Now I’m not normally one who delves into controversial topics, but this one has become pretty mainstream the last couple days. So here it goes.

Recently, the AD at Towson University told the baseball and men’s soccer teams at the school that at the end of the school year, the school will no longer be sponsoring those sports. What was uncalled for was the manner in how it happened. There was no warning about the “meeting,” it just happened. It was so hastily called, that many of the athletes on the teams didn’t attend because they couldn’t just get up and leave class.

But that isn’t the worst part of it.

After the “conference,” which lasted all of three minutes, the AD was rushed out of the room escorted by police. And as the coaches and athletes were in the parking lot, they saw another set of police and security surrounding the AD and other school officials.

Now what is confusing is why did the schools feel they needed protection from the athletes and coaches? There has never been any reports of violence by Towson athletes, especially towards  school officials. Did they think that the teams would be so upset about cutting two sports that they would go after the officials? What type of message is that sending to the students about how the school views its student-athletes.

“That was the final insult in what has been one of the most unprofessional, least classy experiences of my life,” Matt Butler, whose son plays on the baseball team, said to The Baltimore Sun. Butler went on to say that this was about the athletic director’s personal agenda.

With the cuts, the school says a total of 65 roster spots will be eliminated. The school claims that the scholarships will continue to be honored, but what about the players who came to the school as walk-ons because they love the sport and wanted to continue playing it competitively? Baseball has a total of 11.7 scholarships, the Towson baseball roster contains a total of 35 players. Men’s soccer is allowed 9.9 scholarships, the soccer team had 21 players on its roster this past season.

Unlike other sports, not every student gets a full scholarship because these sports aren’t funded. What that means is that the school HAS 11.7 or 9.9 scholarships they can distribute, but often times because of budget reasons, they can not fill all of those. So while some sports are allowed to offer full scholarships to their student-athletes, the kids that play these sports get MAYBE their books paid for, or if they’re lucky, their housing paid for. Most of them are forced to ask their parents to help them or take out federal loans.

According to baseball coach Mike Gottlieb, the reason for the cutting of the two programs is budget issues, not Title IX compliance. Meanwhile, the AD says it IS because of Title IX that needs to be done. While the reason for it may not be Title IX compliance, next year Towson will have a total of five men’s sports, while the school will sponsor 13 women’s sports. If the school hadn’t been careless with their budget spending, this wouldn’t be an issue, but unfortunately, for those 65 athletes, they will be stuck having to find a new school to play for or give up a sport they loved and wanted to continue playing competitively.

The NCAA claims they try to do everything for the student-athletes. Really?

That’s why when the story about how the baseball team decided they would no longer wear the name Towson on the front of their jerseys, one must say ‘Bravo!’ As one player said,

“We don’t support Towson, so we don’t want to wear something that says ‘Towson.”

For the reason of the season, the players will wear jerseys that will have the word Towson blacked out by black duct tape. It’s sending a message that ‘you don’t want to support me? I don’t want to support you.’

At least someone at Towson is standing up for something. Unfortunately for the administrators in this case, it’s the student-athletes. Maybe they should take some notes, they can learn some things.