Title IX Did NOT Force OU To Cut Men's Track

Title IX did not force OU to cut men's track. The Ohio University Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt uses Title IX as justification because he does not want people to know that he cut men's track solely to free up money for football. Hocutt, a former collegiate football star, believes a successful athletic program requires a successful football team. If that logic is correct, freeing up $65K a year by cutting men's track will not make any difference.

Ohio University is toward the very bottom in the MAC for total athletics funding and for football funding. If the OU football program is going to improve to a mid-level team from a bottom-level team, it is going to take a 10 year+ strategic plan that involves millions of dollars of investment. Fund raising, budget realignment, better recruiting, among other things, will need to be higher prioritized. Simply cutting the men's track team and two other non-revenue sports is not going to make any difference.

In other words, AD Kirby Hocutt is pursuing a failed strategy at the expense of 100+ student-athletes, 100+ years of tradition, and thousands of fans. We must stop this strategy and reinstate the men's track team. Halt donations, send letters, talk to your friends and family, notify alumni... make your voice heard. Otherwise, this whole issue will be swept under the carpet and in a couple years no one will even know that there used to be a men's track team at OU for a hundred years.

Just ask former members of the men's soccer team.