easy as University President to steer a titantic-sized about-face. But the passion of the athletes, fans, and alums became evident as this unfolded.
RE: YES! - Goose - 05-18-2021
(05-18-2021, 11:18 AM)BobK Wrote: Awesome news. Still an extremely stupid decision to begin with and I hope to hell the BOT recognizes how stupid and painful this wasI don't know who actually did what, but my reading of the Stanford "upper management", such as the BOT and the President (MTL at the moment) is that they seldom concern themselves with "details", which this decision was from their point of view a "detail". Some have suggested that Muir was "pressured" into doing this. I have always doubted that. I think the AD has a budget problem, he picked this as a solution (dumb move here) and everybody else rubber stamped it. Some of the things the housing office has done over the years make sense only in this context. The great increase in University administrative overhead has occurred at least partly because "upper management" just doesn't care. This is just another example of not paying attention to details. I doubt this will change.
RE: YES! - Softball Fan - 05-18-2021
Since I don't subscribe to the Chronicle I will add this link.
https://www.stanforddaily.com/2021/05/18/stanford-to-reinstate-all-11-discontinued-varsity-sports/
I'm still not clear what the real reason was for cutting the sports and the reason to reverse the decision. If it was only about budget I would like to see an official statement from the decision maker that budget was the concern and why now it isn't.
RE: YES! - donkey687 - 05-18-2021
(05-18-2021, 11:46 AM)paloalto Wrote: Since I don't subscribe to the Chronicle I will add this link.
https://www.stanforddaily.com/2021/05/18/stanford-to-reinstate-all-11-discontinued-varsity-sports/
I'm still not clear what the real reason was for cutting the sports and the reason to reverse the decision. If it was only about budget I would like to see an official statement from the decision maker that budget was the concern and why now it isn't.
Given the outstanding litigation on why and when the decision was made, you aren't going to hear much about any details on that topic in an official statement. However, it is clear that 2 things changed dramatically.
1) A lot more people (and influential ones at that) cared a lot more about these sports than Stanford realized
2) The University's financial outlook today is a lot brighter than it was 10 months ago
RE: YES! - 82lsju - 05-18-2021
new Pac-12 commish weighs in
[tweet] https://twitter.com/Kliavkoff/status/1394711586254721030?fbclid=IwAR1EcaxgYgiUHSPXJqBkpwY3FCM80fltjDS_ntnUtQA4EEX--odUFhNKZoU [/tweet]
from the AD
Quote:I am writing to share the exciting news that Stanford will move forward with a 36-sport model.
I am thrilled that we have found a way to continue sponsoring these varsity sports, which are an important part of the fabric of this university. I am grateful for the passionate Cardinal supporters who helped make this happen, and I am thankful to President Tessier-Lavigne and Provost Drell for helping forge this path forward. I believe the future is extremely bright for Stanford Athletics and am eager to begin the important work of galvanizing our community and cementing Stanford's position of leadership and excellence in intercollegiate sports.You can find additional information about the decision and process linked here, as well as an FAQs document.I recognize that last summer’s decision was heartbreaking for so many people who care deeply about these programs, and I want to thank you for your passion. The outcome that was reached is a testament to the solution-oriented approach that so many adopted.As always, thank you for your passion and support of Stanford Athletics.Sincerely,
Bernard Muir
from the University
https://news.stanford.edu/today/2021/05/18/stanford-leadership-communication/?fbclid=IwAR37LQ3kOFI2rCx3kYxOaEvgeQgEAwzBPW87F-mQbFoBG7PULisB-tLmPII
from gostanford
https://gostanford.com/news/2021/5/18/stanford-announces-the-continuation-of-11-varsity-athletics-teams.aspx
RE: YES! - Jamesy - 05-18-2021
(05-18-2021, 10:45 AM)pefloresjr Wrote: It really feels like alumni pressure resulting in a lot of negative news coverage pushed them to make a significant change.
I think this more than anything was the driver behind the reversal. Stanford hates negative news coverage.
RE: YES! - martyup - 05-18-2021
Quote:
A message from Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Persis Drell and Director of Athletics Bernard Muir
Dear Stanford community,
Last July, we made the difficult decision at Stanford to discontinue 11 of our 36 varsity athletics teams at the end of this academic year. The decision was prompted by a growing structural budget deficit in Stanford Athletics and our judgment that reducing our total number of sport offerings was an unavoidable part of the solution.
We’re pleased to be able to share today that Stanford will be continuing these 11 varsity sports. We have made this decision based on an updated assessment of the financial viability of retaining all 36 teams, allowing all sports to remain competitive without detracting from our continued investments in our core research and teaching missions.
The financial challenges facing Stanford Athletics are still very real. But we have new optimism based on new circumstances, including significantly improved fundraising potential in support of our athletics programs and improvement in the financial investment markets.
In recent months, we and the university’s development professionals have heard from and engaged with groups of Stanford alumni who have demonstrated new, vigorous and broad-based philanthropic interest in Stanford Athletics. Many individuals have stepped up to pledge funds in support. Our interactions have included highly constructive discussions with the 36 Sports Strong group, which has helped further galvanize this interest among alumni.
These activities coincided with improvement in the financial investment markets over the last 10 months. This recovery means that Stanford Athletics’ dedicated endowments, including the independently managed DAPER Investment Fund, are more strongly positioned and additional resources can be drawn from them to support athletics programs as private fundraising efforts ramp up.
The changing conditions led us to re-evaluate the potential to raise the increased funds necessary to support all 36 teams. Based on the circumstances now before us, we believe such an approach can succeed.
To support all 36 varsity teams we will need to ask for the support of the Cardinal faithful like never before. As our original decision last summer reflected, competing in today’s collegiate athletic landscape is increasingly expensive, and it is especially so with Stanford’s unusually large number of teams, which is twice the NCAA Division I average. We will need to continue to engage in a historic fundraising campaign to generate support for Stanford Athletics.
We hope that many in the extended Stanford family will be inspired to be a part of this effort.
The 11 teams – men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball and wrestling – will continue competing as varsity teams. We appreciate that the decision we made last summer has been most difficult and painful for the people directly affected by it. They have shown true grit and resilience during this very challenging period.
It’s worth noting that, while we were aware of two lawsuits filed on this subject last week, our discussions with 36 Sports Strong and other constituencies were already far along, and we reached the conclusion we are announcing today independent of their filing. We were disappointed by these suits since it was well known that we were engaged in these discussions, and we are pleased to be embarking on a more positive path.
Discontinuing 11 sports was a wrenching decision that we enacted with the greatest reluctance. We are pleased now to be on a path to achieve fiscal sustainability for Stanford Athletics while preserving opportunities for all of our student-athletes, and while simultaneously advancing the many other priorities important to the university and its mission. Thank you, and go Cardinal!
Sincerely,
Marc Tessier-Lavigne, President
Persis Drell, Provost
Bernard Muir, Director of Athletics
Will any heads roll over this debacle? Muir? Some underling bean counter?