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Post by soccerfan22 on Jul 16, 2008 11:34:33 GMT -6
I read some talk of starting a football program at UIC a while back - that seems unlikely, but with the success of the men's team in recent years, it seems like it might be a good idea to start a women's soccer program? and maybe golf or volleyball for the men?
any chance in hell that something like that would happen at UIC athletics?
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Post by I'm In The Front Row on Jul 16, 2008 15:26:47 GMT -6
I like the idea of women's soccer. However, since they play in spring, it would necessitate creating a new field for them to practice and play on.
I personally would like to see field hockey and lacrosse. These are sports that have big followings in the last few years. This could lead to more donations to the program because the followers of these sports are traditionally on the higher end of the economic scale.
Men's volleyball would be great. Golf would be good, but I'm not sure what the expense for a course and practive would be.
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Post by Big D on Jul 17, 2008 13:25:37 GMT -6
Title IX and our budget probably will probably prevent the addition of any sports any time soon.
Title IX says we have to:
1. Provide athletic opportunities that are substantially proportionate to the student enrollment, OR
2. Demonstrate a continual expansion of athletic opportunities for the underrepresented sex, OR
3. Accommodate fully and effecitvely the interest and ability of underrepresented sex.
I believe recent statsitics indicate that there are more women than men that go to UIC. Therefore, if we added women's soccer, then to meet prong 1, we would almost certainly have to add another men's sport. This would probably cost too much money.
Prongs 2 and 3 seem a little more broad but by adding a women's sport, there's no doubt we'd have to increase spending on the men as well. It all comes down to budget and dealing with Title IX, I believe.
If we did add women's soccer, I'd love to see a lacrosse team at UIC. I've gotten more into the game havign attended Hopkins over the past couple years. They won the whole thing in 07 and made it back to the finals this year. The game is really picking up a lot more interest, and is shown on TV more often now. And, more people probably attended the lacrosse finals than we had at all of our basketball home games combined last year. The game is actually really exciting to watch.
Detroit just added a lacrosse team. They're the first in their state to do so. Does anyone in Illinois have a team? If not, and it wouldn't surprise me because lacrosse isn't that big in the midwest, we could be the first.
Golf would be my second choice.
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Post by UICJohn on Jul 17, 2008 15:34:01 GMT -6
Lacrosse is definitely a sport that seems to be getting more and more national interest. Starting mostly in the East coast, I believe that more and more teams are competing. Off of the top of my head, I know that Northwestern has an amazing women's lacrosse team and I believe 3 national titles in a row. As far as a men's team, I don't know of any Illinois teams that have one.
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Post by Chuck A on Jul 18, 2008 7:38:00 GMT -6
Detroit just added a lacrosse team. They're the first in their state to do so. Does anyone in Illinois have a team? If not, and it wouldn't surprise me because lacrosse isn't that big in the midwest, we could be the first. Detroit? You mean the Titans? That Detoit? How do they add a lacrosse team, but cut their baseball team a few years back? What's that all about? Lacrosse is that much more popular than taking another chance on bringing back baseball? Golf would be my second choice. Golf is not bad. I could go with that. |
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Post by Big D on Jul 18, 2008 8:37:08 GMT -6
Detroit? You mean the Titans? That Detoit? How do they add a lacrosse team, but cut their baseball team a few years back? What's that all about? Lacrosse is that much more popular than taking another chance on bringing back baseball? Yep, the Detroit Titans added lacrosse. Not only that Chuck, but they also added women's lacrosse and men's tennis. All three will debut at UDM this year! Not sure why they cut baseball but I would certainly take that above the three they added. I'm guessing baseball is probably much more expensive. Plus, maybe they saw they could be the first lax program in the state, and that's something that they couldn't pass up (especially with interest increasing in the sport). |
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Post by circle70 on Jul 18, 2008 15:51:32 GMT -6
Let's get real here, guys. Athletic Department funding is tight the way it is. No need to add ANY more teams, men's or women's. Why dilute the funding to the "major" or at least most visible sports (Men's Basketball, Baseball, Men's Soccer, Women's Basketball, and Softball)?
Even if the funding were to consist of "new money", I for one, would plough it back into Men's Basketball and Baseball, our two most visible major sports.
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