February
13 ,
2004
Changes
Announced to MHC Athletic Program
As part of a long-term plan to maintain
and strengthen Mount Holyoke’s athletic program, athletic
director Laurie Priest announced this week that the College will
eliminate intercollegiate softball in fall 2004.
“While this decision is not easy, it is in the best interest overall of
our program,” said Priest, who made the determination in consultation with
the athletic department’s senior lecturers, administrative team, and the
softball coach. Priest said that Mount Holyoke, like other colleges, has been
looking at its athletic program holistically in order to allocate its resources
strategically across a broad range of activities.
Priest observed that the College’s athletic program has achieved significant
victories in recent years, winning Seven Sisters, NEWMAC, and ECAC Champion-ships,
as well as prestigious individual awards. This success, said Priest, is “a
testament to the quality and dedication of our coaches, student-athletes, and
staff.” But, she added, in the present financial climate, the College
cannot maintain its competitive edge while accommodating 15 varsity sports.
In evaluating the athletic program’s future needs, Priest and her staff
considered the number of team versus individual sports; the number of sports
in the fall, winter, and spring seasons; the facilities available; the ability
to recruit student athletes; the impact of sport on academic time; and coaching
resources available. She noted that the department had already cut back spending
in each of its intercollegiate sports in the face of rising costs for food,
lodging, and officials, and College needs for smaller budgets.
According to Priest, several
factors led to the decision to cut
softball. First, the softball field is of marginal quality, and maintaining
it at minimally acceptable standards has been difficult due to cuts in facilities
management’s budget. The cost to build a new field would be
prohibitive.
Second, softball often cuts into academic schedules. This is due in part to
the NCAA requirement for double-header contests, which often conflict with
afternoon classes. Poor weather also causes many games to be rescheduled, often
on weekday afternoons, further cutting into
class time.
A third factor driving the decision is
the athletic program’s limited coaching
staff. Priest said that two-sport coaches are becoming obsolete, and to remain
strong, the College needs to support a sport model that has one coach for each
program or “like programs.” The softball program presently shares
a coach with the field hockey team, so that both teams have had little access
to their head coach during their nontraditional seasons.
Priest said that while eliminating softball will generate some savings in
the budget, the savings are small, and the decision was made
primarily to provide stronger support for the athletic program as a whole.
She said that the College will fully support the softball team in its upcoming
spring season.
In the future, the athletic department plans to offer softball as an intramural
program. Further, she emphasized that the College does not intend to cut
additional sports programs. “We will work with coaches and students
to use our resources to maintain a quality sports program with a good balance
of team and individual sports offered during the fall, winter, and spring
seasons.” he
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