Washington Swimming Cut

It is a dark day for swimming.

I am heart broken. I am horribly disgusted.

The University of Washington cut men’s and women’s swimming today. I don’t even know what to say. I want to punch somebody.

I have had many friends involved with the program through the years. I wanted to be a Husky when I was an age grouper. I proudly helped my first scholarship earning athlete to sign with them in 2003. I hope they put up a fight. Whitney Hite has done an incredible job, and the Huskies have been moving up. Now their success is just salt on the wound.

To make it worse, the University of New Orleans lost their vote this morning. I don’t know if that means any programs will be cut, but from the looks of it, I can’t imagine it is good news. Randy Horner has done amazing things in the short time he has been there too. I hope they get to hang on.

I have a lot to say about the current state of college sports. I wrote this one at swim network when I was angry about Arizona State and their battle to keep swimming. There are so many layers to the problem. I have my master's degree in Athletic Administration and I have a close relation who is an AD who has had to cut teams recently. I could go on all day about non-revenue programs being cut.

But not right now…

…right now, I am in mourning. I imagine I am standing with horns low on deck at the Husky pool. I grieve for the generations of Husky swimmers who have given so much of themselves to carry their rich tradition from the early days of NCAA swimming through to the present day. If the program can't be reinstated, it at least deserves a Viking's funeral, with flames and smoke carrying a message on high so that all can see that this is terribly, terribly wrong.

We have to fight this. It is not okay to just let it go.