Baseball Dropped (Updated)

[apaladin]

Affirm, IF someone had come out and said we are cutting baseball to rev up support for football and basketball that would be something but they did not and all we heard was how dire finances were and FU had lost 100 million on the endowment which we all knew was BS. That money has already been recovered. Title IX was just another excuse that doesn’t hold water. IMHO for whatever reason President Davis wanted baseball gone and she saw a perfect opportunity and took advantage of it. It is not in the best interest of Furman that one person has ALL the power and can do whatever she wants.

[MetroMizzy]

Affirm, IF someone had come out and said we are cutting baseball to rev up support for football and basketball that would be something but they did not and all we heard was how dire finances were and FU had lost 100 million on the endowment which we all knew was BS. That money has already been recovered. Title IX was just another excuse that doesn’t hold water. IMHO for whatever reason President Davis wanted baseball gone and she saw a perfect opportunity and took advantage of it. It is not in the best interest of Furman that one person has ALL the power and can do whatever she wants.

And Affirm, you also have no idea what happened behind closed doors in the BOT meeting on 5/18/20 and what sports were actually voted to be eliminated BEFORE the decision to cut baseball was made. I do. Davis overturned the original BOT vote which did not include baseball. Apaladin is correct - she has ALL the power.

[Roundball]

Affirm, IF someone had come out and said we are cutting baseball to rev up support for football and basketball that would be something but they did not and all we heard was how dire finances were and FU had lost 100 million on the endowment which we all knew was BS. That money has already been recovered. Title IX was just another excuse that doesn’t hold water. IMHO for whatever reason President Davis wanted baseball gone and she saw a perfect opportunity and took advantage of it. It is not in the best interest of Furman that one person has ALL the power and can do whatever she wants.

And Affirm, you also have no idea what happened behind closed doors in the BOT meeting on 5/18/20 and what sports were actually voted to be eliminated BEFORE the decision to cut baseball was made. I do. Davis overturned the original BOT vote which did not include baseball. Apaladin is correct - she has ALL the power.

Why tease us with info that we don't know is true? Share it.

[apaladin]

Affirm, IF someone had come out and said we are cutting baseball to rev up support for football and basketball that would be something but they did not and all we heard was how dire finances were and FU had lost 100 million on the endowment which we all knew was BS. That money has already been recovered. Title IX was just another excuse that doesn’t hold water. IMHO for whatever reason President Davis wanted baseball gone and she saw a perfect opportunity and took advantage of it. It is not in the best interest of Furman that one person has ALL the power and can do whatever she wants.

And Affirm, you also have no idea what happened behind closed doors in the BOT meeting on 5/18/20 and what sports were actually voted to be eliminated BEFORE the decision to cut baseball was made. I do. Davis overturned the original BOT vote which did not include baseball. Apaladin is correct - she has ALL the power.

Why tease us with info that we don't know is true? Share it.

He just told you what happened and it is true. Up to you if you want to believe it or not.

[Roundball]

Affirm, IF someone had come out and said we are cutting baseball to rev up support for football and basketball that would be something but they did not and all we heard was how dire finances were and FU had lost 100 million on the endowment which we all knew was BS. That money has already been recovered. Title IX was just another excuse that doesn’t hold water. IMHO for whatever reason President Davis wanted baseball gone and she saw a perfect opportunity and took advantage of it. It is not in the best interest of Furman that one person has ALL the power and can do whatever she wants.

And Affirm, you also have no idea what happened behind closed doors in the BOT meeting on 5/18/20 and what sports were actually voted to be eliminated BEFORE the decision to cut baseball was made. I do. Davis overturned the original BOT vote which did not include baseball. Apaladin is correct - she has ALL the power.

Why tease us with info that we don't know is true? Share it.

He just told you what happened and it is true. Up to you if you want to believe it or not.

I just read the post again. He didn’t tell us what happened. Do we believe our AD, our BOT, our President, or a post with no details? What sports were going to be eliminated? Why did the BOT say THEY unanimously voted to cut baseball and lacrosse?

[paladinfan12]

I have no inside track here, but I would imagine if baseball is brought back it will be multiple years in the future when the university and athletic department is in a much more stable place financially. I see no reason why Furman would demolish the baseball stadium or significantly repurpose the facility (it is the only real baseball field on campus). The startup cost would be relatively inexpensive.

I think the reason the administration made little effort to keep baseball around in the short term was because they went to the big money donors and realized there was not going to be a way to fund the team. Taking a few years off to hit he reset button might not be terrible.

[Sad Din]

Well.. so much for baseball at FU in my lifetime

[FurmAlum]

Really strange stuff coming from that office these days. "will look not for lazy rivers....?"

Nothing strange at all, if she means students will not look for laziness or for just floating or drifting through life. Good stuff.

Pretty sure she means not spending on crap like this:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/caranewlon ... 49f2474883

https://www.wsj.com/articles/lsus-lazy- ... 1513381917

Great post Monday. Spending money at colleges for lazy rivers, five star steak houses, spas, etc is shameful. No wonder college tuition has been going up out of control. I wouldn't let my kid go to High Point Univ. if it was the last F$%^&* school on earth!

[apaladin]

Affirm, IF someone had come out and said we are cutting baseball to rev up support for football and basketball that would be something but they did not and all we heard was how dire finances were and FU had lost 100 million on the endowment which we all knew was BS. That money has already been recovered. Title IX was just another excuse that doesn’t hold water. IMHO for whatever reason President Davis wanted baseball gone and she saw a perfect opportunity and took advantage of it. It is not in the best interest of Furman that one person has ALL the power and can do whatever she wants.

And Affirm, you also have no idea what happened behind closed doors in the BOT meeting on 5/18/20 and what sports were actually voted to be eliminated BEFORE the decision to cut baseball was made. I do. Davis overturned the original BOT vote which did not include baseball. Apaladin is correct - she has ALL the power.

Why tease us with info that we don't know is true? Share it.

He just told you what happened and it is true. Up to you if you want to believe it or not.

I just read the post again. He didn’t tell us what happened. Do we believe our AD, our BOT, our President, or a post with no details? What sports were going to be eliminated? Why did the BOT say THEY unanimously voted to cut baseball and lacrosse?

It doesn’t matter what other sports were going be cut. You missed the point. The point is it was Davis’ decision and hers alone. She has ALL the power and she misused it IMHO.

[Roundball]

Affirm, IF someone had come out and said we are cutting baseball to rev up support for football and basketball that would be something but they did not and all we heard was how dire finances were and FU had lost 100 million on the endowment which we all knew was BS. That money has already been recovered. Title IX was just another excuse that doesn’t hold water. IMHO for whatever reason President Davis wanted baseball gone and she saw a perfect opportunity and took advantage of it. It is not in the best interest of Furman that one person has ALL the power and can do whatever she wants.

And Affirm, you also have no idea what happened behind closed doors in the BOT meeting on 5/18/20 and what sports were actually voted to be eliminated BEFORE the decision to cut baseball was made. I do. Davis overturned the original BOT vote which did not include baseball. Apaladin is correct - she has ALL the power.

Why tease us with info that we don't know is true? Share it.

He just told you what happened and it is true. Up to you if you want to believe it or not.

I just read the post again. He didn’t tell us what happened. Do we believe our AD, our BOT, our President, or a post with no details? What sports were going to be eliminated? Why did the BOT say THEY unanimously voted to cut baseball and lacrosse?

It doesn’t matter what other sports were going be cut. You missed the point. The point is it was Davis’ decision and hers alone. She has ALL the power and she misused it IMHO.

I don’t believe it.

[gman84]

Believe It.

[JohnW]

Just playing along because I don't know if Furman's President has the power to veto the board. I will say I doubt it, but say she does and did. How was she wrong? What sports other than baseball and lax should have been cut?

[Furmanoid]

I’d be ok with just hearing a clear explanation of why cutting ANYTHING was necessary. Remember cuts were in the works at least a year ago. What happened to make that necessary? Nobody has said. The current program just “wasn’t sustainable”. OK, but it was a few years ago, so what happened?

I doubt she can veto but they can’t afford to tick her off too bad or she might walk, and then they really look like bozos.

[MetroMizzy]

She has the power and she used it. I'm not the fake news. My conscious is telling me not to identify the other sports but it is true. Baseball at the Furman level is completely sustainable on it's own regardless of the number of baseball scholarships being awarded by the university and the $600K operating budget. It's simple math. Let's not forget the cash in the 1076 Club account that was procured by the staff via private donations. There was enough in that account to at least play 2021 season.

It's my opinion that cutting any sports wasn't actually "necessary" on 5/18/20.

[Paul C]

It's my opinion that cutting any sports wasn't actually "necessary" on 5/18/20.

Strategic decisions like are rarely "necessary" on any given date. There's always a reason to keep trying....

My life in business has given my insight into the process of making difficult decisions, and the biggest mistake I ever made was NOT making a tough call analagous to this one.