RMU cuts 7 sports

Lee: First off, I feel awful for the student athletes who had their respective sport cut. I have a lot of friends on those teams, and it's tough to swallow.

I think they did the right thing, and it will help the university --both in athletics, growth, and financially-- in the future.

Before you blast the school, know this...

"The university will honor all scholarships currently being received by the impacted athletes should they choose to continue their studies at RMU. Certainly, we understand that some of these students may choose to transfer to another institution, and we will assist them in doing so. Under NCAA rules, student athletes who transfer from schools that have eliminated their sport do not have to sit out a season at their new school."

Most universities do not do this when they cut sports. RMU is doing the right thing, and they are not REQUIRED to continue to fund the ex-athletes education. All these athletes will be able to transfer and play right away.

This quote is from the press release provided by the school. It was emailed to every student/alum to their RMU email account.

"Simply put, the size of our Division I athletics program was unsustainable if we want to remain competitive and provide our student athletes with a high-quality experience. Because we offered so many Division I sports – more even than much larger universities such as Pitt and WVU – we spend less money per athlete than most of our peers in the Northeast Conference."

Chris: In talking with people close to the situation, they're not shocked by the cuts itself but more the density of the cuts. Seven is a large numbers of programs to get rid of at one time. Most were expecting 3-5. Out of pure luck, I had a dinner with President Dell'Omo scheduled last night and got to chat with him after about his thoughts and more specifics on numbers...

This is going to continue to be a developing situation that we'll monitor and update. I encourage you to check out our audio for a more advanced discussion...