Did anyone see the article on page 30 of the August issue of Triathlete about the possibility of triathlon becoming a varsity college sport? Perhaps I am nitpicking, but the two people they quote come off pretty bad because they have no idea what they are talking about. Kevin Collington talkes about how Florida might only be able to add a women’s team because “at Florida there’s a huge football program with 60 guys…” Two points: 1) If any DI football team has only 60 players they are in serious trouble…especially since they get 85 scholarships (DI-AA get 63). 2) Simply having a football program does not mean Title IX will prevent the addition of a men’s sport, especially when the discussion is about adding a women’s sport as well. The second part is Jeff Dyrek saying that “most schools field both varsity and club basketball programs.” The only sanctioned non-varsity basketball championship is for intramural basketball. As I said I might be nitpicking, but it comes across making them look like they know nothing about which they speak which is only going to hurt their cause.
note: I am not against having varsity triathlon, this post has nothing to do with that.