Posted by Mike on May 14, 08 at 09:43:27:
In Reply to: Some thoughts on the men's sports cuts posted by 80 Devil on May 13, 08 at 20:27:03:
"Regarding tennis and swimming, the amount of foreign athletes populating collegiate tennis and swimming is getting to be staggering. 5 of the 10 ASU men's tennis players are from outside the US and 10 of 24 in men's swimming. US colleges are now the training grounds for the Olympic swim teams of other countries.
Very few Arizona high school tennis players have received tennis scholarships to Pac 10 schools in the last 15 years, even though Phoenix is a hotbed of junior tennis."
For this reason, I have never been that attached to many of the sports at ASU. In non-revenue sports, the goal should be to give opportunities to the local athletes to compete for the home school. The track coaches have gotten a lot of mileage, results, and good PR from local kids. Most of ASU's roster consists of kids from Az, Cali, and other western states. Swimming and tennis should have followed that model.