The loss of men’s swimming and tennis at Kansas University because of budget restraints hit hard for everyone involved.
Players and coaches alike were stunned by the decision to cut the programs at the end of the school year in order to save the athletic department money.
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“I’m extremely disappointed,” interim tennis coach Ross Nwachukwu said in a prepared statement. “I wish that the athletics department could have found a different solution to its financial problems.
“This hurts so bad. It’s not a selfish hurt because it hurts each and every one of the young men and (assistant coach) Elliott (McDermed) are all affected by this.”
Nwachukwu said the team, which is in the middle of its spring season, wouldn’t stop competing just because of the decision.
“I will continue working hard,” he said. “Just because the tennis program is getting cut doesn’t mean my work stops. I’m going to put these guys in position to win every tennis match for the rest of the season.”
While the tennis team, which won conference titles from 1994 through 1996, has 12 regular-season matches left, the swim team finished it’s season Saturday.
First-year coach Doug Dickinson said that his athletes were also overwhelmed by the decision, and that he would help those who wished to transfer to another school.
“They were destroyed and they all have a million questions,” he said in a prepared statement. “I can’t answer them all, but I can do what is needed to get them where they need to go.”
Sophomore swimmer Adam Steele said a lot of his teammates were shocked at the suddenness of the cut and were looking for other alternatives.
“A lot of us want to continue swimming,” he said, “but we now feel very rushed because we do not have a lot of time to make the right decision in terms of where to go before coaches start handing out their scholarship money. And for a lot of us, we need that scholarship money to keep going to school and competing.”
Gary Kempf, who took an administrative position at the university last March after coaching KU swimming and diving for two-plus decades, was also hurt by the decision.
“Obviously it’s very very difficult,” the former coach said. “I’ve always been extremely proud to be a part of the program at the University of Kansas as an athlete and a coach and I always thought the program treated me, as a coach, extremely well and it’s hard to lose it.”
Kempf, who coached 39 men’s conference champions in the 1990s, said that in his administrative position he had been a part of meetings dealing with the situation and that he understood decision by athletics director Bob Frederick and the Kansas University Athletics Corporation.
“I saw Dr. Frederick fight on a daily basis to keep that program,” Kempf said, “which I respect a tremendous amount.
“I respect the decision Bob had to make. I was working on the policy group, seeing what we had to work with, but it doesn’t take away from the loss or the effect it has on the kids.”
