The Univ. of Hawaii Board of Regents Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics on Thursday "showed little interest in cutting sports" as a way for the school's athletic department to "climb out of its financial struggles," according to Ferd Lewis of the HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER. A report prepared for the group by outgoing AD Ben Jay "identified three possible 'options' that involved eliminating teams." However, the committee said that it "found none of them palatable." Lewis reports sailing, men's and women's swimming and diving and men's volleyball had "been identified in various scenarios that would save the school" between $533,000 and $1.37M. Cutting football "would have actually cost the department" $1.8M. The athletic department is "currently running" a $3.5M deficit and '15 marks its "12th year in the red in 14 years." UH has "not dropped a sport" since '85, when it "eliminated women's track so that it could add softball." It was reinstated in '00. The last men's sports "to be cut were track and wrestling" in '77 (HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER, 2/13). In Hawaii, Lorin Eleni Gill noted eliminating football, women's swimming, diving, sailing and coed sailing, "would cost" almost $2M and "would not comply with Title IX rules." Meanwhile, if UH were to "offer cost-of-attendance stipends to its student-athletes, as many Division I schools plan to do, it could raise UH athletics costs" by more than $1M. Jay said that the "only team that currently generates revenue is the football team, while the women's volleyball team usually breaks even" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/12).
