Blue White Illustrated

T he coronavirus crisis has already forced the cancellation of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and will likely have an impact on the upcoming football season, as well. Those two sports are responsible for bankrolling a wide range of athletic endeavors at col- leges across the country, and there has been speculation that the loss of revenue will lead to a purge of teams that don't make money for their schools. Penn State has one of the country's biggest athletic programs, with 31 var- sity teams. But athletic director Sandy Barbour said recently that PSU hopes to avoid taking such drastic steps to bal- ance its books. "Our 31 programs and 800-plus stu- dent-athletes – that's really in our DNA, it's part of who we are," Barbour said. "That is certainly not something that we're looking at right now. We do continue to have a lot of unknowns around what the 9nancial situation will be, so we're looking at scenario-plan- ning and looking at what steps we might need to take. But I think our primary focus is on holding our 31 programs and our 800-plus student-athletes together and 9nding a way as Penn Staters and as a Penn State community to come through this on the other side." Barbour said that Penn State has suf- 9cient 9nancial reserves to get through the current 9scal year, in part because it is saving money this spring due to the cancellation of recruiting activities and discontinuation of the spring sports season. "I wouldn't call it robust, but it's certainly an adequate reserve," she said. "So we're going to be in good shape for 9scal year 2020." Some other schools aren't in such a fortunate position, particularly those outside of the Power Five conferences. Schools in the so-called Group of Five are in a more precarious 9nancial spot as they seek ways to absorb the losses brought on by the pandemic. One of the 9rst casualties of the impending budget crisis was the men's soccer program at Cincinnati. The team was one of 19 var- sity programs at the American Athletic Conference school and had been in op- eration since 1973, but on April 14, Cincinnati announced that it was being disbanded. Penn State isn't faced with those sorts of immediate hardships. But with so many variables in play, the only thing that administrators can do for now is to plan for multiple contingencies. "Certainly, we're doing all of the analysis so that we're prepared," Bar- bour said. "We're doing some scenario- planning so that we're prepared. But at this point, we're in decent shape com- ing out of 2020." One decision that has already been made – at the NCAA level – has been to grant an extra year of eligibility to ath- letes in the spring sports due to the dis- continuation of their seasons. The ruling was lauded by many when it was announced on March 30, but at least one Power Five school will not look to take advantage of that opportunity, as Wisconsin athletic director Barry Al- varez announced in April that the Badg- ers will not seek waivers allowing their seniors to have an extra year. At Penn State, Barbour said she wel- comed the NCAA's decision. "We're very pleased that the NCAA has ex- tended the eligibility of our spring sports student-athletes," she said. "And we are certainly going to support that throughout our spring sports portfolio." At least two 2020 seniors – Mac O'Keefe and Nick Cardile of the men's lacrosse team – have already said they plan to come back. ■ | VARSITY VIEWS Barbour says PSU aiming to preserve 31-sport varsity athletic program thony Cassar su:ered a season-ending shoulder injury in December at the U.S. Open Freestyle Senior Nationals. Throw in the fact that the surgically re- paired shoulder of transfer Kyle Conel (197) wasn't ready for the rigors of a sea- son, along with the ongoing ripple e:ect of a lack of depth at 125 pounds caused by the transfer of Nick Suriano two years ago, and that sort of summed up the season. This Penn State team, despite going 12- 2, couldn't match the consistent 9re- power that was a hallmark of the Nittany Lion squads that had won eight of the past nine NCAA titles. Sanderson actually went on Twitter for the 9rst time in nearly a year and a half and pleaded for the NCAA to grant addi- tional eligibility for this year's seniors who missed the 9nal three days of their season. "Winter sport student-athletes who lost the opportunity to compete at the NCAA championships need to be given the option of another year of eligi- bility," he wrote. "Although complicated, details can be worked out and it's the right thing to do in the long run." The NCAA did grant eligibility for spring-sport athletes whose seasons barely started but denied the same for winter-sport participants whose seasons were largely complete. Sanderson would give anything for sen- iors Vincenzo Joseph (165) and Mark Hall (174) to reappear in his lineup next sea- son. Those playing devil's advocate would ask where the additional scholarship money would come from and if it's fair to the underclassmen. In Penn State's case, that would mean wrestlers such as Carter Starocci, Mason Manville and Joe Lee likely would sit out another year if Joseph and Hall were to return. But it appears as though that won't happen, as those two likely will train with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. NOTES Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser tweeted that the Cyclones' upcoming schedule includes a match at Penn State. … If coronavirus closings persist, Penn State's program and other major schools' wrestling programs could lose thousands of dollars in revenue from summer camps. ■

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