As a number of athletic departments prepare to cut some men's teams to trim budgets, NCAA president Myles Brand has put out a call for schools to leave Title IX out of it. He has pre-emptively asked schools with shrinking athletic programs to blame the economic downturn for their problems—and not the federal law that bans sex discrimination at schools and requires institutions to maintain a commitment to women's sports, USA Today reports.
"My expectation is that over the next year or two we are going to see more" cuts of men's teams, Brand said this week in a telephone interview, "and so I am trying, frankly, to pre-empt the argument against Title IX, an unfair argument, I believe, and dissuade universities from going public with this approach."
Brand mentioned James Madison and Rutgers , schools that cut teams in 2006-07, and Delaware , where cuts have been discussed, as examples.
"I think they need to be honest about it. Any cuts at this point in sports are certainly going to be tied to financial pressures," said Brand, who urged schools not to drop any teams, men's or women's.
"I would suggest that athletics directors need to spend more smartly," he said, suggesting cutting costs in travel, facilities, and "expenditures in the highly visible sports."
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