[Mudhead]

I can think of a number of reasons why that might be the case.

First, you don't just have to pay for Men's Volleyball.  You also have to pay for the women's sport to go along with it.  Although I guess conceptually that just makes the number bigger.

Second, you have the issue of more admissions breaks.  The AD didn't mention that in his press release but I have to believe it is a real issue.

Third, I can imagine a concern that money going towards these sports will take away from other parts of the school.
  
Fourth, they want this done.  Months and months spent fund raising and having people try and fail is not good for the department.

John, did you compete in a varsity sport at Stanford?  My guess is not.  These answers don't make any sense.

1. Women's vball is already staffed and paid for.  Cutting the men's team didn't mean cutting the whole women's team simultaneously, so it's not like you need to fund an additional WVB team.  Now looking at T9 roster count across all sports is a different issue.  You're going to have to try and bring back some women athletes as well to help, although the MVB team isn't that large.

2. "The AD didn't mention that in his press release but I have to believe it is a real issue."  You know, the AD didn't mention secret Skrull invasions or Russian spies infiltrating these teams in his press release either, but I guess I somehow have to believe those are real issues too.  You really shouldn't speculate baselessly.  It's a really bad look.

3. If they're concerned that money will go to support sports in existential danger instead of other parts of the school, then maybe they shouldn't put these sports in existential danger!  I guarantee you that many alumni would not be thinking of donating to their sports right now if the sports weren't in danger of being cut.  We'd probably be thinking of donating to the school.  Additionally, it would be very hard to see this kind of leverage from the academic university applied to athletic department.  Imagine MTL saying to Muir: "Hey, we need more donations for academics.  Cut a few sports so that people stop donating to those sports and start donating to the university."  That is NOT how donations work.  At least, that's not how my donations work.

And I'll be honest, if efforts to save my sport don't pan out, I'm not sure I would donate to the university in the future.  This decision was made secretly and in bad faith with no input or heads up from the AD to anyone in the Stanford community.  In fact, this reinforces the idea that unnamed administrators make numbers-based decisions with no care for the people impacted.  This poisons my emotional ties to the university.

4. Yeah they want this done.  But if Muir is rumored to be leaving for the east coast, then this should definitely not happen as it would be impossible to prove that he cut these sports with an eye toward the long-term benefit of the university as a whole (and not just the AD budget).  Just because the AD wants this done does not mean it's the right, moral, or just thing to do.

Hate to sound like Johnny One Note here, but if we don’t have a methodical , data based way of determining when to add or cut a sport, it gets down to personal preferences ... mine vs yours vs hers vs his.  I’m not terribly impressed with my cut at it and I was sort of hoping better minds could come up with one.  Instead , I see a lot off blaming the decision makers and here is what I like. And with respect just sticking to what we have isn’t a strategy.

To be sure there wasn’t as crisp a description of how these sports were chosen as we might like, but Muir did put forward some markers. I hope the entire Stanford community makes cuts to deal wit the emergency at hand..or at least examines and explains why they are keeping X and not Y and why they are not t adding Z. I’m proud of Muir for taking the lead on this, assuming of course that all departments and functions will do like wise.

For this board, though, maybe we can help develop a basis o adding, cutting or keeping sports that isn’t dependent upon personal preference.

[Mudhead]

I can think of a number of reasons why that might be the case.

First, you don't just have to pay for Men's Volleyball.  You also have to pay for the women's sport to go along with it.  Although I guess conceptually that just makes the number bigger.

Second, you have the issue of more admissions breaks.  The AD didn't mention that in his press release but I have to believe it is a real issue.

Third, I can imagine a concern that money going towards these sports will take away from other parts of the school.
  
Fourth, they want this done.  Months and months spent fund raising and having people try and fail is not good for the department.

John, did you compete in a varsity sport at Stanford?  My guess is not.  These answers don't make any sense.

1. Women's vball is already staffed and paid for.  Cutting the men's team didn't mean cutting the whole women's team simultaneously, so it's not like you need to fund an additional WVB team.  Now looking at T9 roster count across all sports is a different issue.  You're going to have to try and bring back some women athletes as well to help, although the MVB team isn't that large.

2. "The AD didn't mention that in his press release but I have to believe it is a real issue."  You know, the AD didn't mention secret Skrull invasions or Russian spies infiltrating these teams in his press release either, but I guess I somehow have to believe those are real issues too.  You really shouldn't speculate baselessly.  It's a really bad look.

3. If they're concerned that money will go to support sports in existential danger instead of other parts of the school, then maybe they shouldn't put these sports in existential danger!  I guarantee you that many alumni would not be thinking of donating to their sports right now if the sports weren't in danger of being cut.  We'd probably be thinking of donating to the school.  Additionally, it would be very hard to see this kind of leverage from the academic university applied to athletic department.  Imagine MTL saying to Muir: "Hey, we need more donations for academics.  Cut a few sports so that people stop donating to those sports and start donating to the university."  That is NOT how donations work.  At least, that's not how my donations work.

And I'll be honest, if efforts to save my sport don't pan out, I'm not sure I would donate to the university in the future.  This decision was made secretly and in bad faith with no input or heads up from the AD to anyone in the Stanford community.  In fact, this reinforces the idea that unnamed administrators make numbers-based decisions with no care for the people impacted.  This poisons my emotional ties to the university.

4. Yeah they want this done.  But if Muir is rumored to be leaving for the east coast, then this should definitely not happen as it would be impossible to prove that he cut these sports with an eye toward the long-term benefit of the university as a whole (and not just the AD budget).  Just because the AD wants this done does not mean it's the right, moral, or just thing to do.

Hate to sound like Johnny One Note here, but if we don’t have a methodical , data based way of determining when to add or cut a sport, it gets down to personal preferences ... mine vs yours vs hers vs his.  I’m not terribly impressed with my cut at it and I was sort of hoping better minds could come up with one.  Instead , I see a lot off blaming the decision makers and here is what I like. And with respect just sticking to what we have isn’t a strategy.

To be sure there wasn’t as crisp a description of how these sports were chosen as we might like, but Muir did put forward some markers. I hope the entire Stanford community makes cuts to deal wit the emergency at hand..or at least examines and explains why they are keeping X and not Y and why they are not t adding Z. I’m proud of Muir for taking the lead on this, assuming of course that all departments and functions will do like wise.

For this board, though, maybe we can help develop a basis o adding, cutting or keeping sports that isn’t dependent upon personal preference.