Ron Polk, MSU’s head baseball coach, is a full supporter of women’s athletics and does, in fact, support Title IX, the federal mandate that strives to keep women’s sports equal with men’s sports.He just wants to know when men’s athletics will get their own protection.
“What I really want to see is Title X,” Polk said. “Where’s our protection? Where’s the protection against men’s sports being cut?”
Polk points out that the men’s sports of wrestling, gymnastics and track and field are practically becoming nonexistent in the NCAA.
Just recently, four men’s sports programs were cut from Ohio State University, including their track and field team, so that they could remain Title IX compliant.
“I support Title IX completely,” Polk said. “Women were being discriminated against. But it’s my responsibility to defend men’s athletics, especially college baseball.”
What NCAA officials like to call “roster management,” Polk calls filling a quota. Since MSU’s enrollment is 55 percent female, the number of athletes is also 55 percent female.
What many people fail to look at, Polk says, is that close to half of the male athletes are football players, which leaves a small number of scholarships for other male sports.
“It doesn’t bother me at all that women’s softball gets to give out 20 scholarships,” Polk said. “I just want to be able to offer the same amount, especially since we’re one of the biggest sources of revenue for the athletic department.”
Polk says that his colleagues who are coaching women’s sports respect his opinion on the subject.
He does not want to take anything away from women’s athletics but wants men’s athletics to be offered the same opportunities.
MSU has had to cut scholarships and even full programs for men’s athletics in the past.
This past year marked the 10-year anniversary of when MSU was forced to cut its men’s cross country team due to Title IX regulations.
MSU is not the only school who has faced problems due to Title IX.
Currently James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., is facing much controversy due to having to cut men’s athletic programs to become Title IX compliant.
Currently JMU athletes and students are starting a campaign titled “Save Our Sports.” Many members of the nine-time champion men’s swim team are starting Facebook accounts to garner support to stop their team from being cut at the end of their season.
Sophomore swimmer Jacob Torok took the axing of the men’s sports teams the hardest.
This is now the second school he has attended which has been forced to cut its men’s swim team in order to comply with Title IX regulations.
“I’m still in shock,” Torok told The Daily News Record in Harrisonburg. “I did not believe it would happen again.”
JMU’s swim team has started a Web site to share its story and has also gained attention from The New York Times and ESPN in respect to their plight.
When the men’s and women’s swim teams held their preseason intra-squad meet, they turned it into a rally, bringing family members, alumni and other students to show their support.
JMU’s men’s swim coach Chris Feaster points out that if the school had not cut the women’s fencing, archery and gymnastics teams in addition to the men’s teams being cut, they would have been able to keep men’s swimming and still remain compliant.
“When going compliant means discriminating against men, what do we do?” Feaster told The Daily News Record. “I’m not going to point the finger, but I’m going to do everything I can to save it. I feel like I owe it to my team.”
Torok echoes his dissatisfaction with the decision.
“It’s supposed to be about equality, everyone’s equal, everyone’s happy. But no one’s happy with this cut,” he said.
The “Save Our Sports” effort is being led by senior Jennifer Chapman, whose team was not cut in the decision.
“Athletic departments have become a business run by accountants, not a place of opportunity run to educate students,” she told The New York Times. “What are you saying to young boys involved in youth sports when you only offer six college sports for them?
“You’re saying, ‘You better play football or basketball, because if you run track or swim, you don’t matter.'”
Coach Ron Polk has a similar view on the matter.
“We don’t have many sports at MSU that men participate in,” he said. “Where’s men’s wrestling or men’s soccer? Where are those opportunities?