Thiel cuts not for everyone

The Greenville college is dropping six varsity programs.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
GREENVILLE -- Thiel College's recent announcement that it is discontinuing six varsity sports at the end of the academic school year does not mean that other schools in the Presidents' Athletic Conference will be doing the same thing.
That is the opinion of Joe Onderko, the new PAC commissioner and former Westminster College sports information director, and Kevin Fenstermacher, who is in his fifth year as Thiel's SID.
They both believe that Thiel's elimination of men's and women's cross country, golf and tennis was an isolated decision based only on the particular realities at the school, and not symptomatic of the other seven schools in the PAC.
"I don't believe this is a current trend within the PAC," said Onderko, who has not heard of any other PAC schools considering dropping any intercollegiate sports.
Onderko also believes that Slippery Rock University's announcement on Jan. 30 that it was going to discontinue eight varsity sports at the end of the school year had nothing to do with Thiel's decision. The sports affected were men's and women's swimming and water polo, men's golf, tennis and wrestling and women's field hockey.
"You have two schools that made decisions for different reasons," Onderko said.
Coincidental decisions
Fenstermacher agrees with Onderko.
"The Slippery Rock decision had nothing to do with our decision," Fenstermacher said. "We had ongoing talks about [dropping the sports]. It was just coincidental that it happened at the same time."
Fenstermacher said that the main reasons Thiel dropped the six sports was a lack of increase in student interest, the increase in cost of traveling to intercollegiate events and a lack of qualified coaches and the funds to pay for them. He said that these factors didn't evolve overnight.
"It's something that was developing even before I got here," Fenstermacher said. "I got here in 2001. From the numbers perspective, we had seen the teams staying where they were. They weren't increasing. So participation played a big role. The students were not getting involved in these programs."
But expense also was a deciding factor.
"The biggest expense was the travel funding," Fenstermacher said. "That was by far the biggest concern. It was pretty close to doubling the cost of taking a bus to Waynesburg College, maybe from $400 to $800."
Also, "The coaches did receive a salary for coaching the sport."
Coaches won't lose jobs
Fenstermacher said that coaches at Thiel, as in most NCAA Division III schools, coach more than one sport, and that none will lose their job.
"We want the coaches to concentrate on what sport they were brought to Thiel to coach, the reason that we hired them to coach," Fenstermacher said. "From a monetary standpoint, we didn't think that it would be feasible to get a head coach with the necessary expertise to put in these programs."
Also, none of the student-athletes involved with the six sports will lose scholarships because NCAA Div. III schools don't give athletic scholarships.
Fenstermacher said Thiel would like all six sports to continue on campus as a club or intramural sports, and that "the university will support them to develop that."
Presidential support
In fact, Thiel College President and CEO Dr. Lance A. Masters hopes that this happens.
"We certainly encourage students affected by this to consider forming their own intramural or club teams during the next academic year, and are prepared to help them do so," Masters said.
Onderko and Fenstermacher agreed that there is a possibility that all six sports could be restored to the intercollegiate level at some point in the future, and that nurturing them on campus on club and intramural bases will make the transition easier.
Masters, meanwhile, hopes that eliminating six sports makes the other 15 at the school stronger.
"It is important that the college builds and maintains an even stronger overall athletic presence, and we think that with our remaining 15 sports we will be able to do that," Masters said.
kovach@vindy.com