Sonoma State Cuts Athletics Again and They'll Probably Regret It...Again

[@RobLobsterSD]

I was born and raised in So Cal, went to UC San Diego and graduated before they fully went D1. UCSD is now a competitor in Big West basketball and has been winning a lot of baseball during their transition period... it's too sad some UC and CSU schools are turning away from athletics in recent years, like UCR talking about dumping athletics during COVID. I love the UC and CSU schools, so it sucks to see any of them lose out on college athletics. Sonoma county is so beautiful; SSU's baseball field looks like a beautiful place to watch a game, which I guess I will never get to see! Keep up the great coverage on West Coast college athletics as always!

[@jordantrujillo3324]

I fear that the changes coming to college sports are gonna see more and more D2 and D3 programs following suit :( especially west coast schools

[@vtheminer3570]

Jaylen Wells is now starting for the Memphis Grizzlies, he started off at Sonoma State

[@pg100ify]

Sonoma State intercollegiate sports cost $3.7 million per year and SSU has 227 student athletes. Divide. that means taxpayers subsidize each athlete more than $16,000 per year for their hobby. All for full time salaries coaches, athletics directors, travel across the state and beyond. Sorry, that is too much money just to provide them "opportunities" and is not worth it for taxpayers. Also, as at many California Collegiate Athletics Assoc. schools SSU is lucky to get more than 200 non students to show up to see any of their teams. SSU should look at club sports--with no full time coaches to hire, you can have many more teams at a fraction of the cost. And all the players are real students who chose to be at the university for academics--which is the original spirit of college athletics. By the way, great research--most do not know that SSU drop athletics decades ago. But no community is going to rally to save them this time. And where did you dig up those old videos and photos. Also, one grad assistant in SSU's very first year of football was none other than Carl Peterson, former GM of the Chiefs.

[@toughbutsweet1]

Athletics provides exposure for the school without additional cost. Even without that, by your logic colleges should also ax all programs such as art, music, and any other that doesn't serve a large population of students?

[@hogziller]

Love your videos, I question how many more schools might end up shutting down athletics now because of NIL and other changes where students get paid to play..... which I'm completely against

[@PCSPounder]

What were the economic conditions in the early 1970s? A deficit of more than 10% of the total budget and a 46% decline in enrollment- at this time- are rather serious problems. It’s possible a turnover of population to one more channeled to San Francisco (or other pursuits) has changed the character of Sonoma County.

[@thetouchback]

Tuition was free at UC and CSU schools up until the 1970s. In order to cover state budget issues elsewhere (but really for a certain governor to promote his own awful agenda) that would be changed. Starting in 1966, a bunch of junk fees were introduced on in-state students, which is one of the reasons why SSU students voted to get rid of the fee that went toward on-campus activities. Eventually, tuition would be introduced, and things would spiral out of control from there. It is more complex than that but in reality, the entire situation from then on about college/university budget shortfalls and the like has been contrived. There weren't any issues with California's free higher education for nearly a hundred years, and then, out of the blue, it became a problem in 1966.

[@pg100ify]

Yes, the economics are different--sports costs incredibly more even at the D II level due to the arms race. And the community is much more a suburb, the people of Rohnert Park don't feel any strong connection to the university in their midst (which is actually located in a separate municipality called Cotati, but in essence same place.)

[@PCSPounder]

@@thetouchback I get that, and for not being a native Californian (I was a Californian for two years… 32 years ago), I’m somewhat not surprised that I only needed one guess on that governor. I fear the trajectory of national politics is going to make things much worse before they get better. But I’m also a punk soccer fan living in a metropolis with major junior hockey. So I might also be the problem for knowing how many systems are- or can be- available to bypass college sports. Just saying.

[@CoolKidHalter]

I need to add more Stargate SG-1 comparables in my daily conversations.

[@guyfaux3978]

Have any of the students organized club teams in any of those sports?

[@pg100ify]

This! Club sports is the solution, spending $3.7 million on D II athletics is absurd.

[@TheLugiaExpert]

My school finally got mentioned for something 😢😢

[@bloodspartan300]

When is california gonna break up into 2 different states? Or 3?

[@hogziller]

As soon as North and South Dakota combine into 1 state