Page 6 THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1978
focus
Athletic funding—who first?
A&M diving program
one of the casualties
By MARILYN BROWN
“If we do any good at all, it’s on
our own.”
Ron Falkenberry, Texs A&M
University’s top diver, summarized
A&M’s springboard diving program.
Although Texas A&M has grown
too fast for the athletic facilities and
intramural programs to keep pace,
the low spot is probably springboard
diving. The divers have no coach,
inadequate facilites, and a budget
which consists of the leftovers from
the swim team.
“The pools are al
ready so over used — we
need another one so
badly” — swim coach
Dennis Fosdick.
And they seem to be on the low
end of the totem pole where change
or improvement is concerned.
According to Marvin Tate, as
sociate athletic director, funds are
given to swimming coach Dennis
Fosdick to use as he sees fit. Fosdick
said he allots about $1,500 to pay his
assistants, including someone to
coach the diving team. For this rea
son, he is dependent on a graduate
student or someone who works loc
ally to coach the divers in his spare
time.
Thomas Falkenberry, Ron’s older
brother, who also dived for Texas
A&M worked with the divers last
year, while attending graduate
school. Fosdick said he had hoped
Thomas would return this year, and
when he didn’t, Fosdick “just wasn’t
able to find anyone else.”
“We have a small community to
draw from,” Fosdick said. “Most of
the people who would be interested
would be people working in the
P.E. department, and they prefer
not to have their people working as
coaches. So that leaves us with find
ing someone who just happens to be
interested from another depart
ment.
Dr. C. W. Landiss, Health and
P.E. department head, said his de
partment adopted that policy be
cause coaching and recruiting duties
interfere with the classes a coach
teaches.
“When a faculty member leaves,
another one has to take his load for
free and this is unfair,” Landiss said.
Fosdick said he places more em
phasis on swimming because more
points can be earned in swim meets
since more events can be entered
with the larger number of people.
He said if more money were alloted
to the aquatics program it would go
to new equipment and more schol
arships for the swim team before it
would go to diving.
Tate said, however, that the ath
letic department already gave the
maximum number of aquatics schol
arships allowed by the National Col
legiate Athletic Association.
Falkenberry said they have had
coaches on and off for the last eight
years, when his brother started di
ving here, none of whom were per
manent or had any authority.
“They’ve never tried to build a pro
gram," Falkenberry said.
This year the divers have an assis
tant who comes in once a week, but
he knows less about diving than the
divers do, and many workouts have
ended up with the divers watching
him and telling him his mistakes.
Falkenberry said that he and Bill
Sammons, another Texas A&M di
ver, coach each other, but after they
watch each other long enough they
start missing each other's mistakes.
In diving a coach is especially im
portant for motivation — to push
the diver to try new things and call
him out of his dives.
Many of the schools
who wont swim here use
the shallowness as an ex
cuse — swim coach De
nnis Fosdick
“If I had someone to push me I
could go a lot further,” Falkenberry
said. “I’m just now doing dives I
should have done three or four years
ago.”
Fosdick said he isn’t qualified to
coach diving, and doesn’t have time
to anyway. He said the divers used
the athletic department’s videotape
machine for awhile, and that
seemed to help them. He added,
however, that it had to be shared
among all the team, and at present
is broken.
“The divers have done a good job
of coaching themselves — I wish
there was something I could do for
them,” Fosdick said.
Fosdick stressed the need for a
new indoor pool. He noted the rot
ting ceiling of Downs Natatorium
and the murky water.
“The pools are already so over
used — we need another one so
badly — we could double our recre
ation time, offer more P.E. classes,
and have more time for the swim
team to work out,” Fosdick said.
The pool is presently in use from
6 a.m. to 10 p.m. each week day,
leaving little time to expand existing
programs.
Many schools will not come to
Texas A&M for swim meets. The
deep end of Downs is only 10 feet
deep, at least 4 feet too shallow to
do safe 3 meter diving. Texas A&M
has the finest boards made, and the
outdoor pool is deep enough, .but it
is too cold during the swimming
season to dive outdoors.
“We have grown too
fast to keep up with our
needs and that encom
passes more than our
athletic program” —
Marvin Tate, associate
athletic director
Many of the schools who won’t
swim here use the shallowness as an
excuse, Fosdick said. “Some of
them look at the water and ask if it
alway looks like this. Little do they
know it’s often worse,” he added.
Last year Downs was closed dur
ing the winter months to be refil
tered, forcing all swimming ac
tivities to the outdoor pool. The cold
was especially hard on the divers,
who are constantly in and out of the
water. Falkenberry said he averages
about 40 dives a workout.
Despite the sophisticated com
puterized filtering system installed
in the pool, the water is still cloudy,
with a greenish tinge. One im
provement has lasted, however.
The pool tiles were regouted and
the divers no longer cut themselves
when they hit the bottom.
There are also conflicts at workout
— the divers must wait until the
swimmers finish before they can
start diving. Otherwise they must
inconvenience the swimmers by
moving the lane ropes and diving
around the swimmers, which breaks
the concentration and the rhythm of
the workouts.
The University of Texas and
Southern Methodist University
have the top diving facilities in the
Southwest Conference as well as
full-time diving coaches, and as a re
sult most of the good divers go to
those schools. The southwest has
produced many of the nation’s
Olympic divers, and SM U coach,
Brian Robbins, was a former Olym
a
M
T •. I* 1 C
pic coach. Those schools also have
separate diving wells as well as more
boards to avoid conflicts at workout.
Scott Rich, the NCAA diving
champion for the last two years, was
enrolled at Texas A&M, but took
one look at the facilities, withdrew
and went to SMU. One of Nigeria’s
top divers wrote to Texas A&M, but
Fosdick sent him a reply that the
University had nothing to offer him.
“The divers have done
a good job of coaching
themselves — / wish
there was something I
could do for them,” —
swim coach Dennis Fos
dick.
Fosdick does not try to recruit di
vers, nor does he start the ones he
has on scholarship.
“We don’t have a facility for them
— it’s not fair to recruit them heav
ily,” Fosdick said. “By the same to
ken, if a swimmer wants to major in
art, I tell him this isn’t the school for
him.
Falkenberry, who earned a $500
scholarship this year, said that di
vers must “prove themselves” be
fore they receive a scholarship. Fal
kenberry said he feels he has the po
tential to be one of the top five or six
divers in the conference.
But at each meet, UT and SMU
are the powerhouses, because of the
programs which have been built at
those schools.
According to Fosdick, many
people are interested in coaching
the divers here, but not for the sal
ary he has to offer. And he does not
plan to increase that salary next
year, because he plans to hire a
permanent manager for the swim
team.
“Invariably, we 11 have to wait for
the grad student who will come in
and want to help, ’ Fosdick said.
Tate said that his department
does not have the income to spend
on a sport which does not generate
any.
“We must make every dime we
spend, Tate said.
Although he recognizes the need
for an improved aquatics facility, he
said he doesn t know where the
funds would come from to build a
new natatorium.
“We have grown too fast to keep
up with our needs, Tate said, “and
that encompasses more than our
athletic program.”
He cited the need,for a larger col
iseum and another intramural gV ni,
adding that “the administration
would have to see the need for a
new natatorium and find the dol
lars. ”
Fosdick said he felt the diving
program had gone as far as it could
with what it had. As for a coach next
year, he said there would be one “if
we can find somebody.
"There are other things I d like to
have a lot more, Fosdick said.
Old programs take
By PAIGE BEASLEY
Battalion Staff
Football, the only self-supporting
sport, provides the financial base for
all other sports within the athletic
department of Texas A&M Univer
sity.
Over $2 million is generated by
football through ticket sales and con
ference surplus, said Wally Groff,
assistant athletic director for busi
ness affairs. Aggie Club donations
for scholarships add an estimated
$750,000, Groff said. Student serv
ice fees, rental fees for Wofford Cain
Hall, and ticket sales from basket
ball baseball provide additional rev
enue.
He said it is still undecided, but
the plan has been to eliminate Rind
ing from student service fees, and
have half-price ticket sales for stu
dents.
Funds are divided among the
administration, the men’s program,
and the women’s program. In turn,
this is broken down among the indi
vidual sports, Groff said.
Distributionn of funds among the
women’s and men’s programs are
determined by their individual
need,s and expenditures, he said.
Coaches make requests and rec
ommendations each year for fund
ing. Needs and expenditures in
clude salaries and wages, travel and
lodging, food, scholarships, recruit
ing, supplies, equipment, and mis
cellaneous expenses, Groff said.
Charles Samson, chairman of the
athletic council, said that state dol
lars can not be used for coaching
salaries.
Coaches set their budgets in ac
cordance with past finances, experi
ence, and records, Groff said. “If a
particular sport asks for a large in
crease in one area, we’d probably
grant it if we could, if not, we ’ll go
back to the one asking for the largest
increase and cut.
“We don’t base it on whether
they produce anything or not, not at
this point, Groff said.
The men’s program supports the
3-year-old women’s program, since
women’s sports have no income.
Because “they are growing off the
men’s program, the women’s pro
gram is the larget expense item, he
said.
“In 1976-77, we estimated that we
spent something over $214,000 in
women’s athletics, Samson said.
“This year, we anticipate the spend
ing of something over $310,000.
Next year we re looking at some
thing probably over $420,000. ’’
est slice
Samson said the athletic council
doesn’t want the expansion of ex
penditures for the women s program
to be made at the expense of the
men s program.
“We determined this is about as
much as the athletic department
will be able to do, Groff said. “That
doesn't mean we re not going to
continue the growth of the women's
program, but I think we re going to
need some outside support.
He added that the women s pro
gram wants support to an extent,
“without eroding the quality of the
men’s program."
, The men’s program consists of
nine teams: football, basketball,
baseball, tennis, golf, swimming,
track, cross country, and waterpolo.
The first eight are recognized by the
Southwest Conference, and partici
pate in conference championships,
Samson said.
Waterpolo is recognized by the
athletic council on a year-to-year
basis, with the understanding that
no financial support will be given,
Samson said.
He said it would be better to
maintain the financial base for the
eight sports presently supported by
the athletic department, rather than
dilute the funds by giving financ
support to others.
“It would be ridiculous to fuels
sports when you can t financy
you've got now, Samson said
Recognition of the waterpd
team as a varsity sport makes itp)
sible for the team to participate
NCAA championships.
Samson said that recognitiro
club sports as varsity sports is
substantial value and merit, butt
the athletic department isnotp
pared for additional funding.
“If there are other sports in I
future that feel they are stro
enough to participate in I
NCAA,” Groff said, "the team(
approach the council a ’ 1
recognition.
Samson said, "Wed 1
we didn’t recognize any team til
has a chance of competing.
The athletic department isi|
ticipating an income of $3.5 mill
for 1978-79, Groff said.
All funds are placed intoej
source. Then it is divided
the individual sports and the id
istration. These funds are also
to pay the interest and prihcjpf
Wofford Cain Hall, help
expansion of Kyle Field, and topi
for other facilities.