Eastern Michigan University budget woes prompt cutting of 4 sports programs

David Jesse | Detroit Free Press

Eastern Michigan University, facing steep budget shortfalls, will drop four of its sports programs at the end of this school year, the Ypsilanti school announced today.

Getting cut are softball, men’s swimming and diving, and women’s tennis and wrestling. With the change EMU, which previously led the Mid-American Conference with 21 sports, will now have 17 sports — seven men’s sports and 10 women’s sports. The school will remain in the MAC.

The move affects 58 male student athletes and 25 female student athletes, and will ultimately save approximately $2.4 million.

Read more:

The head coaches of the four programs being cut were told about the move in individual meetings Monday night with EMU athletic director Scott Wetherbee. Assistant coaches were told during a 7 a.m. meeting Tuesday morning. Athletes were told during a 7:30 a.m. meeting this morning with Wetherbee and Eastern Michigan President James Smith.

Eight full-time coaches, one graduate assistant and one part-time assistant coach will see their positions eliminated.

Those meeting were hard, Wetherbee said, choking back tears during a press conference.

"Standing in front of them was not easy. It's very raw right now," Wetherbee said.

Wetherbee said the moves were being announced now in order to give students time to find new schools. He said the school would continue to honor scholarships for those students who stay at EMU until they graduate.

It's a situation Wetherbee understands well. He went to Ferris State University on a partial baseball scholarship. In October of his freshman year, Ferris cut the baseball program. Because the cut was announced so soon, Wetherbee was able to transfer quickly to Ball State University, an experience that played heavily into his decision to announce the cuts now and not at the end of the school year.

The move was dictated by the overall finances of the university, which have been slumping.

"I feel handcuffed," said Wetherbee, who was hired eight months ago to replace Heather Lyke after Lyke left EMU to become the athletic director at the University of Pittsburgh. "I walked into a terrible situation. I knew the budget was bad. Didn't know how bad it was. Thought I could come in a conquering hero and generate revenue so we didn't have to do this. This should have been done a long time ago, but I’ll own it now. Would I have come here if I knew I’d be sitting here 8 months later? I don’t really know.”

School officials said the move had to be made.

"We are very saddened by having to make this move, which is necessary as we continue to align the university budget with enrollment and state funding trends,” Smith said in a press release. “This aligns us with our Mid-American Conference peers in total number of sports, and is part of our ongoing effort to realign resources to ensure that we continue to invest in high-demand, high-quality academic programs and world-class facilities.”

The moves come as EMU eliminates other positions in order to make up a projected budget deficit of $4.5 million to $5.5 million for the 2018 fiscal year. Forty-two other positions are being eliminated and 17 layoffs are being made.

More: Judge orders U-M to tell Free Press how it pays top endowment official

More: Lawsuit: Wayne State decertified Christian student group because of beliefs

The moves don't touch the football program, which continues to be controversial, with many faculty hoping to see spending on the program cut. Those calls for cuts in football have gone on for years, but there also was a renewed debate about athletics at Eastern Michigan in the past couple of years, including an HBO Real Sports segment on athletic department spending that was critical of Eastern Michigan.

A number of faculty and students have called for the university to drop out of Division I football — either completely dropping the program or moving down in division, which would decrease the cost. In recent years, Eastern Michigan, with about 21,000 students, has spent more than $27 million a year from the university's general fund on sports.

Many of the issues with Eastern Michigan's spending have centered on football, which has had poor performance and low attendance for years.

Wetherbee defended not touching football, saying he was directed by the board and president to stay in the Mid-American Conference and to stay in the top tier of football competition.

Division I Football Bowl Subdivision requires schools to sponsor a minimum of 16 sports and the Mid-American Conference requires member universities to sponsor football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and women’s volleyball.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj