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Softball?

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pcitycane said:
Why we no have team?
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The best I can recall, around 2006-08, there was a lot of talk swirling around to bring woman’s Softball to Miami. Imo, girls softball at that time,was at its height of popularity and participation and SoFlo was a hotbed nationally for recruiting. A lot of us involved in it were kinda puzzled that Miami didn’t field a team. Being an alum, I would loved to have my kid play at the U. Anyway I believe the cost and some politics pushed the idea away and it died. No worries, kid went on to play and start 4 years at UNF in J’ville.
 
My sister stopped playing in 2014. She grew up playing during the "Golden age" of softball. One of the better players in SoFla. Stopped playing for personal reasons. Definitely some politics involved and the fact that the school doesn't look it at as a money maker. Same reason we don't have a Men's soccer team.
 
I think the absence of a men's soccer team is further complicated by Title IX considerations. Overall, Miami is missing a number of sports like lacrosse, wrestling gymnastics, etc., but I remember reading on the board that there is a club ice hockey team
 
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armandose23 said:
My sister stopped playing in 2014. She grew up playing during the "Golden age" of softball. One of the better players in SoFla. Stopped playing for personal reasons. Definitely some politics involved and the fact that the school doesn't look it at as a money maker. Same reason we don't have a Men's soccer team.
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It has nothing to do with being a money maker. Almost every sport at every college loses money already.
 
Jaromir Jagr said:
It has nothing to do with being a money maker. Almost every sport at every college loses money already.
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So what does it have to do with then? A private university like UM tries to trim the fat in terms of expenses everywhere they can. Very few of those girls will have full ride scholarships if any at all. Don't see what other reasons there are. We have a great talent pool in Florida, good competition in the ACC.
 
armandose23 said:
So what does it have to do with then? A private university like UM tries to trim the fat in terms of expenses everywhere they can. Very few of those girls will have full ride scholarships if any at all. Don't see what other reasons there are. We have a great talent pool in Florida, good competition in the ACC.
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I’m saying that if it depended on being a money maker, we would just drop everything except football, basketball and the women’s sports needed for Title IX. If anything, adding another women’s sport would help the Title IX balance. There’s likely just little interest.
 
armandose23 said:
So what does it have to do with then? A private university like UM tries to trim the fat in terms of expenses everywhere they can. Very few of those girls will have full ride scholarships if any at all. Don't see what other reasons there are. We have a great talent pool in Florida, good competition in the ACC.
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Startup expense likely has a lot to do with it. You would have to find space for a facility on/near campus and build one that would be competitive in the ACC. I can’t imagine where such space would exist on campus. If the school were to add a new sport, I imagine it would be one like women’s lacrosse that could use an existing facility like Cobb.
 
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scane said:
Startup expense likely has a lot to do with it. You would have to find space for a facility on/near campus and build one that would be competitive in the ACC. I can’t imagine where such space would exist on campus. If the school were to add a new sport, I imagine it would be one like women’s lacrosse that could use an existing facility like Cobb.
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Yeah I needed to be more specific . I agree with this. I included this in the "not a money maker" comment. A space does not exist on campus for a softball stadium.
 
Could you imagine our fans if they built an on campus softball stadium. The calls to tear it down and build another OB would start before they even broke ground lmao
 
NC_Canes_11 said:
Could you imagine our fans if they built an on campus softball stadium. The calls to tear it down and build another OB would start before they even broke ground lmao
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Right, because the footprint for each of those structures is about the same size.
 
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Miami isn't going to add another program. Period. Why? Because the athletic department budget is stretched thin as is. Remember the following: Any new sports Miami adds is just another mouth eating from the trough that is football and men's basketball revenue. The school is already at a funding disadvantage as is, why make it even more of a problem? Miami is Title IX compliant as is, there's no point in adding another non revenue sport. Especially one like softball which would require new facilities to be built. Miami isn't going to build a softball facility on campus(Where would you build it), and what's the point of playing off campus? None of it makes sense.

If by some weird happenstance a women's program gets added, it's going to be lacrosse. That is a sport that could be played in an existing facility, and the typical recruit is the kind of kid Miami is attractive to. With the right hire Miami lacrosse could be pretty good very quickly.
 
Canedude08 said:
Miami isn't going to add another program. Period. Why? Because the athletic department budget is stretched thin as is. Remember the following: Any new sports Miami adds is just another mouth eating from the trough that is football and men's basketball revenue. The school is already at a funding disadvantage as is, why make it even more of a problem? Miami is Title IX compliant as is, there's no point in adding another non revenue sport. Especially one like softball which would require new facilities to be built. Miami isn't going to build a softball facility on campus(Where would you build it), and what's the point of playing off campus? None of it makes sense.

If by some weird happenstance a women's program gets added, it's going to be lacrosse. That is a sport that could be played in an existing facility, and the typical recruit is the kind of kid Miami is attractive to. With the right hire Miami lacrosse could be pretty good very quickly.
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They could add certain sports for minimal cost. Lacrosse is one, same with beach volleyball. Mens golf and mens swimming are 2 others.

But yeah, anything you add is going to have some sort of financial hit. Only way it happens is with some donor/donors who are willing to step up and fund that sport. I know some schools, like Arizona St, have added hockey programs this way
 
TheRichtShow said:
They could add certain sports for minimal cost. Lacrosse is one, same with beach volleyball. Mens golf and mens swimming are 2 others.

But yeah, anything you add is going to have some sort of financial hit. Only way it happens is with some donor/donors who are willing to step up and fund that sport. I know some schools, like Arizona St, have added hockey programs this way
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We aren’t adding “Men’s” anything. We would only add Women’s sports, or nothing at all.
 
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There are only a few sports that make money. Football, Men's and Women's Baskeball. That's it. So, it all comes down to how much money the school wants to put into a budget. Miami has deep pockets and can field other sports if it wants to.

Women's softball would be a "no brainer" because it's a very popular sport in the US. However, besides money, I think the biggest issue is land. Land is very precious around campus. I don't think the administration wants to give up any land to build a softball stadium.

There are no other men's sports because of Title IX which states you have to spend equal amounts of scholarship money on each gender sport. So, if Miami added another Women's sport, they could add another for the guys.
 
It's my understanding that Title IX requires equal participation for men and women. Football throws that way out of whack due to the sheer number of participants.
So if we added a womens softball team we would then need to add a mens sport to keep the numbers proportional.

When you stop to think that Miami does not have men's golf or soccer in South Florida it's crazy.
 
QuatroCane said:
It's my understanding that Title IX requires equal participation for men and women. Football throws that way out of whack due to the sheer number of participants.
So if we added a womens softball team we would then need to add a mens sport to keep the numbers proportional.
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That's a common misunderstanding. Most schools don't have equal participation among men and women. Football, with 85 scholarships, ends that discussion before it even gets started.

To be Title IX compliant, you have to do one of these three things:

1. Provide participation opportunities for women and men that are substantially proportionate to their respective rates of enrollment of full-time undergraduate students;
2. Demonstrate a history and continuing practice of program expansion for the underrepresented ***;
3. Fully and effectively accommodate the interests and abilities of the underrepresented ***.

We clearly do #2. As long as an institution isn't discriminating against women's sports (substandard equipment, not fully funding scholarships), then the school is in compliance. There is no requirement that men and women have any kind of proportion.
 
Jaromir Jagr said:
That's a common misunderstanding. Most schools don't have equal participation among men and women. Football, with 85 scholarships, ends that discussion before it even gets started.

To be Title IX compliant, you have to do one of these three things:

1. Provide participation opportunities for women and men that are substantially proportionate to their respective rates of enrollment of full-time undergraduate students;
2. Demonstrate a history and continuing practice of program expansion for the underrepresented ***;
3. Fully and effectively accommodate the interests and abilities of the underrepresented ***.

We clearly do #2. As long as an institution isn't discriminating against women's sports (substandard equipment, not fully funding scholarships), then the school is in compliance. There is no requirement that men and women have any kind of proportion.
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So if I understand correctly if Miami's enrollment rate was 50/50 we would need to have the same proportion of men vs women participating in athletics.
 
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