K-State equestrian parents seek compromise with university

Currie has agreed to meet the parents Sunday morning to discuss the matter, but has set rules for the conversation that upset some families. The families also say he told only part of the story when he said publicly that K-State would honor the athletes’ scholarships.

In an email Tuesday, Currie says parents will have 20 minutes to ask questions, and asks them to submit their inquiries in advance to help him cover as much ground as possible. He appears to reject their call for compromise.

“We will not be discussing alternative scenarios and we will have a positive atmosphere (at the meeting),” he wrote. “Out of respect to others, I would ask anyone who is not willing to abide by these parameters not to attend.”

The Topeka Capital-Journal twice requested to interview Currie but received only a link to his announcement last month about the team’s elimination, which will take effect at the end of the next academic year.

Equestrian coach Casie Maxwell didn’t respond to an interview request.

The Capital-Journal emailed some of the athletes, but a press contact then told the reporter to “refrain from contacting the K-State coaching staff and student-athletes directly.”

One athlete said she isn’t allowed to speak to reporters without the university’s permission.
K-State regularly seeks to block Capital-Journal reporters from speaking to athletes independently of communications personnel.

On Oct. 13, K-State announced it would drop equestrian and add women’s soccer in 2016.
The school cited a recent recommendation by an NCAA committee that the NCAA cut equestrian from its list of emerging sports for women. According to the NCAA’s news service, the NCAA’s Division I and Division II governing bodies could decide the matter next spring or later.

K-State’s announcement came shortly after student reporters at The Collegian, the university’s student newspaper, learned the sport would be cut and reported it on their website.

Currie, who earned $996,600 last year in salary and supplemental compensation, said the university should put its resources toward another sport in light of developments at the NCAA. K-State is required by NCAA bylaws to sponsor 16 varsity sports to maintain its standing in the Football Bowl Subdivision and remain a member of the Big 12 Conference.

“We have worked hard to support our team with a current annual operating budget of $1.2 million and facility expenditures and improvements of $700,000 over the last five years,” he said in his announcement. “The sport simply hasn’t grown as was hoped and nearly every one of our border state peer institutions, and every Big 12 institution, sponsors soccer.”

If the NCAA axes equestrian, the decision would likely take effect in 2017. Universities could maintain the sport after that independent of NCAA sponsorship.

K-State appears to be the only Division I university so far to announce it is dropping the sport.
Currie said it will do so a year earlier than the projected NCAA date “to keep with our goal of operating in a transparent and fiscally responsible manner.”

At least one university has announced it will keep equestrian.

“Texas A&M continues to strive to be a leader in the sport,” said Eric Hyman, that university’s athletic director.

A week after the K-State decision, Chris Hatton, whose daughter is a junior at K-State, authored a passionate letter to the university that he and other parents said was submitted on behalf of nearly 150 people affected by the news, including the 49 student athletes on the equestrian roster.

“The desire to ride and compete permeates every cell within these young women,” Hatton said. “The work ethic and commitment required to be a successful equestrian athlete has been instilled in them since they were able to walk. It is a way of life. It is reflective of rural America.”

Hatton’s letter asked K-State to let the students see the sport through to its potential end.
If the NCAA cuts the sport in 2017, but K-State drops it in 2016, “the student athletes you recruited will not be afforded the opportunity to participate in their sport’s final competitions and final National Championship with their equestrian peers, which could be the conclusion of the sport.”

All but 11 of the K-State athletes are freshmen and sophomores, meaning they would still be at the school to compete during the NCAA’s final year of sponsorship.

Almost all of the students are from other states. Some parents said their daughters received recruiting offers from other schools, but chose K-State because of its reputation as a university rooted in agricultural studies and culture, and because the teammates and coach had impressed them with a family atmosphere.

Some declined to be quoted out of fear of retaliation against their daughters, expressing concern the students might lose their scholarships, leaving them to pay out-of-state tuition without that assistance.
That concern stems in part from their perception that Currie already isn’t fully honoring the athletes’ scholarships, despite public statements to the contrary.

They said their children had been recruited with an understanding that their scholarships would increase over the course of their years at K-State.

A letter to the athletes on Oct. 30, signed by K-State’s associate athletics director of compliance and carbon-copied to Currie, says the school will lock the scholarships in at their 2015 percentages.

“For example, if a student-athlete receives a 50% scholarship in 2014-15, the scholarship will remain at 50% in 2015-16, and beyond,” the letter says.

This, despite the fact that the students will continue to compete in the varsity sport next year.
Kathy Green, whose niece is a sophomore on the team, said K-State seems not to understand the sacrifices the athletes made during the years to excel at their sport. Green feels the university has a responsibility to show commitment to students it recruited.

“As a resident of Kansas, the whole situation is disgusting,” she said. “They brought these girls in from all over the country and Canada.”

Green and other parents say the equestrian community was blindsided by the decision.
Board minutes indicate Currie convened a special meeting of the K-State Athletics Board on Oct. 13 to cancel equestrian. The meeting lasted 29 minutes. Four of the six board members, including Currie, were present and unanimously passed the proposal.

Green feels the equestrian community should have been given a chance to hear the university’s reasoning, make their own case, and potentially raise money to address any concerns about the program’s sustainability.

The Oct. 30 letter to the athletes says they will be allowed to transfer to other schools if they so desire, and coach Maxwell can “facilitate conversations with other institutions’ coaches.”
Last spring K-State’s athletics department drew national attention by blocking one of its top female basketball players, Leticia Romero, of Spain, from transferring after it fired her coach.
Sports columnists compared the university’s behavior to bullying, and ESPN reported K-State appeared upset with Romero not only because of the transfer request but because she had spoken to reporters.