Just got a link to an old article on CBSSports by Dennis Dodd. Read his take on Title IX and college athletics here. Too bad more folks didn't follow his advice back in 2002.
Here's how he starts it off:
Football needs to start making Title IX sacrifices.
Title IX has been a mess since the day it was born.
Hold onto your political correctness -- this is not a condemnation of equal opportunity. This is a well-rationalized 30-year view of the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education.
More highlights from the piece:
The easy way out is still to ax a couple of men's minor sports. They don't produce money anyway. Taken to its extreme, then, Title IX compliance should mean cutting virtually all the minor sports. Athletic departments could succeed sponsoring only football and men's and women's basketball. Throw in a couple of rowing teams, some equestrian, and it's all equal Title IX-wise.
There is a solution, or progress toward a solution. It will require some hard swallowing, but here goes:
Cut 20 football scholarships and two assistant coaches across the board in I-A. Redistribute the money to minor sports overall and women's opportunities in particular.
Another true story: A couple of years ago, a former Oklahoma male swimmer confronted a Big 12 athletic director from another school at the conference's basketball tournament. The AD had cut men's swimming to save a sinking athletic department. The swimmer had seen enough slashing from his sport.
It has all become too much. The wrestling coaches' suit has opened up a rattlesnake's den of controversy. Women's groups are defending their turf. Men's minor sports are defending their programs.
Football is sitting there, fat and on its throne like Jabba the Hutt. To the satisfaction of all parties, might we recommend a quick weight-loss program?
thanks MF
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