UND to cut women's hockey

[The Sicatoka]

The latest numbers I have:

Operating Expense:
WIH -- $1,492,827 <-- remember that number has NONE of the cost of REA in it (MIH carries all that) 
MSD -- $358,041
WSD -- $591,646

Operating Revenue: 
WIH -- $29,239
MSD -- $31,458
WSD -- $39,194

Net:
WIH -- $1,463,588
MSD -- $326,583
WSD -- $552,452

Source: UND's NCAA membership financial reporting system for reporting year (FY)2015. 

[Maddogg1971]

Feel bad for the women players but at least Idalski will be gone.

[Cratter]

Definately official bye bye women's hockey.

[siouxkid12]

It sucks but at some point you have to stop the bleeding and the WIH program was hemorrhaging money big time. Heck, even the UofM women's program loses $1mm+ each year.

[UND Fan]

I fell very badly for the impacted athletes but this was a good decision - one that had to be made!

[Siouxphan27]

45 minutes ago, cberkas said:

 

@Siouxphan27 said the ice is out.

My apologies cberkas.  I meant the UND sport cutting aftermath circus.  

[tnt]

I blame most of this on the people that wouldn't take no for an answer on instituting women's hockey.  Tim and Swyg talked endlessly about it being a black hole and it fell on deaf ears.  They said all it needed to do was get going like women's basketball and I believed them.  If anything the attendance is going down even though people get in free.  If anyone should be ashamed it should be the crusaders that wanted a program without regards to it's financial viability.

[WiSioux]

I am once again embarrassed by the University I graduated from. I understand sports need to be cut and there is a budget shortfall but the University as a whole has been very poorly managed for at least the last five years. Incompetent people are in charge. Useless people have been hired. And a great deal of money has been spent frivolously. 

I attended the majority of the home games when I was in school and that was back when the team was terrible. To cut a sport that had eight Olympians in the last Olympics, while a major recruit was in town is pitiful. To have it publicised online before telling the coaches and athletes is beyond an embarrassment, it is a slap in the face to everyone involved in the program. I will proudly wear my Friends of Women's Hockey t-shirt tomorrow and wish it weren't so.

[Siouxper Kev]

1 minute ago, tnt said:

I blame most of this on the people that wouldn't take no for an answer on instituting women's hockey.  Tim and Swyg talked endlessly about it being a black hole and it fell on deaf ears.  They said all it needed to do was get going like women's basketball and I believed them.  If anything the attendance is going down even though people get in free.  If anyone should be ashamed it should be the crusaders that wanted a program without regards to it's financial viability.

Agree.  My guess is WH would have flamed out years ago if it weren't for the Lameroux's ladies coming to the "rescue". 

[WiSioux]

2 minutes ago, tnt said:

I blame most of this on the people that wouldn't take no for an answer on instituting women's hockey.  Tim and Swyg talked endlessly about it being a black hole and it fell on deaf ears.  They said all it needed to do was get going like women's basketball and I believed them.  If anything the attendance is going down even though people get in free.  If anyone should be ashamed it should be the crusaders that wanted a program without regards to it's financial viability.

Only the students got in free. That was a myth as I attended a game in Grand Forks this season and paid for it.

[jdub27]

1 minute ago, tnt said:

If anyone should be ashamed it should be the crusaders that wanted a program without regards to it's financial viability.

The people criticizing UND are completely ignoring this. The other option was to leave WIH and then cut 2-3 more sports, impacting even more student athletes. These cuts weren't done for fun, they were done out of necessity, meaning something has to go. Cutting WIH by and away makes the largest financial impact and while impacting the fewest amount of student-athletes no matter how you measure it.

[The Sicatoka]

The State of ND, the Legislature, and Gov. Bergum's budget, mandated UND Athletics cut $1.3 million. 

You do what the guys who cut the checks for you tell you to do. 

[Siouxper Kev]

2 minutes ago, WiSioux said:

I am once again embarrassed by the University I graduated from. I understand sports need to be cut and there is a budget shortfall but the University as a whole has been very poorly managed for at least the last five years. Incompetent people are in charge. Useless people have been hired. And a great deal of money has been spent frivolously. 

I attended the majority of the home games when I was in school and that was back when the team was terrible. To cut a sport that had eight Olympians in the last Olympics, while a major recruit was in town is pitiful. To have it publicised online before telling the coaches and athletes is beyond an embarrassment, it is a slap in the face to everyone involved in the program. I will proudly wear my Friends of Women's Hockey t-shirt tomorrow and wish it weren't so.

Maybe you should have invited a few 1000 friends to the games. 

[tnt]

1 minute ago, WiSioux said:

Only the students got in free. That was a myth as I attended a game in Grand Forks this season and paid for it.

All people that are season ticket holders for men's hockey get in free.  I know because I went to many games.

[runaroundsioux]

1 minute ago, WiSioux said:

Only the students got in free. That was a myth as I attended a game in Grand Forks this season and paid for it.

Champions Club members got in free too.

[UNDBIZ]

Roughly $60,000 per athlete per year.  That's what WIH cost UND.

[UNDColorado]

54 minutes ago, hrkac said:

who cares if the ice is out, cutting women's hockey is just another example of UND showing it's a small-time operation.  Move back down to DII or III then. 

Womens hockey is a money pit and there is no way around it. I am happy UND showed some balls and cut sports that bleed the athletic department dry. Now we can focus on funding more popular sports at higher levels.

[snooty89]

As an alum this is embarrassing.  At what point do the cuts stop?  What else is there to be cut.  Everyone assumes that certain sports make profit to cover the losses of the others, but what will be left in a few years?  Football Hockey and Men's and Women's Basketball?  Has volleyball been cut yet?  I really have no idea at this point.  Have had a really &#33;@#&#33;&#036; run of presidents since I graduated.  This one will be known for cutting sports as the last will be for retiring the Sioux name.

[The Sicatoka]

When you don't have the money to run from the State, you have no options. 

[jdub27]

3 minutes ago, snooty89 said:

As an alum this is embarrassing.  At what point do the cuts stop?  What else is there to be cut.  Everyone assumes that certain sports make profit to cover the losses of the others, but what will be left in a few years?  Football Hockey and Men's and Women's Basketball?  Has volleyball been cut yet?  I really have no idea at this point.  Have had a really &#33;@#&#33;&#036; run of presidents since I graduated.  This one will be known for cutting sports as the last will be for retiring the Sioux name.

It isn't the fact that it lost money. It is the fact that it lost money like no other sport on campus and it isn't even close. Cost per student athlete was 2-3x any other sport at minimum.

If you bothered to watch the press conference, cuts are done. UND went above and beyond and will soon be recognizing some conference realignment benefits. I know it is easier to have a knee jerk reaction instead of looking into the facts, but give it a whirl.

[UNDColorado]

4 minutes ago, snooty89 said:

As an alum this is embarrassing.  At what point do the cuts stop?  What else is there to be cut.  Everyone assumes that certain sports make profit to cover the losses of the others, but what will be left in a few years?  Football Hockey and Men's and Women's Basketball?  Has volleyball been cut yet?  I really have no idea at this point.  Have had a really &#33;@#&#33;&#036; run of presidents since I graduated.  This one will be known for cutting sports as the last will be for retiring the Sioux name.

Take a step back from the ledge. This will greatly benefit other sports down the road. I enjoyed winning 4 major championships this year and this move increases the probability of similar success in the future.

[ibleedgreen]

48 minutes ago, Maddogg1971 said:

Feel bad for the women players but at least Idalski will be gone.

We will never have to hear that monotone voice ever again....

[bigskyvikes]

10 minutes ago, WiSioux said:

Only the students got in free. That was a myth as I attended a game in Grand Forks this season and paid for it.

Every game I (we) went to was free...?

[Siouxper Kev]

6 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

Roughly $60,000 per athlete per year.  That's what WIH cost UND.

Isn't that about what the women want to be paid that play for the US national team?  Man, I cant wait for those world championships to start. 

[mksioux]

5 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

The people criticizing UND are completely ignoring this. The other option was to leave WIH and then cut 2-3 more sports, impacting even more student athletes. These cuts weren't done for fun, they were done out of necessity, meaning something has to go. Cutting WIH by and away makes the largest financial impact and while impacting the fewest amount of student-athletes no matter how you measure it.

I agree.  The alternative to cutting women's hockey would have involved cutting additional women's sports that undoubtedly would have involved a greater number of female athletes.  By the numbers, this was a no-brainer decision.  It reached the budget goal while cutting the fewest number of athletes as possible, all while bringing the school back into Title IX compliance.  Nobody has presented a coherent argument on why women's ice hockey players should have been protected more than other female athletes at UND.