Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State golfers and their coaches were “completely floored and taken back” by interim president Curtis McCray saying the school is looking at eliminating the program, according to Chris Schoonmaker, whose son Austin is a freshman on the team.
“This guy has clearly been brought in to be the henchman so the new president can start out with a clean record, which makes sense, I get it,” Schoonmaker said. ““But if you’re trying to save money to the tune of $25 million, that’s like throwing a deck chair off the Queen Mary.”
While discussing the pending budget cuts with the Dayton Daily News, McCrary singled out the golf team.
“It’s apparently a program where we don’t have as many students and if we eliminated the program the impact on Division I status would not be there,” he said. “We would still retain our Division I status.”
Athletic director Bob Grant was traveling Wednesday and unavailable for comment, while golf coach Pete Samborsky did not respond to a request for comment.
McCray said he will present an outline of budget cuts to the board of trustees on April 7 before offering more specifics at the end of the month.
What has Schoonmaker, a Springboro resident, more miffed than the news itself is that the timeline presented by McCray offered ample time for someone to sit down with the team and explain that program isn’t in the budget.
“Instead the kids get blindsided by a story in the paper,” Schoonmaker said. “To have someone hip-shoot and throw statements out there like this, it just takes the kids and like drops them off the side of a building. What this guy doesn’t realize is you’re not just dealing with a budget cut, you’re dealing with the lives and hopes and dreams of some young people.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not the way Wright State University wants to be viewed in terms of the way they treat their students,” he added. “It’s unprofessional, hurtful, thoughtless, insensitive. It’s just a real bad move.”
The news comes five days before the golf team plays host to the Wright State Invitational, which will be held Monday and Tuesday at Miami Valley Golf Club.
“Now the kids have to try to go out play with blinders on while wondering if they’re going to be playing for anybody next year,” Schoonmaker said.
