Athletic Department

Over the past few years Maryland's athletic department has spent more than it has gained, forcing the athletic department to dip into its reserves, according to a university statement. In a news release Tuesday, President Wallace D. Loh wrote, "for the past several years, including the most recent fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2011, [The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics'] expenditures have exceeded revenues. " In order to offset Maryland's budgetary woes, Loh announced the creation of the President's Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which will examine the athletic department's finances and provide suggestions for improvement.

Mike Waddell, whose 21/2-year tenure as Towson's athletic director was marked both by the tremendous growth in its football and men's basketball programs and by the controversy surrounding the elimination of men's soccer and the proposed dropping of baseball, is leaving to become a senior associate athletic director at Arkansas. Waddell's departure comes a few months before the school is scheduled to open Tiger Arena and several months after Waddell found himself embroiled in an often nasty debate that ultimately reached the state legislature and was - at least temporarily - resolved with extra funding for the baseball program.

Maryland has a deal with Maroon PR to work with the school's athletic department on a number of initiatives, including branding and coaches' media training, according to school officials. Maroon is a full-service public relations and marketing company based in Columbia. Its clients include Ripken Baseball, the Sports Legends Museum and Sagamore Racing. It has become increasingly common for athletic departments to use consultants to aid in marketing and other initiatives. Maroon will help with media placement, branding and coaches' media training.

By dumping $300,000 in taxpayer funds on Towson University's baseball team, Gov. Martin O'Malley has temporarily solved one problem and created a multitude of others. The frustration that led Mr. O'Malley to intervene is understandable. But his proposal to use a supplemental appropriation to buy the team two more years sets a dangerous precedent while failing to address any of the problems in Towson's athletics department that got the university into the unwelcome position of cutting two men's sports in the first place.

Despite receiving its biggest single payday in the history of the athletic program last week, Towson University  might not be able to avoid the financial reality that has affected many larger schools in recent years. Three days after taking home a check for $510,000 from its nationally televised football game at LSU on Saturday, Towson announced Tuesday that it is recommending cutting the school's baseball and men's soccer as part of the athletic program's reorganization. Third-year athletic director Mike Waddell said in an interview that he began meeting with the coaches and athletes of the teams involved around 8 a.m. Tuesday and continued to meet with staff members and athletes who had morning class later in the day. Waddell said the athletic department has been studying possible changes for about 18 months but kept coming to the same answer.

On the football field, Towson University's game Saturday night against No. 3 Louisiana State University gave 60 players a chance to dream of the ultimate upset. Off the field, it gave the Towson athletic department the funds it needs to stay solvent and the sort of exposure that could help the school and the football program grow. LSU paid Towson $510,000 to travel to Baton Rouge's Tiger Stadium, which seats more than 92,000 people and is considered one of the nation's most difficult places to play.

COLLEGE PARK -- The University of Maryland did its part yesterday to alter the old-boy network that runs intercollegiate athletics.Deborah A. Yow, most recently the athletic director at Saint Louis University, was introduced as the new athletic director at Maryland. She is the first female athletic director in the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference, and one of only four women running one of the 106 college athletic programs that have football teams playing in Division I-A, the NCAA's highest designation.

The past three years of Maryland football success have also made a number of off-the-field improvements possible in College Park. Since coach Ralph Friedgen arrived, Maryland has received a new scoreboard at Byrd Stadium, a new artificial turf practice facility, a remodeled weight room, a remodeled dining hall and a renovated Gossett Football Team House. The next big push will be to expand Byrd Stadium, adding both additional seats and luxury suites. Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow said Wednesday that the athletic department recently commissioned a feasibility study that will look into how much the school could sell luxury suites for. That would be the first step in getting initial approval from university president C.D. "Dan" Mote Jr. "That's when we start building a funding formula for potential expansion," Yow said.

The flagship university for the state of Maryland, which happens to be a pioneer member of the Bowl Championship Series-rich Atlantic Coast Conference and resides in a state that boasts the wealthiest county in the country, has announced it will eliminate eight sports teams from its athletic department. The reason given by the University of Maryland, College Park: money troubles. Terrapin student-athletes playing on teams such as men's tennis, women's swimming and indoor/outdoor track, to name a few, will continue to receive scholarship assistance for their remaining time at Maryland but will have to go elsewhere if they wish to satisfy their competitive edge.

The University of Maryland athletic department officially announced that it has balanced its budget for the third straight year and remains on target to erase its $4.8 million debt in five years.Maryland turned a $397,019 profit for the fiscal year ending June 30, but fell more than $100,000 short of its original goal. The anticipated total of $500,000 was not reached because of a major decline in football ticket sales in addition to paying off the final year of fired football coach Mark Duffner's contract.

As a Towson alum, I have followed very closely the announcement and the process that followed to discontinue the soccer and baseball teams. As vice chair of the Board of Visitors at Towson, I had an opportunity, along with my fellow board members, to participate in several lengthy discussions with Towson President Maravene Loeschke in an attempt to understand the rationale behind the decision and the different steps taken to ensure that it received close...

If Towson University President Maravene Loeschke believes what she wrote in her commentary ("Painful cuts TU needs," March 17), then she is basing her decision on false information and without regard to the motives of the athletic department led by Mike Waddell. First, it has been clearly proven that Title IX compliance is not an issue and never was. Second, how are you improving the competitiveness of the entire athletic program by eliminating two of the most competitive teams which have been part of Towson athletics for 80 years.

Point guard Pe'Shon Howard will sit out tonight's game here at Florida State because of the flu, a Maryland athletic department spokesman said. Zack Bolno said Howard remained in College Park after the team left Tuesday. Howard had lost his starting job three games ago when second-year coach Mark Turgeon moved sophomore Nick Faust (City) to the point. Howard played 21 minutes in Saturday's 84-64 loss at Duke because freshman guard Seth Allen was benched for disciplinary reasons and played just 10 minutes.

During Kelly Coppedge's final conversation with her grandfather last Sunday, she says he was still thinking about Navy's football team. "He asked, 'When's Navy playing and who are they playing?" Kelly Coppedge recalled Thursday. J.O. "Bo" Coppedge, a former Navy football player and wrestler who ran Navy's athletic department from 1968 until his retirement in 1988, died Wednesday night - less than three days before the Midshipmen were scheduled to play Arizona State in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.

Justus Pickett and Makinton Dorleant are leaving the Maryland football team, an athletic department spokesman confirmed Monday. Pickett, a sophomore running back from Charlotte, N.C., is leaving College Park to attend to a family matter. Dorleant, a redshirt freshman defensive back from Naples, Fla., tweeted the following Sunday : “University of Northern Iowa Panther baby!” Pickett was Maryland's third-leading rusher in 2012, gaining 142 yards and rushing for three touchdowns on 69 carries.

When it comes to college athletics, it's time to speak truth to evil. You might think evil is too strong a word for what's going on in college athletics, but consider how Webster's Dictionary defines evil: morally reprehensible; causing harm; offensive. That pretty much sums up the state of big-time college sports today. The inane move of Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten is simply the latest example. Here's the current reality of college sports: •NCAA Division I sports - especially at Football Bowl Subdivision schools - has nothing to do with education.

Former Maryland guard Terrell Stoglin thinks he was wrongly portrayed, on and off the court, in College Park, and seems confident he will get a chance to change his image in the NBA. Displaying the same bravado that helped the barely 6-foot guard lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring as a sophomore - not to mention exhibit the candor that sometimes got him into trouble - Stoglin said he would be surprised if he is not picked in...

The University of Maryland athletic department is investigating allegations of hazing and underage drinking by members of the men's and women's lacrosse teams, The Diamondback, the student newspaper, reported in yesterday's editions. An athletic department official told the paper that an e-mail had been received, saying violations had occurred. Athletic department officials questioned players and coaches on both teams last week, executive senior associate athletic director Kathy Worthington told the paper.

Loyola basketball coach Jimmy Patsos said Sunday that sophomore point guard R.J. Williams (St. Frances) has been suspended until mid-January for an unspecified violation of team rules. The length of the suspension was dictated by athletic department policy. "He is still on the team, he is still practicing, we are not going to turn our back on R.J.," Patsos said. Patsos would not say what Williams did to be suspended, but made it clear that it is not an academic issue. "He's worked hard in the classroom, he's doing well in school," Patsos said.

Despite receiving its biggest single payday in the history of the athletic program last week, Towson University  might not be able to avoid the financial reality that has affected many larger schools in recent years. Three days after taking home a check for $510,000 from its nationally televised football game at LSU on Saturday, Towson announced Tuesday that it is recommending cutting the school's baseball and men's soccer as part of the athletic program's reorganization. Third-year athletic director Mike Waddell said in an interview that he began meeting with the coaches and athletes of the teams involved around 8 a.m. Tuesday and continued to meet with staff members and athletes who had morning class later in the day. Waddell said the athletic department has been studying possible changes for about 18 months but kept coming to the same answer.