Spartans 4 Sanity
The SJSU administration claims that if football were eliminated, the contributions of our generous athletic donors would dry up, leaving the other sports teams high and dry. It is likely true that some boosters will be sufficiently angry about the decision to leave Division I-A that they may suspend or end their relationship with the university, which would be unfortunate. However, the experience of Santa Clara University is instructive.
�Once, SCU football was as big-time as it got� (Emmons 2002). So why did the university abandon football in 1993? Because the situation facing Broncos football then was very similar to the situation facing SJSU now. �[Rev. Paul] Locatelli, SCU president since �88, said he never wanted to drop football. But he had a limited pool of money and wanted to upgrade his athletic program at a time when the NCAA was about to make football�a lot more expensive� (Emmons 2002). Like the situation facing the Spartans today, these extra expenses were the result of NCAA rule changes. The university made the difficult decision to end football and devote more resources to the remaining sports.
Although this was not a popular decision and many individuals are still upset with it, the university appears to have suffered no long term damage. In fact, the rest of the SCU athletics program seems to have benefited. �These days, Locatelli says, the athletic program is �going great guns.� The women�s soccer team is the defending national champion. The women�s volleyball team is ranked 11th in the country�.The baseball team had a highly regarded recruiting class this year� (Emmons 2002). According to SCU Athletics Director Cheryl Levick, �Our attendance figures are up. We�re getting better athletes. This is a golden time for Santa Clara athletics� (Emmons 2002). In addition, to those who believe that alumni donations to SJSU will dry up if the university leaves Division I-A, Levick reports that �[s]ome of her largest donors are ex-football players� (Emmons 2002).
Emmons, Mark. (2002). �Remembering SCU Football; Decision was Right Call, Officials Say.� San Jose Mercury News. P. 1D.