Male baseball, female interior athletics and male football will no longer be played at San Francisco State University from July 1.
“Last year, the University trained a working group on athletics to deal with the current athletics budgetary deficit and formulate a plan to create a lasting model for athletics Gatatr to SF State,” said SFFS president Lynn Mahoney. “The working group has recommended reducing our number of NCAA teams.”
The eliminations of the teams will affect 44 students-athletes and will reduce the number of teams from Division II of the NCAA in competition at SFSU to 10.
This comes after the Sonoma State University announced that it was Stopping all of his athletics Programs in January.
California State University campuses face financial challenges while Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed to reduce CSU funding by CSU by $ 375.2 million.
“There is a little belt that will happen, there will be difficult times to come,” said Vince Inglima, head coach of male basketball, in Golden Gate Xpress In early February. “But I am optimistic that we can still do good things and have a positive impact on student-athletes as well as on campus and the community.”
Gators Baseball being cut is a shock for many when the team only participated in the NCAA Division II regionals regional championship tournament Last season. Head coach Tony Schifano expressed his disappointment in the decision because he is now in his 10th season as chief of the marsh canoe.
“This is a new devastating; It is devastating for the sports department and the university, ”said Schifano. “Baseball has been a pillar of excellence in this university for 6 to 8 years. I think sports elimination is not the answer. But as I told my players, everything we do, we do it with the class and we will manage it with the class. “”
The superior field player Justin Johnson Jr. shared his reaction to the administration’s decision.
“I felt devastated for the guys who had helped build this program to be the success he is today,” said Johnson. “It is unfair to withdraw a program which means so much for the school community and brings together so many people thanks to sport.”
Johnson has also thought about his experience in the team.
“Being in the baseball team has had a major impact on my life. Our team is not a team, it’s a family, “said Johnson. “The school takes off the opportunity for our team and the former players to come back and enjoy what we all appreciate, who played baseball together. For future students, they will lose the ability to develop a feeling of community that baseball brings to campus. Losing the baseball team, I think, is devastating for the student body; A successful sports team helps strengthen the school spirit and strengthen the school community. »»
The senior field player Daniel Murillo considers it a motivation and an opportunity to give Gators baseball a last hoorah during his last round at the university.
“We are just going to go there one last time and have fun,” said Murillo. “It gives us a better opportunity to enjoy this last walk.”
“It was a shock,” said male football coach Sebastian Carrasco. “We were not ready to leave this situation.”
When Carrasco told the team that the cuts were imminent, he could see the disappointment of players’ faces. Carrasco’s main objective at the moment is to help current players progress in the next steps.
Junior midfielder Michael Rodriguez knew that the fate of SFSU athletics would be similar when he heard of SSU sports cuts.
“It’s really a difficult feeling,” said Rodriguez. “You feel sympathy. I was already preparing in advance and I had things. I just feel for others, and I hope they could be guided through all of this. »»
Publisher’s note: Athletes of athletics were not available for an interview at the time of publication.