STAR-BULLETIN / JANUARY 2003
Ball State's Keith Schunzel went up for a block against Hawaii's Tony Ching in an Outrigger Invitational match this past January. Ball State will visit Hawaii again next March.
Ball State volleyball
alive for at least a year
Joel Walton is an optimist.
But even his ability to see the proverbial glass as half full recently has been put to the test. Not that the Ball State men's volleyball coach has time for pessimism.
In spite of a final four appearance in 2002, Walton and the future of men's volleyball at Ball State have been in limbo since early May. That's when an advisory committee to athletic director Bubba Cunningham recommended that men's volleyball and five other sports -- women's gymnastics and field hockey; men's swimming and indoor and outdoor track -- be dropped to help balance the athletic department's budget which has been operating at a deficit.
The committee said cutting the six sports would save $1.2 million annually. It would reduce Ball State from 22 varsity sports to 16, just enough to meet the requirements of competing in Division I.
"I'm not a drinker. I never have been. But if I were, I'd drink heavily and often now," Walton said half-jokingly.
Instead, he gets daily hugs from his 11-year old daughter Kaitlin as he thinks of reasons why his program shouldn't be one of the ones trimmed. Walton could point to the success and longevity of the program: Ball State has made 15 trips to the final four in 39 years.
He says his ability to field a competitive team with only four scholarships signals the interest and willingness of players to compete for nothing more than the opportunity to be a part of collegiate sports at the highest level.
And the Cardinal program has a presence in the Indiana community. The coaches for this year's four girls high school volleyball state champions -- Indiana has four prep classifications -- were all Ball State alumni.
But positive attributes do not ensure a program's survival. Three years ago, the most successful season in Loyola Marymount history ended with the program being dropped. It was also the same year that San Diego State dropped men's volleyball, the only sport in which the Aztecs have won a national championship.
"(Success) helps and it's one component," said Cal State Northridge coach Jeff Campbell. "But the reality is that if an administration wants to get rid of the program, they're going to get rid of the program. They're going to make reasons and find reasons to make that happen."
Campbell knows. The Matadors survived a near-extinction experience in 1997, but it took four years for the program to recover and be competitive again. Campbell thinks Walton can save the sport but knows it will be a tough fight.
The Cardinals did move an inch back from the chopping block after an athletics committee voted 5-1 against cutting the six sports last week. But Walton knows that doesn't guarantee his program will have life after the 2003-04 season.
Much will depend on Cunningham's counsel to university president Blaine Brownell and Brownell's recommendation to the Board of Trustees which convenes on July 18. Walton is still hopeful that the program will be saved in light of the athletics committee's recent vote.
"I've been given my budget for next year and we are definitely planning on coming out and playing in Hawaii," Walton said. "I've told him (Warrior coach Mike Wilton) that I hope it's as a risen phoenix, as opposed to a dead man walking. That's truly the point we're at.
"We can still be saved. We can still be salvaged. There's a possibility that they will get to a recommendation that does not include the elimination of men's volleyball so that's what we're still working toward."
In a sport that struggles to experience growth, losing another Division I program would be a major blow to the rest of collegiate men's volleyball. There would be fewer quality opponents to schedule. And it provides justification for eliminating men's volleyball as a varsity sport completely.
It is an argument Walton has encountered in his current fight.
"I don't like to focus on that," he said. "I know that's something that they've looked at as criteria. As they've gone through this process when they see that there are only 84 men's volleyball programs and only 20 Division I programs ... that doesn't help us in those kind of arguments.
"They want to say, the ones that would cut us, that there aren't enough schools to show an interest in the sport. The way that I feel about it is that we are that much more important because we are one of the few and we are one of the few that has done it well. The interest is out there. We're just in a climate environment that doesn't allow it to grow at a varsity level collegiately."
It's a climate that most men's volleyball coaches are familiar with. But that doesn't mean they weren't startled to learn of the Cardinals' plight.
"It's a surprise to everybody," Wilton said. "That's a successful program. That's the most successful program they have, men's or women's historically, and they're thinking about dropping it.
"It's a fabulous game, it's exciting. Given time, what we have going in Hawaii could happen elsewhere. (Dropping men's volleyball at Ball State) just gives people more ideas."
Added Campbell: "We all care about each other's programs. We're all looking out for men's volleyball. We want to make sure the sport is successful and by losing programs, that definitely hurts our sport. It's one less team to compete against.
"In this climate of Title IX, there are a lot of men's sports getting cut. Men's volleyball is no different than a lot of the other Olympic (non-revenue) sports out there getting cut.
"Most of the coaches that I have spoken with are upset but not surprised because of the climate in NCAA sports right now. The climate is budget cuts, Title IX reasons, a lot of states around the country that financially are not in good shape and there's a trickle-down theory that it's going to hit all the sports."
