SAVE OU SPORTS.ORG

GO BOBCATS!

PETITION

Please sign our petition to save dropped OU sports. Click here. If your current circumstances or position with Ohio University do not require anonymity, we request that you sign with your name rather than as "Anonymous" as some have. Thank you and thanks to the Women's Lacrosse blog for setting up this petition.

Bobcat Attack Message Board

Ohio University Alumni Association

OU Students have an active discussion going on in FaceBook.Com. Click here to go to FaceBook.Com and join in.

OU Student Newspaper "The Post Online"

www.EquityinAthletics.org

Save James Madison University Sports.org

Taking Inside Higher Ed to the Mat

EMAIL CONTACT FOR THIS SITE: SaveOUSports ATgmailDOTcom

INACCURATE AND MISLEADING INFORMATION USED TO MAKE THESE DECISIONS

LACROSSE

We are just now going through the official OU documents made available thanks to the transparency required of the Freedom of Information Act and we're very puzzled over claims they make. Here are some of the head-scratchers we found. Watch this space for more as we scrutinize these documents:

From the Athletic Executive Committee Meeting:

Lacrosse:

The Executive Committee document says: We double-checked the report and this is what it says... "[only] 8 high school lacrosse programs in the OH/WV/PA/IN/MI region."

We have no idea where they came up with this statistic! Are they referring to conferences or individual high school programs? There are 200 individual high school lacrosse teams in that region. See this link for a full listing of girls lacrosse programs in Ohio. Note: This is only girls lacrosse. There are 80 boys high school lacrosse programs in Ohio.

(Source: http://www.laxpower.com/update05/bingrl/natlrating.php)

According to LaxPower.com there are 75 high school girls lacrosse teams in Ohio alone. There are 157 in Pennsylvania, 49 in Michigan, 15 in Indiana and 4 in West Virginia. this makes a grand total for the OH/WV/PA/IN/MI region of 200 women's high school lacrosse programs in that area. This is 25 times the number of teams OU's official documents state there are.

(Source: http://www.laxpower.com/update05/bingrl/natlrating.php)

This appears to us to be either a deliberate falsification or extremely poor staff work. In either case, this clearly false information can only raise suspicion about the validity of the rest of the information presented.

The OU Board of Trustees, however, appears disinterested in this solid proof of false and misleading information and apparent poor staff work in making this decision and upheld OU's decision. Why? We think they are just not interested in dealing with an obvious problem since university boards of trustees have too often been rubber stamps for university administrators.

Ohio taxpayers should expect more professional behavior from those appointed to management and financial oversight responsibilities to ensure tax dollars are being managed properly.

Virginia and Maryland are close by too. How come those states were not included in this supposed survey? There are well over a hundred high school programs in each state. Nearby Maryland is the epicenter of high school lacrosse nationwide and the sport is growing very fast worldwide, especially in the English-speaking world - England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada. 63 (and growing) in-state high school teams represent an outstanding collegiate sports feeder system.

Does the Executive Committee know that the report it relied on contained what appears to be misleading information? We think they do now, just as the OU Board of Trustees knows but there has been no apparent action to hold accountable those giving false information to official public decision-making bodies.

In legal terms, the magnitude of this misrepresentation is considered a "material misrepresentation of the facts" and usually has legal consequences. Are there going to be any consequences for those who developed and presented this information as valid to people with financial responsibilities to the taxpayers?

In addition, nowhere in reports we've studied is there mention of the fact that both men's and women's lacrosse is one of the, if not the, fastest growing sport in the nation.

This information can be verified on the web. There are 82 women's lacrosse teams in NCAA Division One. There are 40 in NCAA Division Two. There are 167 in NCAA Division Three That is 287 collegiate women's lacrosse programs nationwide. Lacrosse is growing at an annual rate of 10% in the U.S.

(Source: LaxPower: http://www.laxpower.com/update05/bingrl/natlrating.php)

See this page for a condensation of all 287 U.S. women's collegiate lacrosse programs listed on LaxPower.Com.

US LACROSSE FOUNDATION REPORT ON PARTICIPATION

"A Review of National Lacrosse Participation in 2005" A small pdf download

This report clearly shows that lacrosse is growing rapidly domestically and overseas. It is growing in the U.S. at approximately 10% per year, a growth curve no other sports can claim.

The report contains statistics that show lacrosse's 10-year growth rate at 206% and its 5-year growth rate at 77%. The other fastest growing sports in the U.S. are bowling, water polo, ice hockey and soccer.

Youth, high school, college, post-collegiate, and professional lacrosse players in the U.S. numbered 381,586 at the end of 2005.

The people in OU's administration could have been made aware of this information if they had not concealed their plans to cut the lacrosse team from OU's lacrosse coaches.

That they chose to use a wildly inaccurate statistic as "[only] 8 high school lacrosse programs in the OH/WV/PA/IN/MI region" indicates that they were either completely ignorant of a major sports trend in the US or they chose to misrepresent the sport's appeal. This appears to us to demonstrate either substantial incompetence or deliberate misrepresentation.

The Executive Committee Report says: "Only one away competition of nine was played in the OH/WV/PA/IN/MI region."

This is misleading. In 2007 the Lacrosse Team is scheduled to play away games in the OH/WV/PA/IN/MI region at Penn State, Ohio State, Lehigh (Bethlehem, PA), and Duquesne (Pittsburgh, PA).

In 2006, they played three of those teams - Penn State, Ohio State, and Duquesne - at home at OU.

ALC teams alternate home and away games with each other every other year and others not in the conference often reciprocate with the same system.

Using this measure just from 2006 is misleading. We'll post the 2005 away games in that region when we find the schedule. It is no longer available on the Lacrosse web page.

The Executive Committee Meeting report says: "Since becoming a charter member of the ALC [American Lacrosse Conference] in 2002, WLAX has a record of 6-18. No historical national success - Program reintroduced in 1999."

How many teams at OU have records showing that they have beaten national powerhouse universities like Ohio State University, Penn State, and Virginia Tech? The lacrosse team can make that claim proudly.

In addition, they lost several heartbreakers to national powerhouses by only a point or two on numerous occasions. Four ALC teams the OU Lacrosse Bobcats play are currently ranked in the top 20 nationwide - Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Penn State, and Vanderbilt. Northwestern is number one.

Two non-ALC teams on their 2007 schedule are ranked number 5 and 8 in the nation, Notre Dame and Maryland, respectively. OU's 2007 schedule, therefore, pits them against six teams nationally ranked in the top 20.

The ALC consists of many of the top teams in the nation including national champions. Members of the ALC are: Johns Hopkins, Northwestern (Two-Time and Current National Champs), Ohio University, Ohio State University, Penn State, and Vanderbilt. Florida lacrosse is scheduled to join the ALC in 2008. The rest of their annual schedules include teams like Maryland (National Champs), Virginia (National Champs), Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Duke, Brown, California, Oregon, and Stanford.

A conference record of 6-18.... Is that better or worse than other OU sports programs' histories of wins and losses? The Lacrosse Team consistently competes against national powerhouses.

How many other OU teams compete at such a high level? How many other sports at OU offer students and fans the opportunity to watch competition at the highest national level? How many other sports at OU consistently compete against the national champions and NCAA playoff finalists in their sports?

The lacrosse team was started in 1999. How long has it taken teams at OU or any other university to build a program to national success levels?

OU's Lacrosse Team's performance in this sport forced major university opponents to sit up and take notice of OU. Allison Valentino and her staff are outstanding coaches recognized nationally as such. They have the skills and abilities to take lacrosse to the top level given the chance.

This team has the potential to be a national powerhouse in a relatively short period of time. This season had the potential for the team to break into the headlines as an emerging power. Unfortunately, it may not get that chance and OU will lose the chance to claim a nationally-recognized team.

(Note: OU's Lacrosse season was cancelled. See this page to read the reasons. Underclasswomen are sitting out this season to retain eligibility so they can transfer to other schools offering lacrosse.)

Do the AD and the Assistant AD responsible for OU Women's Lacrosse understand the intense competitive environment these young women play in every season? It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to hang in there with teams like their competition.

They give OU their best. OU hasn't given them its best.

The Executive Committee report says: "6 of 25 student athletes are from Ohio."

5 of Ohio State University's 28 women's lacrosse players come from Ohio. That's a lower ratio than OU's. Click here to see OSU's 2007 roster.

53 of OU's 85 - 2006 - 2007 football players came from out of state. That is way over half of them. Click here to see OU's 2006 football roster.

That's right. Most lacrosse players are from out-of-state.

How many received scholarships for four full years? If they get any scholarship money, a lot of them don't get scholarships until they've played for a couple of years and then only half-tuition scholarships. After those half-tuition scholarships, they still continue to pay the equivalent of in-state tuition. Out-of-state tuition at OU is more than 100% higher than in-state tuition. The Lacrosse Team has paid a lot of out-of-state tuition.

Did the AD take into account the substantially greater amount of tuition money per-capita that these young women pour into OU's tuition coffers? We doubt it because we found nothing about this substantial offset to university expenses and costs anywhere in the official reports documenting this decision.

You can review all of those documents on this website at this link.

Lacrosse, especially women's lacrosse, is one of the, if not the, fastest growing sport in America.

It is growing rapidly internationally, especially in the English-speaking world.

It is especially fast-growing in high schools nationwide.

Equipment costs are low.

Existing sports fields are ideal for lacrosse.

The sport is fast, full of action, with lots of scoring.

Most of all, it is a tremendous amount of fun for girls and young women.

It is not well-known but lacrosse is the only sport in the world that is an entirely original North American sport. It was being played by Native-Americans when Europeans first set foot on this continent.

DROPPED TEAMS

2006 Women's Lacrosse Team

Women's Save Ohio Lacrosse Blog

LaxPower.com message board discussion on OU LAX

Women's Lacrosse web page at OU website

Swimming and Diving

Save Ohio Swimming and Diving

and

Save Ohio Swimming

Swimming and Diving web page at OU website

Save Ohio University Swimming Discussion Forum

Track and Field

Bringing Back Ohio Track Blog

Track and Field web page at OU website

YouTube video put together for the Track and Field Team

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Next ]

SaveOUsports.org is a non-profit group devoted to action that will reinstate discontinued varsity sports at Ohio University.

SAVE OU SPORTS.ORG

GO BOBCATS!

LINKS

PETITION

MORE LINKS

OU Students have an active discussion going on in FaceBook.Com. Click here to go to FaceBook.Com and join in.

EMAIL CONTACT FOR THIS SITE: SaveOUSports ATgmailDOTcom

INACCURATE AND MISLEADING INFORMATION USED TO MAKE THESE DECISIONS

LACROSSE

We are just now going through the official OU documents made available thanks to the transparency required of the Freedom of Information Act and we're very puzzled over claims they make. Here are some of the head-scratchers we found. Watch this space for more as we scrutinize these documents:

From the Athletic Executive Committee Meeting:

Lacrosse:

The Executive Committee document says: We double-checked the report and this is what it says... "[only] 8 high school lacrosse programs in the OH/WV/PA/IN/MI region."

(Source: http://www.laxpower.com/update05/bingrl/natlrating.php)

(Source: http://www.laxpower.com/update05/bingrl/natlrating.php)

This appears to us to be either a deliberate falsification or extremely poor staff work. In either case, this clearly false information can only raise suspicion about the validity of the rest of the information presented.

Ohio taxpayers should expect more professional behavior from those appointed to management and financial oversight responsibilities to ensure tax dollars are being managed properly.

In addition, nowhere in reports we've studied is there mention of the fact that both men's and women's lacrosse is one of the, if not the, fastest growing sport in the nation.

This information can be verified on the web. There are 82 women's lacrosse teams in NCAA Division One. There are 40 in NCAA Division Two. There are 167 in NCAA Division Three That is 287 collegiate women's lacrosse programs nationwide. Lacrosse is growing at an annual rate of 10% in the U.S.

(Source: LaxPower: http://www.laxpower.com/update05/bingrl/natlrating.php)

See this page for a condensation of all 287 U.S. women's collegiate lacrosse programs listed on LaxPower.Com.

See also:

US LACROSSE FOUNDATION REPORT ON PARTICIPATION

"A Review of National Lacrosse Participation in 2005" A small pdf download

This report clearly shows that lacrosse is growing rapidly domestically and overseas. It is growing in the U.S. at approximately 10% per year, a growth curve no other sports can claim.

The report contains statistics that show lacrosse's 10-year growth rate at 206% and its 5-year growth rate at 77%. The other fastest growing sports in the U.S. are bowling, water polo, ice hockey and soccer.

Youth, high school, college, post-collegiate, and professional lacrosse players in the U.S. numbered 381,586 at the end of 2005.

The people in OU's administration could have been made aware of this information if they had not concealed their plans to cut the lacrosse team from OU's lacrosse coaches.

The Executive Committee Report says: "Only one away competition of nine was played in the OH/WV/PA/IN/MI region."

This is misleading. In 2007 the Lacrosse Team is scheduled to play away games in the OH/WV/PA/IN/MI region at Penn State, Ohio State, Lehigh (Bethlehem, PA), and Duquesne (Pittsburgh, PA).

In 2006, they played three of those teams - Penn State, Ohio State, and Duquesne - at home at OU.

ALC teams alternate home and away games with each other every other year and others not in the conference often reciprocate with the same system.

Using this measure just from 2006 is misleading. We'll post the 2005 away games in that region when we find the schedule. It is no longer available on the Lacrosse web page.

The Executive Committee Meeting report says: "Since becoming a charter member of the ALC [American Lacrosse Conference] in 2002, WLAX has a record of 6-18. No historical national success - Program reintroduced in 1999."

How many teams at OU have records showing that they have beaten national powerhouse universities like Ohio State University, Penn State, and Virginia Tech? The lacrosse team can make that claim proudly.

In addition, they lost several heartbreakers to national powerhouses by only a point or two on numerous occasions. Four ALC teams the OU Lacrosse Bobcats play are currently ranked in the top 20 nationwide - Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Penn State, and Vanderbilt. Northwestern is number one.

Two non-ALC teams on their 2007 schedule are ranked number 5 and 8 in the nation, Notre Dame and Maryland, respectively. OU's 2007 schedule, therefore, pits them against six teams nationally ranked in the top 20.

A conference record of 6-18.... Is that better or worse than other OU sports programs' histories of wins and losses? The Lacrosse Team consistently competes against national powerhouses.

How many other OU teams compete at such a high level? How many other sports at OU offer students and fans the opportunity to watch competition at the highest national level? How many other sports at OU consistently compete against the national champions and NCAA playoff finalists in their sports?

The lacrosse team was started in 1999. How long has it taken teams at OU or any other university to build a program to national success levels?

OU's Lacrosse Team's performance in this sport forced major university opponents to sit up and take notice of OU. Allison Valentino and her staff are outstanding coaches recognized nationally as such. They have the skills and abilities to take lacrosse to the top level given the chance.

This team has the potential to be a national powerhouse in a relatively short period of time. This season had the potential for the team to break into the headlines as an emerging power. Unfortunately, it may not get that chance and OU will lose the chance to claim a nationally-recognized team.

(Note: OU's Lacrosse season was cancelled. See this page to read the reasons. Underclasswomen are sitting out this season to retain eligibility so they can transfer to other schools offering lacrosse.)

Do the AD and the Assistant AD responsible for OU Women's Lacrosse understand the intense competitive environment these young women play in every season? It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to hang in there with teams like their competition.

They give OU their best. OU hasn't given them its best.

The Executive Committee report says: "6 of 25 student athletes are from Ohio."

5 of Ohio State University's 28 women's lacrosse players come from Ohio. That's a lower ratio than OU's. Click here to see OSU's 2007 roster.

53 of OU's 85 - 2006 - 2007 football players came from out of state. That is way over half of them. Click here to see OU's 2006 football roster.

That's right. Most lacrosse players are from out-of-state.

You can review all of those documents on this website at this link.

Lacrosse, especially women's lacrosse, is one of the, if not the, fastest growing sport in America.

It is growing rapidly internationally, especially in the English-speaking world.

It is especially fast-growing in high schools nationwide.

Equipment costs are low.

Existing sports fields are ideal for lacrosse.

The sport is fast, full of action, with lots of scoring.

Most of all, it is a tremendous amount of fun for girls and young women.

It is not well-known but lacrosse is the only sport in the world that is an entirely original North American sport. It was being played by Native-Americans when Europeans first set foot on this continent.

DROPPED TEAMS

2006 Women's Lacrosse Team

Swimming and Diving

and