Monday, April 01, 2013

More talk...


...about swimming D-I meet combined. Read it here.

I'm all for it, provided:

1. Only schools fielding both men's and women's teams are eligible.

2. Men's programs get bumped up from 9.9 to 14 scholarships (same as women).

3. Men get bumped from 270 to 322 qualifiers (same as women).

(via Great Leadership)

Any chance the most gender-equitable sport in the USA will be treated as such by the NCAA?

Just two...slim & none...

4 comments:

Kevin Murphy said...

It is quite a job to coach both Boys and Girls at the Texas State HS Meet at the same time. It would be quite an undertaking to do the same thing at the NCAA Division I Meet, although the same is done at Div II and Div III, I think. The "focus" (just Men or just Women)would not be quite the same, and I doubt that many of the coaches that coach both Men and Women, would be in favor of the change to ONE Meet, but I am sure their spouses would like to have one meet, so the coaches would not be gone so long. In addition, the Head Coaches would be handling ALL of the taper, and post NCAA training, instead of delegating some of it to Assistants while they are gone to the "other" meet.
The NCAA Div 1 coaches, that coach BOTH Men and women, would really have to manage and coach well in a combined format. The decision-making, along with who makes the decision, should prove interesting.

Anonymous said...

I'm not in favor of it at all; even expanding the meet to 4 days will result in longer time lines and less recovery / rest between sessions. They were talking about making Indianapolis, IN the default host too. I think moving the meet is something the athletes and fans like. It is "fun" to have a chance to swim in front of the "home crowd" (regionally at least)at least once during one's college career. I don't think it is good for the sport at all - my oldest swimmer wouldn't even consider a school that didn't have separate men and women's coaches. The "drama" of the girl on the team was something he was tired of from the high school and club he trained with before college. I hope this gets stopped before it gets started personally. Hopefully they won't combine them until we are done with college then I guess my interest level diminishes somewhat.

Button said...

the 'haves' (schools that have a staff each for women and men) would probably make a better go of it than schools that need to do double duty.

if our concern is for the student-athletes (novel idear, right?), shouldn't putting them in the best position to have their best performances be the priority?

finally:

'...but I am sure their spouses would like to have one meet, so the coaches would not be gone so long.'

maybe not all spouses...

Button said...

'It is "fun" to have a chance to swim in front of the "home crowd" (regionally at least)at least once during one's college career.'

great point. having ncaa's in college station and austin in recent years (and in austin again next year) is not only a 'plus' for the swimmers & parents, but also for our state's club and high school swimmers.

they get a chance to see what big-time swimming's all about

being there is a whole lot better than watching online...