University of North Carolina Athletics
From Fetzer To Finley: The Effort To Be Diverse
October 5, 2001 | General
Oct. 5, 2001
By Dave Lohse
Associate Director of Athletic Communications
Like all Carolina fans, I was disappointed when the Tar Heel athletic program dropped the initial Carlyle Cup championship to Duke during the 2000-01 school year. I was equally dismayed by the fact that the program finished 15th in the 2000-01 Sears Directors' Cup competition. That was Carolina's second worst finish in the eight-year history of the award.
Now by Carolina standards the performance of Tar Heel athletic teams in 2000-01 was not up to the usual standards we have come to expect. And those efforts were reflected in the standings compiled in the two aforementioned competitions. Had Carolina achieved at a level it normally does in most of its sports it would have won the Carlyle Cup and probably finished in the Top 10 in Sears Directors' Cup competition.
The bottom line is that overall Carolina had a substandard athletic year in 2000-01. There is no need to make excuses. Our program should do better than it did. But remember that from 1994-98 we got spoiled as fans because Carolina finished first in the Sears Cup once, twice three times and sixth one time. We were a program sitting near the top of the heap then.
The results of last year should not have come as a complete surprise to people. We had slipped to 17th place in the Sears Cup in 1999 but when we rebounded to fifth place in 2000 we all felt pretty good about ourselves. We thought that maybe the previous year's finish was an anomaly. I think we found out last year it might not have been. Now having said that, does this mean there is going to be a long-term decline in the program? I doubt that very strongly. First, don't put too much stock in the rankings in these awards. Both use somewhat flawed scoring systems. In the Carlyle Cup scoring system a sport in which one of the two schools does not award athletic scholarships counts for only one point in the standings compared to three points for sports where both schools do offer scholarships. This hurts Carolina in track and field, swimming and wrestling where the Tar Heels award scholarships and Duke does not. But those are the rules and we must play by the rules. Carolina led last year's competition 16-1 at one point before blowing that lead and losing 27-21. It wasn't pretty. The Tar Heels lead this year 9-0 already. Is a similar collapse on the horizon? I doubt it. But you can send me mail next spring if I'm wrong.
Similarly the scoring in the Sears Cup can be flawed as well. Regardless of how many sports a school sponsors you can only count your NCAA finishes in the top 10 men's sports and the top 10 women's sports. Carolina has the kind of program where sometimes we score in more than 10 women's sports but we have to throw out some points at the end of the year that might help us finish higher. Now, we do have to do a better job in scoring in men's sports. Only five of the 13 men's sports scored in the Sears Cup last year. That isn't very good. Sears Cup standings definitely favor Southeastern Conference or Big 12 schools who sponsor 20 or fewer sports but can pour all of their athletic resources into those sports making them more competitive in all of them across the board.
Of course Carolina could choose the path to either cut sports like Southeastern Conference and Big 12 schools do and specialize in 20 or so and see if we could bump up our overall rankings. Or we could choose to pick seven to eight sports as Duke does and field teams but not give scholarships in those sports. That formula would allow us to again concentrate monetary resources in a top tier group of sports, allowing them to compete at the highest level possible while sacrificing the other teams.
Personally, as tempting as either of those scenarios is, I sincerely hope we never go down that path. I am confident we never will. Our athletic administration has made it clear that we would only do so as a last resort. Bravo for them.
The University of North Carolina is a diverse school with a student body that has an amazing range in the types of people who attend. It is a wonderful mix that improves the quality of life at the University and in our town.
Our athletic program should reflect that diversity. We should try to be good in many different things. We should provide ample opportunities for women who comprise 60 percent of the student body. We do make commitments to the 28 sports in terms of scholarships and facilities.
While it might be tempting to make some changes simply to win some competitions like the Sears Cup or the Carlyle Cup, I don't think anyone around here believes that would be the right thing to do. Kudos to them.
