Why does A&M not have a Men's Soccer team? Any plans?

Title IX !

Not a Big XII sponsored Championship Sport.

Few area schools have Mens Varsity Soccer to compete against.




[This message has been edited by TxAg (edited 9/2/2002 9:32a).]

Actually, we do have a club team under the Department of Recrational Sports, not Intercollegiate Sports. They won a national championship two years ago.

http://recsports.tamu.edu/msoccer/

And Title IX is the problem. As a former assisant AD told my son "I'd love to have men's (intercollegiate) soccer, but I'd have to add three women's sports to balance it".

Thanks for the info. How do other schools do it (e.g. U. of Virginia)?

Title IX is the culprit. There are plenty of schools in the southwest that have soccer programs (some of them pretty good), and if you include Division II and Division III schools you've got literally dozens of schools within a reasonable distance. If junior colleges can field teams, TAMU could if they wanted to.

Schools like UVA had soccer prior to title IX. Many schools in D-1 had to cut men's programs (such as wrestling). School's like UVA have a winning history with men's soccer, so they kept it.

Before you compare D-1 schools to D-2 & 3, look and see if they have a football program first. D-3 should also not be an issue, as D-3 schools do not pass out athletic scholarships.

In Texas, the following colleges and uni's play soccer:
SMU, TCU, Concordia Lutheran, Mary-Hardin Baylor, Southwestern (Georgetown), Trinity, UTEP. In addition, Tulane, Centenary, UNO and I believe Louisiana College (Alexandria) play too.

SMU is a national power in men's soccer. I owuld be willing to bet numerous nickels that if we added mens soccer, tu would too.

With the amount of old money hanging around in boosters wallets, I would suspect that all we need to get a mens program off the ground is for some stud HS soccer player to tell his "Pa-Pa" that he wants to play soccer at tamu and- Boink! We have a mens soccer program.

"It takes a man to be a father....."

monarch-
Sorry, this isnt a private high school so it doesnt work that way.
Because of Title IX, we would have to add a sport, or two, as long as we add the same number of scholarships to guys and girls. Or we could drop some mens sports. Neither will happen.

Didn't SMU drop baseball to keep soccer? And yes, TAMU would have to create a new sport for the women with equal number of 'rides to attain NCAA status for men's soccer.

We could add a women's basketball team to even it out.

Relax...It's just Tech

Again guys, it isn't the money, it isn't a good ol' boy network opposed to soccer it is Title IX.

The only sport A&M has exclusively for men is football. (Well, baseball, though it is offset by softball.) It is the big dog, it brings in almost all the money that supports the other sports. It also can give out 85 scholarships. Because of Title IX, A&M has to hustle to come up with 85 women's scholarships to offset football alone.

A&M sports for men only:
Football
Baseball

A&M sports for women only:
Soccer
Softball
Equestrian
Archery
Volleyball

A&M sports for men & women:
Basketball
Golf
Swimming & Diving
Tennis
Track & Field

Archery, soccer and probably others have men's club teams, which don't have the same status. It isn't fair, but it is the law.

Women's soccer is currently carrying a roster of 23. If you can come up with another women's sport as an offset, that carries a roster of 23, can get people to come to the games, and has Division I level competition, then we can consider adding men's soccer.

BTW, someone mentioned other men's soccer teams. Unless I missed some, here is the complete list of NCAA men's soccer teams in Texas.

Division I

SMU

Division II

Incarnate Word
St. Mary's
WTAMU

Division III

Hardin Simmons


[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 9/18/2002 8:53a).]

77: St. Edwards (Austin)

You're right, JD, sorry.

I was working off an NCAA list, and didn't recognize Saint Ed's as being a Texas college.

the women's soccer team might have 23 on the roster, but there are only 12 scholarships that are shared between the girls. soccer is an equivalency sport like baseball.

It is an NCAA rule that only 12 total ships can be divided between the team. My sister plays at UNC and that is one of the reasons that parity is beganing in woman's soccer. They used to have 20 girls on full rides. That makes a major difference among the premier programs.

You would have to hope that we could add a low cost type sport like Fencing or Rowing. That is what UNC has that allows for Wrestling and Mens Soccer. We have used the same type concept with Archery and Equesterian.

If is was AD though here is my plan:

Woman's Sports:

• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Fencing
• Field Hockey
• Golf
• Gymnastics
• Lacrosse
• Rowing
• Soccer
• Softball
• Swimming & Diving
• Tennis
• Track & Field
• Volleyball

Mens Sports:

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Fencing
• Football
• Golf
• Lacrosse
• Soccer
• Swimming & Diving
• Tennis
• Track & Field
• Wrestling

The added sports would have a pool of ships to pull from. The number ships you get from year to year would be based on income for the program. It would increase the pressure on the coaches to suceed and promote their programs. Overall success of other sports will come with time, but the major need in my plan is that basketball starts making the boat loads of cash that is possible.

Maybe pigs could fly too?

Basketball is already profitable.

Only Basketball and Football make money

Baseball breaks even.

Women's Field Hockey would be better than rowing and fencing.

ESL / IYACYAS '88

Our goal should be to have all sports that count in the Sears Directors' Cup
Skiing and Ice hockey would be the real tough ones

http://nacda.ocsn.com/searsdirectorscup/nacda-searsdirectorscup-scoring.html

quote:

---

There will be 20 sports counted in the standings -- the top 10 scoring sports for men and the top 10 scoring sports for women. Sports that may count in the standings include:

Men -- Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse , Soccer , Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Track & Field (indoor/outdoor), Volleyball, Water Polo and Wrestling

Women -- Basketball, Cross Country, Field Hockey, Golf, Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse, Rowing, Soccer, Softball, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Track & Field (indoor/outdoor), Volleyball and Water Polo

Coed – Fencing, Rifle and Skiing

---

[This message has been edited by AG2002 (edited 11/1/2002 10:14p).]

You forgot East Texas Baptist University here in Marshall. They have a men's and women's team that compete in Div III.

It just so happens that I had a test today in Sociology of Sports and one of the topics for the test was Title IX.

Many ADs want football to be taken out of the equation when it comes to Title IX. Here at A&M, football brings in 81% of the atheltic revenue and men's teams account for 97% of the revenue. It just isn't fair then that women have more sports teams because of the 85 football scholarships.

Listen, It's all about money. Football makes money at A&M. All the others don't. None.

The way that A&M has the athletic department organized is pretty logical. It would be great if Mark Cuban or someone else with a spare billion could come in to create some more sports that don't help in balancing a budget. That's the only way that "fair" could come into play.

Mrs Zippy mentioned using a pool of scholarships that would change each year based on whoever did the best or made the most money. Huh? I'm sure that some parent would be fine in giving up a scholarship for their kid if that team didn't do as well one year. C'mon folks let's come back toward planet Earth!

The fact is that Title IX is here. It's been here since the 70s. It's been a major focus of the NCAA since the early 90s. If it goes away the climate won't get any better for very worthy men's sports like wrestling or soccer. It will just eliminate some women's sports and give that money to football, men's basketball, or other favorites that could use some more dough (and every team wishes they had some more to spend on something).

A&M has a huge budget compared to other schools around the nation and it still doesn't have a men's soccer team. That sucks, but it is realistic in the current climate (in the real world of NCAA sports)

Sorry to come across as a realist, 'cause I like the dream of having a great men's soccer team at A&M.

How is Rowing low budget? $20,000 Racing shells. Then tack on transporting that bad boy all over the place? Ergs, unis, oars, dock, the list goes on.
And on that note, why does Texas have rowing and we don't?

Where do you propose our rowing team practice, the muddy Brazos?

quote:

---

Mrs Zippy mentioned using a pool of scholarships that would change each year based on whoever did the best or made the most money. Huh? I'm sure that some parent would be fine in giving up a scholarship for their kid if that team didn't do as well one year. C'mon folks let's come back toward planet Earth!

---

Scholarships would go back into the pool when players graduate. C'mon guy you need to come back to earth!

Lake Bryan. Aggie Rowing Club already does. You should go check it out sometime and toss a little support their way.

OK Zippy,

_____Woman's Sports:

• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Fencing
• Field Hockey
• Golf
• Gymnastics
• Lacrosse
• Rowing
• Soccer
• Softball
• Swimming & Diving
• Tennis
• Track & Field
• Volleyball

Mens Sports:

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Fencing
• Football
• Golf
• Lacrosse
• Soccer
• Swimming & Diving
• Tennis
• Track & Field
• Wrestling

The added sports would have a pool of ships to pull from. The number ships you get from year to year would be based on income for the program. It would increase the pressure on the coaches to suceed and promote their programs. Overall success of other sports will come with time, but the major need in my plan is that basketball starts making the boat loads of cash that is possible.
_______

Football and maybe basketball could pull a profit (because of TV revenue). None of the other teams in your dream lineup would pull a profit, so under your plan nobody gets scholarships? Shut up! Don't expose yourself in such a way!

Wait, maybe golf, fencing, rowing, cross country, etc could charge a million dollar a ticket for all the spectators those teams draw at the college level. That would definately balence the budget of your athletic department. Ha Ha Ha

Want to buy a bridge?

Actually the cost for a sport that actually does well is an even some gain for the Athletic budget. The major concern for covering each teams costs is attendence at home events and when the team does travel that it receives travel stipends from the host facilities.

Overall we need to have a profitable basketball program and football program to cover the expenses of the smaller sports in bad times. I want to see Texas A&M win the Sears Cup and national championships. To achieve those goals we need more sports and to demand excellence from every level. Right now we don't demand this from any program except Football.