[infofan]

Cleveland State University, faced with budget cuts, has made the difficult decision to cut its baseball program at the end of this season.

Athletic director John Parry said the decision was not an easy one.

"Anytime you drop a sport, it's tough," he said. "You are taking away a draw for 25 young men."

Parry said the main reason for the cuts was a lack of facilities for the existing team, which practices and plays 25 miles off campus in Avon at All Pro Freight Stadium. But the fact the Vikings have not had a winning season since 1989, and are currently 9-32 this season, can't be ignored.

According to Parry, dropping baseball will save the athletic department $450,000. It will not affect CSU's membership in the Horizon League, as baseball is not a required sport for membership; and it will not impact CSU's NCAA status, as the Vikings still sponsor 16 varsity sports, two above the NCAA Division I minimum of 14.

Cleveland State athletics likely could have had a comparable savings by taking from every sports budget, but Parry said, "our instructions were not to nickel and dime cuts, but make strategic decisions."

The AD said CSU will honor any baseball player's scholarship if he chooses to finish his studies at CSU. Any player who transfers will be eligible to play at his new school immediately.


The zips baseball program has been a cellar dweller for years unfortunately. Obviously we havent put any money into their facilities. With a season like this with all the rain outs and inclement days is it worth a half million dollars or so?? Im not advocating dropping the program, Just saying............

[ZachTheZip]

Baseball is one of six sports required for MAC membership. So the program isn't going anywhere. I think a coaching change is needed, along with an actual baseball facility. The facility doesn't need to be huge, but it does need to be something that isn't put to shame by the local high school fields.

One thing we need to be doing is going after some of these CSU players. Their record isn't too great, but we're not any better. Get some of the better ones and it can only help our team.

[Zipmeister]

Cleveland State University, faced with budget cuts, has made the difficult decision to cut its baseball program at the end of this season.

Athletic director John Parry said the decision was not an easy one.

"Anytime you drop a sport, it's tough," he said. "You are taking away a draw for 25 young men."

Parry said the main reason for the cuts was a lack of facilities for the existing team, which practices and plays 25 miles off campus in Avon at All Pro Freight Stadium. But the fact the Vikings have not had a winning season since 1989, and are currently 9-32 this season, can't be ignored.

According to Parry, dropping baseball will save the athletic department $450,000. It will not affect CSU's membership in the Horizon League, as baseball is not a required sport for membership; and it will not impact CSU's NCAA status, as the Vikings still sponsor 16 varsity sports, two above the NCAA Division I minimum of 14.

Cleveland State athletics likely could have had a comparable savings by taking from every sports budget, but Parry said, "our instructions were not to nickel and dime cuts, but make strategic decisions."

The AD said CSU will honor any baseball player's scholarship if he chooses to finish his studies at CSU. Any player who transfers will be eligible to play at his new school immediately.


The zips baseball program has been a cellar dweller for years unfortunately. Obviously we havent put any money into their facilities. With a season like this with all the rain outs and inclement days is it worth a half million dollars or so?? Im not advocating dropping the program, Just saying............

I'm skeptical either CSU or Akron's baseball team has a budget as large as $500K per year. And if you keep in mind that most of the team members are paying at least half their own way through school (many are paying the full ride) the institutional savings of cutting the sport are marginal.

[Dave in Green]

Anyone know any good reasons why UA couldn't work out a schedule that would allow them to use Canal Park? It's a nice facility within walking distance of campus. The Aeros don't play there every day. Using a facility like that as a home field might even help recruiting. What am I missing?

[MaxZIP]

Anyone know any good reasons why UA couldn't work out a schedule that would allow them to use Canal Park? It's a nice facility within walking distance of campus. The Aeros don't play there every day. Using a facility like that as a home field might even help recruiting. What am I missing?

Cost

[ZachTheZip]

Anyone know any good reasons why UA couldn't work out a schedule that would allow them to use Canal Park? It's a nice facility within walking distance of campus. The Aeros don't play there every day. Using a facility like that as a home field might even help recruiting. What am I missing?

I suppose that you weren't in attendance today when we played Pitt at Canal Park? Or when we played WMU or Malone there either. And I bet nobody will be there for the game against West Virginia next week either.

Here are the attendance figures for the games played at Canal Park and Lee Jackson so far:

CP: 237, 212, 157, 163, 145

LJ: 108, 158, 157, 124, 0, 0, 123

I do wonder how much it costs to play at Canal Park. It's owned by the city of Akron and high school teams play there more frequently than we do.

[Zips fan]

Cleveland State University, faced with budget cuts, has made the difficult decision to cut its baseball program at the end of this season.

Athletic director John Parry said the decision was not an easy one.

"Anytime you drop a sport, it's tough," he said. "You are taking away a draw for 25 young men."

Parry said the main reason for the cuts was a lack of facilities for the existing team, which practices and plays 25 miles off campus in Avon at All Pro Freight Stadium. But the fact the Vikings have not had a winning season since 1989, and are currently 9-32 this season, can't be ignored.

According to Parry, dropping baseball will save the athletic department $450,000. It will not affect CSU's membership in the Horizon League, as baseball is not a required sport for membership; and it will not impact CSU's NCAA status, as the Vikings still sponsor 16 varsity sports, two above the NCAA Division I minimum of 14.

Cleveland State athletics likely could have had a comparable savings by taking from every sports budget, but Parry said, "our instructions were not to nickel and dime cuts, but make strategic decisions."

The AD said CSU will honor any baseball player's scholarship if he chooses to finish his studies at CSU. Any player who transfers will be eligible to play at his new school immediately.


The zips baseball program has been a cellar dweller for years unfortunately. Obviously we havent put any money into their facilities. With a season like this with all the rain outs and inclement days is it worth a half million dollars or so?? Im not advocating dropping the program, Just saying............

I'm skeptical either CSU or Akron's baseball team has a budget as large as $500K per year. And if you keep in mind that most of the team members are paying at least half their own way through school (many are paying the full ride) the institutional savings of cutting the sport are marginal.

Akron is not going to lose baseball as it is a required MAC sport, but I could see the university saving 500K a year if they could drop. You have four coaches salaries and around ten scholarships, that alone accounts for most of it. The operating budget is not half a million, but total savings, I could see it.

[Blue & Gold]

I was thinking about going to the UA -vs- Pitt game @ Canal Park. Glad I decided against it.

[RootforRoo44]

Yeah, the Zips are god-awful offensively.

The next biggest problem is the coaching. This coaching staff has to be the most backwards, baseball stupid, and stubborn group I have ever seen. They continually play favorites (it's been going on for years) and their favorites could be hitting at or (far) under .200, yet still get start after start, all while guys like Lawrence Penn ride the pine for FIVE YEARS with only 51 total at bats to show for it. Even worse, he had only four last year, and just one this year so far.

The coaches also mismanage their pitching to such levels that it seems almost like they are trying to screw up. I could go on and on but if you've ever watched even one game, then you'd understand what I mean. If these guys aren't fired at the end of the season we will know for sure that the University just doesn't give the slightest crap about this program.

Another thing, and I'll probably have more on this later, but word is Bangston told a few of the players to just go home (including a senior) for the remainder of the season because he basically has no use for them. Gotta confirm that, but I've heard it from two players and someone close to the team, so it may be true.

[Zipmeister]

Cleveland State University, faced with budget cuts, has made the difficult decision to cut its baseball program at the end of this season.

Athletic director John Parry said the decision was not an easy one.

"Anytime you drop a sport, it's tough," he said. "You are taking away a draw for 25 young men."

Parry said the main reason for the cuts was a lack of facilities for the existing team, which practices and plays 25 miles off campus in Avon at All Pro Freight Stadium. But the fact the Vikings have not had a winning season since 1989, and are currently 9-32 this season, can't be ignored.

According to Parry, dropping baseball will save the athletic department $450,000. It will not affect CSU's membership in the Horizon League, as baseball is not a required sport for membership; and it will not impact CSU's NCAA status, as the Vikings still sponsor 16 varsity sports, two above the NCAA Division I minimum of 14.

Cleveland State athletics likely could have had a comparable savings by taking from every sports budget, but Parry said, "our instructions were not to nickel and dime cuts, but make strategic decisions."

The AD said CSU will honor any baseball player's scholarship if he chooses to finish his studies at CSU. Any player who transfers will be eligible to play at his new school immediately.


The zips baseball program has been a cellar dweller for years unfortunately. Obviously we havent put any money into their facilities. With a season like this with all the rain outs and inclement days is it worth a half million dollars or so?? Im not advocating dropping the program, Just saying............

I'm skeptical either CSU or Akron's baseball team has a budget as large as $500K per year. And if you keep in mind that most of the team members are paying at least half their own way through school (many are paying the full ride) the institutional savings of cutting the sport are marginal.

Akron is not going to lose baseball as it is a required MAC sport, but I could see the university saving 500K a year if they could drop. You have four coaches salaries and around ten scholarships, that alone accounts for most of it. The operating budget is not half a million, but total savings, I could see it.

I can't argue with an position as well thought out as yours.

[infofan]

Zach, I didnt realize that it was a required sport for MAC. Thanks for pointing that out. However I can believe the 400-500K budget. Factor in a head coach Pat Bangston and his 3 or 4 assistants probably make a total of 180K or so. And the fact that they must open the season with 7 southern trips to Mississippi, Texas, Florida and the Carolinas for travel, accomodations, food, etc, That aint cheap! And they did schedule 7 games at Canal Park this year. I could be mistaken but that may be the most they have ever scheduled there. And no I dont think any of the city series/city parochials play more that 2 games excluding city championship. the news from today was pretty embarrassing too...................This weekend's Mid-American Conference relocated to baseball series between The University of Akron and Bowling Green has been moved to Bowling Green's Stellar Field.

The three-game series was originally scheduled to be played at Lee R. Jackson Baseball Field on the UA campus, but this week's inclement weather has made the field unplayable.

Friday's game will begin at 3:00 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday's games scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
I may be wrong but Im betting BG has had as much rain as us but somehow their "Steller Field" which does look pretty nice is playable.
Isnt it amazing how much of a return you get on the money poured into soccer and track and ladies tennis but totally the opposite for some other sports. Lets hope long term makes the money invested in Football turns viable.