If I have learned anything in my time hanging around higher ed, it's that the president answers to no one ... except the board. The board is all powerful at a university. The president took baseball/mlax to the board and they said yes. They could have said no, which would have meant a return to the drawing board.
Other catch-up thoughts:
- I really don't understand why you would turn down free money to keep a sport going. No different than what Bowling Green did. If Furman was offered enough money to keep baseball going, they should have jumped on it in a hot second.
- I'm not buying for a second that Furman had to cut baseball and mlax for Title IX reasons. I see nothing in pouring over the Title IX rules that makes me believe that Furman wasn't compliant in many different ways.
- I hate to mention it, but I wouldn't be shocked if football wasn't at least tossed out there as a sport to cut. The president has no allegiance to Furman football, but if they think baseball caused a negative reaction, oh boy would cutting football have sent alumni support off the deep end, including this guy.
- Are we seeing the end of Furman being the top all-around sports program in the SoCon? I have a feeling some of our small sports are going to take a big hit with the scholarship reduction. I always made fun of the Wofford model of being good in the big sports but awful in everything else, but it's hard to argue with FCS playoff appearances and multiple NCAA men's hoops appearances. It seems likely we are heading that direction with the exception of sports like running and soccers and women's golf, which should stay elite.
