Righteous running and the future of our sport

Thanks to loyal Marist Running Alum Tim Keegan for linking me on a Facebook post to the following article written by Jeff Pearlman, dealing with the epidemic of men’s collegiate running programs being eliminated. An article on the same topic was posted in Runner’s World back in December, on the heels of Temple’s axing of its longtime men’s running programs. Pearlman’s article is excellent: Well-reported, well-researched, well-written. The subject matter remains a chilling topic for all of us in the business.

We hear and read about it, seemingly every month, as another D1 men’s running program gets axed. Talk about chilling: I get emails forwarded by compliance officers from the schools that are cutting the programs, announcing blanket releases and permission for us fortunate programs that still exist to come swooping in and recruiting the athletes from the soon-to-be-fallen teams. Many of these programs hit close to home. Pearlman cites and quotes programs that we have competed with for many years: Seton Hall, Delaware, Towson. Many years prior, just before this cascade of cuts hit its crescendo, the chatter was loud and angry in these parts over the cutting of the St. John’s University men’s running programs, one of the oldest collegiate track programs in the country.

They all sting, but Seton Hall’s elimination of track and field seemed to cut particularly deep. Their coach, John Moon, is a living legend – and he is still at it, despite the heart of his program being cut. A great man and a great leader of athletes, Moon has coached at the Olympic level. Seton Hall has produced Olympians in track and field. That sort of world-class legacy ought to have meant something. It did not.

Pearlman’s article focused quite a bit on Delaware, where he went to school and ran briefly for longtime coach Jim Fischer. Through the years, how many meets did we see the Blue Hens running and the bald-headed and charismatic Fischer at the helm? Many, many meets. Same as with Seton Hall. So yeah. It cuts close to home. I’ll admit to not knowing Coach Fischer all that well, kind of a “hi, howya doin’ ” sort of thing that coaches maintain through the years. But based on what Pearlman wrote in his article, it sounds like he ran his program similarly to ours here in Poughkeepsie. Like us, Fischer maintained a big roster with few or no cuts (we have, on occasion, been criticized of such an open policy). Pearlman referred to Fischer as “the rare coach who cared far more about personal improvement than wins and losses.’’

Here is a quote from Fischer from Pearlman’s story: “I never felt pressure to increase productivity. The thing we always stressed was being competitive and representing the university righteously. That’s what it was all about.”

Unfortunately, the key word there is “was” as Fischer and his program were the victims of being cut, mostly under the rationale of Title IX. As the article points out, though, Title IX – a very worthy and admirable law that we all can, should and do follow – usually has nothing to do with the cuts. It’s almost always about dollars and cents, something that unfortunately running programs do not generate. Ever.

People have repeatedly asked me if our sport on the men’s side was “safe” at Marist. While there are no guarantees in life, I believe that men’s running at Marist is safe and is not in danger of being cut. Every time we hear of another men’s running program getting cut, though, it brings with it great sadness – for the coaches, sure, but mostly for the athletes who put their heart and soul into the sport for two and three seasons, training and competing year-round.

So while there is much gloom and doom about the future of our sport on the men’s side, there happens to be one glimmer of hope: Swimming upstream against this tide are our MAAC friends up in Buffalo at Canisius College. The Golden Griffins were one of the many men’s track programs that were cut, more than a decade ago. However, under the recent guidance of their excellent coach, Nate Huckle, the Griffs have enjoyed a major resurgence in every way – culminating with the reinstatement of their indoor and outdoor track and field teams in January. Yes. You read that right. A D1 school ADDED track teams! We congratulate Coach Huckle and his athletes for their little victory in the midst of the wreckage elsewhere in the landscape of D1 men’s running; we applaud the administration at their school for having the courage and foresight to expand opportunities for the outstanding student-athletes in their program.

As the Runner’s World article points out, running programs can and do bring positive improvements to school’s athletic programs. At the D3 level, schools are figuring that out. Canisius was the rare school on the D1 level that similarly saw the light. Here’s hoping my e-mail inbox does not soon ping with another blanket release from another school cutting their men’s running programs.