ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 15, 1996 TAG: 9607150039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The Keydettes?
Women student-athletes at Virginia Military Institute in the future remains a hypothetical subject, albeit an intriguing one. Financially, a program that has struggled to break even likely can't afford more teams.
The impending decision at VMI on whether to remain a public institution and admit women to the corps or become a private male college at a huge cost really won't be about sports. Whatever the choice, however, the athletic program will be affected.
If women enroll, VMI will have to offer athletic opportunities, although there probably wouldn't be enough females in the corps to field teams in some sports in the first several years. If the decision is to turn private to remain a male bastion, the cost of doing so could have a negative impact on athletic contributions and funding.
Four years ago, a VMI committee did an exhaustive study of its athletic program and its financial status with a glance to the future. The commitment was to remain in Division I, although compared with its peer institutions and most Southern Conference brethren, the Keydets are playing with many fewer dollars.
One fact won't change whether VMI remains a state institution or not: The school won't get state money for athletics. No Virginia public college does. The plus is that the Keydets' two revenue-producing programs, football and basketball, are improving and could bring in more bucks in the future.
Whether VMI can afford to institute women's athletics without dropping some of its 13 men's programs is a question the Keydets won't have to answer soon.
If VMI stays public - and it would be stunning and foolishly expensive if it didn't - the first question is how many women will enroll? How many will stay past the first semester? How many of those will want to play Division I sports? How many will be good enough to earn a scholarship?
VMI's athletic operations budget for 1996-97 is $2 million, with another $1 million going toward scholarships. Those numbers aren't going to change much with or without women, because the revenue stream isn't there.
The Keydets are looking at a veritable bonanza in '96-97, because of two games. VMI will get a $225,000 guarantee for playing Ole Miss in Jackson to open the football season. North Carolina will visit for hoops Dec. 15, and Dean Smith's trip to the post should sell out Cameron Hall. Coach Bart Bellairs' program also has two other good guarantees for trips to Wake Forest and UNC Charlotte.
By comparison, when VMI's Division I-A football trip is to Navy in 1997, the Keydets will bring home $100,000. After visits to Army in 1998 and '99, VMI has no more I-A opponents scheduled, although it is looking. As athletic director Davis Babb pointed out, the $225,000 opportunities against SEC teams are few and far between for I-AA programs.
With women in the corps, VMI will be able to get a waiver of Title IX requirements until it has sufficient enrollment to field teams that can compare to the men's programs. Women's sports at VMI likely would begin with one or two athletes, perhaps in swimming or cross country or rifle, sports in which individual females.
About one-third of the corps plays intercollegiate sports, with 180 of 375 competitors getting scholarship money. If VMI went private, it's likely the athletic program would be diminished in one way or another.
Tuition undoubtedly would have to rise, and with it the cost of a scholarship. With fewer scholarships, you get fewer recruits, and VMI's military environment is not exactly a welcome mat for many walk-ons.
The first women's game for VMI, whatever the sport, would be historic. It's going to be a while before it happens, if at all. When it does, the program will need deeper pockets, too.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB