To whom it may concern,

This letter is in response to tremendous efforts from current swimming and diving team members, their families, concerned alumni, and the heads of the USA swimming and diving community which have basically been ignored by the current Syracuse University's athletic director. The athletic director Daryl Gross announced as final the elimination of the Syracuse University Men's and Women's Swimming Teams due what he explains is a financial decision. He has used the term financial to mean that without outside funding, replacing the existing out of date University aquatic facilities would be prohibitively expensive and that because of antiquated facilities, the swimming program is not able to be competitive at the Division 1 level.

I find this logic very interesting as maybe he is not aware that the sports which never could be eliminated based on a performance standard at Syracuse are maybe not as competitive at the Division 1 level as they should be. The football, basketball and lacrosse teams have been in continual decline since Gross' arrival. The records of these teams if examined demonstrate a level of performance which according to Gross' performance standard are terribly deficient. Maybe these programs need to be eliminated as well. I am not clear on what success means in the eyes of Gross. Even though he came from USC I am not sure if he understands the world of swimming. From a world viewpoint competitive swimming in this country is as good as it gets. Most of the Olympic Swimmers from other countries are not fast enough to make it to the NCAA National Championships. Despite the incorrect assumption that facilities make the swimmer, I represented Syracuse University at both the NCAA and AAU National Championships in individual events. My freshman year my parents sat with the coaches from Dartmouth and Ohio State (two schools I had been recruited by) to watch me swim my 1650 race at the NCAA championships as those coaches didn't have any swimmers on their team who qualified that year. That year, there were four other SU swimmers who competed with me, one other who competed in individual events and three others on a relay. As an individual sport, swimming program success is not always based on team statistics but that year Syracuse finished 38th in the country. I believe the football team went 2-7 and wasn't even ranked. While I was at Syracuse there was talk of eliminating the football program because of the poor facilities at Archibold Stadium. Can you imagine that? Between my junior and senior year I had the opportunity to train with the swimming elite and had the most famous coach of the day Peter Daland, training part of the time at USC's pool they called the dungeon. It made Syracuse's pool look like the Taj Mahal. Despite the pool, a majority of the world record holders of the day came from that pool. Afghanistan cut short a dream of mine to compete at the 80 Olympic Trials. Though I was competitive, there were and continue to be better SU swimmers than I was. Despite what Gross thinks the swimming team at Syracuse has been competitive at the Division 1 level and if he would look at the number of All-American's and numbers of NCAA national qualifiers he would see how successful the SU swimming and diving program has been. There isn't anyone involved in competitive swimming that hasn't heard of the head coach Lou Walker. He is an amazing coach and has represented Syracuse University as well as anyone has in his 30+ years there. Despite inadequate facilities the swimming program has been competitive and would continue to be so if allowed to continue. Provided a new facility, even greater things would be possible.

Having been associated with various Universities as an Architect I have come to understand how quality facilities help to attract top level students and faculty. The survival of universities depend on how they can compete to draw the academic elite. The trend at many of the highest ranked academic schools have aquatic facilities that not only address competitive needs but also have amazing recreational aspects as well. A few I am familiar with open the facilities to the general public generating revenue. An aquatic facility can be a benefit to the University as well as the community it is part of. What really is irritating is that I spoke to the former chancellor about finding a way to create a mixed use facility that would benefit by financially sharing infrastructure and he said he would send my concerns to the University planning department. At the time I offered services of my firm to explore possibilities on our dime and even through repeated requests no response. While the University was fulfilling its mission to provide more classroom space to compete with square footage of other universities, combining donors already committed to funding a new swimming facility with donors from other sources hence combining assets could have fulfilled numerous requirements. Instead of even looking into the possibilities which would benefit the entire student body the administration didn't and now doesn't even want to explore what is possible. To me that is totally irresponsible.

There have been those who have said this country by having its manufacturing base and brain trust going abroad is becoming an entertainment based culture. Eliminating swimming and diving and adding hockey (which sounds suspicious) shifts the balance toward entertainment based sports which have a different incentives than sports which have no professional opportunities. Gordon Gee who is now returning to Ohio State University as University president eliminated the athletic department when he was at Vanderbilt University because he said certain University sports were becoming minor professional sport programs and the real mission of university athletics was being lost. He believes that scholarships should be awarded to sports programs based on graduation rates. Traditionally swimmers and divers have had the highest grade point averages of all sports and one only need look at the number of SU swimmers on All-Academic lists to see how the swimmers bring up the average of the entire SU sports program.

Lastly and most important is the Athletic Director and the Chancellor chose to eliminate the swimming and diving program short of the graduation date for those who have not had the opportunity to decide on another University before committing to Syracuse. If nothing else the current freshman should be allowed to continue through graduation with the swimming and diving program intact. If nothing else this move by the Athletic Director and Chancellor shows how much of a lack of respect for those who have dedicated four years of their lives to attend Syracuse and their families and to the entire alumni community. The other interesting aspect is that the swimming program will be eliminated a few months before Lou Walker is eligible for retirement. This shows what type of people are leading this University. This is not only insensitive but it is totally wrong.

My heart has always been with Syracuse and I was hoping one day to provide some legacy which would benefit Syracuse Students for all time but the latest lack of respect from the athletic department and the University Administration has shown me my efforts would be better spent elsewhere. With a program close to 90 years old I am sure there are many others who feel as I do.

Sincerely,

Kirk Stevens
Syracuse University Swimming class of 78