Caslen says South Carolina hopes it won’t cut sports: ‘It’s the right thing to do’
South Carolina school president Robert Caslen invoked the comparison: A starting quarterback and a women’s diver.
To the public, one is the highest profile athlete on a college campus. The other is hardly known. But Caslen, a former undersized center at Army, saw a similarity in their paths.
“‘What’s the difference between a woman diver on the 10-meter diving board ready to do a triple flip than the starting quarterback of the Gamecock football team?’” Caslen said. “She’s using her talent for the betterment of herself, her future. She’s getting an education for her talents. She’s doing this for the team, for the university and for the community. Why would we want to deprive her of that of the tremendous opportunity? That’s true for any sport and any athlete out there.”
But college sports are a money business, and brass tacks situations are the reality in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Caslen said at the school’s broad of trustees meeting on Tuesday there had been discussions about cutting sports, namely men’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and equestrian. But that was not a path he’d like to go down.
“If we can preserve those teams, my desire is because of the goodness they provide our student athletes we would like to do that. There are unintended consequences like cutting pathways to professional or Olympic sports,” Caslen said. “I believe (not cutting is) the right thing to do. In the end, we may have to do it.”
He said in his ideal situation, he’d like to expand athletics more. But the department opened the year facing a projected budget deficit of more than $40 million. It is expected to take on some kind of loan to make ends meet this fiscal year
The school also bought out head football coach Will Muschamp and hired Shane Beamer, with a new staff to follow.
Tanner has said on multiple occasions cutting sports would be at worst a last resort.
Caslen pointed out that the season total of attendance for the season was less than the full capacity of Williams-Brice Stadium (77,075 total). That’s a massive driver of funds for the athletic department that wasn’t available.
“ We’re very fortunate in the plan being worked through at the Southeastern Conference, with our management, our cost controls,” Caslen said. “We talked about some of the solutions to deal with some of the challenges they have.”
