And my point was, no, they're not. Unless you mean they're funded at the level of a small town, minor league baseball team, then maybe. Even then, a lot of resources are split among all teams. (ie - weight room, athletic trainers.) I would venture to guess that most coaches have other college responsibilities. I don't think we had any true full-time coaches at my school. Yes, a lot of D1 Power-5 schools have teams that are funded like professional teams, especially football and basketball. But that's a relatively small sub-set of college athletics when you throw in D1 non Power-5, D2 and D3.

But thats around 70 schools, each school having 10+ teams in both men/women.

Okay, but then that's a totally different question. Google tells me that there are 750 D2 and D3 schools, so you're asking about less than 10%. If you're asking why Penn State, USC, Michigan, Alabama, etc, have teams that are funded like professional sports, then my answer is "because they are professional sports" for all intents and purposes. Even then, I doubt ALL sports are funded that way. To use an example local to me, I'm guessing that Villanova's basketball team is funded very differently than their swim team. I highly doubt that U. of Delaware athletes are living a professional athlete lifestyle. West Chester University athletes certainly aren't being funded the same as Penn State. And that's not even mentioning the small local schools like Widener, Swarthmore, and dozens of others you probably never heard of in this area. What I'm saying is the reason organized sports continue at most U.S. colleges is very different than the reason they continue at the top of the pyramid D1 money making programs.

But thats essentially my question (nova/delaware are not p5 schools). While bama's swim team and football team are funded drastically different. Why is Bama's swim team flying for meets? Is their an equivalent to this in other countries? My college soccer team decades ago - while a p5 team - we were a horrible p5 team. We still flew for some games + put up in hotels, etc.

I completely agree with the discussion of U of Delaware/west Chester University/etc. I think this is probably the level that p5 schools need (outside of football/basketball).

Most of this came from reading about Patrick Bamford (really good soccer player), and how he turned down harvard. He said that his teachers made him fill out college applications, and the only place he could play soccer + get an education was in the US. This was mainly because the nottingham forrest youth programs ended at 18, and you are either picked up by one of their teams or not (similar to Barcelona).

When did you graduate? I was class of 92.

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

'93.. did we go to the same school, or was that a more general question?

We probably went to the same school in Connecticut.

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

Nope, Ursinus College, in the Philly 'burbs.

Couldn't agree with this more. I've had athletic goals and pursuits since I was a teenager. Started in rowing, switched to swimming and tri which carried me in to my 30s, started weight training to counteract all the muscle imbalances a decade or so of triathlon gives you, then found my way to CrossFit recently. I still do the odd half marathon, ski, love to hike etc. I hope I'm active until the day I drop dead.

I'm also interested in stories like yours of guys who started a combat sport later in life. I've always wanted to try muay Thai. I have no desire to compete (taking a shin to the temple at 40+ just sounds like a bad idea) but have always gravitated to sports that are technique heavy and high intensity and think I would really enjoy the training.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

My bad, we had Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini at DIII Wesleyan with '94 Jeff Wilner playing a year with the Packers.

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

That's a step above UC... We had Dan Mullen (Miss State and Florida, now studio talking head) and Paul Guenther (Def Coord for Cincinatti and Oakland). Can't remember the name of the guy who made it to the NFL. I don't think he even saw the field during a preseason game. Debbie Ryan, who coach UVA women's hoops (including Dawn Staley) is also from UC, but that was way before my time.