Kansas AD: Reaction light to cuts

By Chuck Woodling     Mar 6, 2001

Reaction to Kansas University’s decision to cut two men’s sports and institute a donor seating plan for Allen Fieldhouse wasn’t immediately overwhelming

“I’ve received a couple of e-mails,” Kansas University athletics director Bob Frederick said at midday Monday. “That’s about it. It’s less than I expected.”

After announcing late Sunday morning that men’s swimming and men’s tennis would no longer be KU varsity sports beginning next year, Frederick attended the KU-MU men’s basketball game in Allen Fieldhouse.

After the game he met with the coaches and student-athletes of the two affected sports.

“It was very, very difficult very emotional,” Frederick said. “I tried to prepare for it by thinking about how (son) Brad would have reacted if basketball had been dropped when he was at North Carolina. But that didn’t come close.

“They were very emotional and I was broken-hearted.”

Frederick said he was buoyed when someone told him Nebraska had dropped both men’s and women’s swimming.

“That was an erroneous report,” Frederick said. “Nebraska has talked about dropping both programs, but it hasn’t happened.”

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