Do we ever consider adding new sports? Would be interesting to be one of the first in Texas to get in on an upcoming sport like lacrosse or be the best in state option for all those gymnists going to OU and the SEC.

Title IX

We need women's beach volleyball!

We are trying to get into equestrian on the ground floor right now. We also tried to do that with archery, but it didn't take off.

[This message has been edited by nereus (edited 5/28/2011 7:15p).]

Trying to get in on the ground floor with equestrian? We have won how many national championships??

He is saying that Equestrian is not an event that many schools participate in. We are good at it, but until more teams join, it isn't as big a deal.

As for Archery, we were badass, but again there weren't many other teams to compete against.

As for new sports we could consider we should look at sports that are near competitors are in. A crew team (womens) may allow us to also add a mens soccer team. The problem is most schools in Texas don't participate in many sports and it makes it more costly that we have to travel more around the country for a sport that will already guaranteed lose us money.

Crew? Where? The Brazos or Navasota Rivers?

Don't they have a kineseology class for rowing at Lake Bryan?

Title IX is why I think gymnastics would be a good add. OU, Mizzou and Iowa St. have teams as well as most of the SEC. There aren't a ton of meets and it's a small team, so travel costs would be limited and there is a strong talent pool in Dallas and Houston. Plus who doesn't want gymnists on their campus?

I am surprised beach volleyball hasn't taken of yet. It would break even at worse due to low overhead and sponshorships. A TV contract should be easy.

Women's bowling seems to be the sport that Byrne seems the most interested in. I guess that's the Nebraska influence showing.

Women's gymnastics would be awesome! A lot of good talent around this part of the country. Our club team is pretty good. I must admit, I'm really, really biased about this one.

23 equestrian teams and you need 40 minimum to be recognized and counted the equivalent of other sports that have that many teams for NCAA championships.

Byrne is focused on costs to start another sport and the liklihood of injuries...hence he is thinking bowling

Title IX would be a factor but budget is a bigger reason we would/would not add a sport.

The athletic department still owes TAMU several million from a loan. Where are we going to get a few million to fund another sport or two?

If we added a men's sport, we would probably have to add a women's sport.

If I had a choice, I'd add wresting for men and lacrosse for women. We'd get exposure to a different part of the country.

We would suck at lacrosse for a long time. Not nearly enough kids in Texas play it, and kids from the east coast would be very hesitant to come down here. Aside from equestrian, which I think will become a full fledged NCAA sport within 5-7 years, my
vote would be men's soccer and women's gymnastics. But, like it's already been mentioned, it's more of a budget issue than a Title IX issue. Right now, we don't have the money for ONE new sport, let alone the two that Title IX would require.

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Byrne is focused on costs to start another sport and the liklihood of injuries...hence he is thinking bowling

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Good point. I'd imagine the insurance on bowling is next-to-nothing. The question is would they build competition-quality lanes on campus, or work with an existing bowling alley?

Could be an additional source of revenue if they built an alley on campus, that would help offset the costs of the program.

It seems that a number of schools in the B12 have wrestling programs. What about adding men's & women's wrestling?

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We would suck at lacrosse for a long time. Not nearly enough kids in Texas play it, and kids from the east coast would be very hesitant to come down here.

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FWIW, Florida started lacrosse two years ago went to the championship as the #4 seed this year. They have to players from Florida and everyone else from Maryland, etc.

Not saying it would be easy, but the Gators pulled it off.

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The athletic department still owes TAMU several million from a loan.

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Yall listen to longhorn and media lies too much.

Our athletic department has plenty of money, but is focused on facility improvements more than adding new teams. Look at the new weight room we are building and Blue Bell Park. Add to that a new outdoor track facility that is in the plans and it makes sense why we haven't added any programs.

As for adding a program, we could add a women's without an additional mens program and still fit under Title IX, but I think Byrne will make the move to do both if we choose to add extra programs.

The top of the list is probably
Womens/Mens bowling
Womens/Mens wrestling
Womens/Mens gymnastics

Is men's bowling recognized by the NCAA yet?

I'd like to see them add a sport like water polo to take advantage of a facility that already is one of the most expensive to maintain...

"We would suck at lacrosse for a long time. Not nearly enough kids in Texas play it..."

Are you kidding me? Do you live in Wink or something? There are numerous, numerous club teams in north Harris County, and a like quantity in the Austin, SAT and DFW areas also. Hell, Klein HS doesnt field a UIL team but the kids at Klein who do play lacrosse receive letter jackets for playing on any of the local club teams. In fact, the six major programs that operate in the Klein area have sent eleven kids to NCAA teams in the last three years. That number doesnt include any that Oak, Collins, The Woodlands, College Park, Oak Ridge, Magnolia, Montgomery or any of the club teasm in those areas sent off to NCAA schools.

Dude, lacrosse is huge.

[This message has been edited by monarch (edited 5/30/2011 12:30a).]

Lacrosse is NOT huge in Texas. Growing, yes. Huge, no. Wanna know how many kids from Texas are on the rosters of the 16 teams in the NCAA tournament? 8 out of over 700 kids. Texas may send some kids to college, but Texans are a tiny drop in the bucket compared to NY, NJ, MD, PA, VA, etc.

I'm not insulting lacrosse. It's a great sport, and I know people who play it, coach it, officiate it, and support it in Texas. I'd love for us to have it as a D1 NCAA sport at A&M, but it's just not reality.

[This message has been edited by road not taken (edited 5/30/2011 1:31a).]

Women's gymnastics! My daughter is a champion gymnast training for elite. Would love her to finish her career as an Aggie gymnast!

I was shocked to see how big the crowd was for the NCAA lacrosse title match yesterday...35K+...how many other sports pull in that kind of crowd for their national title?

I very seldom add my two cents worth on these boards...but love to read them.

I do know a bit about girl Lax in Texas. I just got back from the NCAA Tournament at Stony Brook NY and watched the Final Four. My daughter was playing in the Woman's Division National Tournament and represented Texas.

For A&M to compete at the national level we would have to get east coast girls. Florida did and made the tournament this year. In either there 2nd or 3rd year, not sure? Also, Oregon started there program with girls for the east coast. While Stanford has a great mix if girls for all over the country. And they made the NCAA tournament this year.

And about the girls from Texas playing at the highest level. Seniors coming out this year..... 9 girls are committed to teams that made the NCAA Tournament.

2 girls to Northwestern ( national champs )
3 girls to Stanford ( made the NCAA tourn )
1 girls to Duke ( made the final 4 )
1 girls to Towson ( In Baltimore and top 10 program )
1 girls to Maryland ( natl runner up )

Other top Div 1 schools Texas girls are committed to - William & Mary, Notre Dame, Dartmouth and Colgate. And that is just girls from the class of 2011.

Texas is far behind the east coast when it comes to all things Lax, but it is making quite a move. Top teams are looking had for girls in Texas. If programs like Texas A&M, Texas, SMU, TCU and Rice ( realize there athlete budget issues ) started Girls Lax programs the local growth would be amazing.

GG - class of 85.

Hey AGShouse, I know the girl going to Towson! She talked about coming to A&M, but the fact that they only had club LAX wasn't good enough.

You get a great coach and the athletes will follow (lacrosse).

And for the person doubting the "loan" - please see below:

http://www.aggiesports.com/blogs/-16-million-loan-to-A-M-athletics-department-news-to-me--how-about-you-

It is very real and significant and I don't believe it has been paid back yet.

A&M's athletic department revenue is $70M LESS than the bunch in Austin.

'It is very real and significant and I don't believe it has been paid back yet.'

Yes and yes.

nick, athletics was busy building things even when they were laying off people at the same time. The money is separated into two different pots. Instead of paying back all the debt, preventing layoffs or rewarding many of the current deserving support staff, the fundraising dollars go strictly to keeping up with the Joneses.

agrunner12 - Ya I know the girl going to Towson University quite well also, she is a great girl and if A&M was NCAA D1 program i'm sure she would have given us real consideration.

She is a two time US Lacrosse All - American and would have been a great Aggie!!!

She's my cousin. I tried to convince her to stay in Texas, but she just loves lacrosse too much!

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nick, athletics was busy building things even when they were laying off people at the same time. The money is separated into two different pots. Instead of paying back all the debt, preventing layoffs or rewarding many of the current deserving support staff, the fundraising dollars go strictly to keeping up with the Joneses.

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Did the horns make more money? Yes. But you're crazy if you think our program is in any amount of debt to be scared about. We bring in millions annually and add in the donations and we are doing pretty darn well. Any good business should have SOME debt or you aren't using your leverage. ESPECIALLY if they will give it to you without any interest.

If you think 16 million is something we should really be concerned about then what about the 500 million loan the horns got recently? Where are the tons of news stories and public bashing about how debt is bad and texas is going to fall apart because they have too much debt.

If you really want a link go to rivalries and post about A&M in debt 16 million and you'll quickly get the link you want.

Our future has very little to do with the 16 million dollar loan we took out with the university. Nor is the University going to put significant pressure for the athletic department to pay up. The main reason it became a news story was because they had never agreed on a payment schedule and Byrne made a slip up of saying something along the lines of not being concerned about it.

Do we need to make more money with our athletic department? Yes. Are we top 25 currently? Yes. And that is coming of a decade of terrible sports in baseball, basketball and more importantly football.

therealnick05 - do you know what you are talking about?

$16M is a non-trivial amount of money. Byrne borrowed it from TAMU because the athletic department had a big budget deficit. Robert Gates agreed to the loan to fund the department until revenues caught up.

Since our annual revenues are in the $80M range, we still owe a lot of money to TAMU. In the meantime the department has laid off people and cut expenses where it can.

As for the horns - please tell us more about the $500M loan. Did they borrow money to fund the DKR expansion? Funding a capital project with a long term loan is very different than borrowing money because we are operating at a deficit.

The A&M athletic department is on solid ground, but they are not flush with cash and cannot simply cough up a million or two just because they want it. The simple truth is that Texas athletic department is a cash machine. $145M per year, #1 in the US. They give $5M back to the university from logo product sales. The horns aren't getting a very good return on their money at the moment. But you are simply naive to believe A&M has anywhere near the money that Texas has.

http://www.theeagle.com/am/A-amp-amp-M-athletics-reworks-budget-to-pay-loan

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 5/31/2011 7:44p).]