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The University of California-Berkeley cut its baseball program in the fall as part of widespread budget cuts to put the athletic department in better financial standing, and that decision will stay in place despite valiant efforts by Cal baseball supporters.
Cal rugby, along with women's gymnastics and lacrosse, will continue as varsity sports, campus officials announced Friday. Men's baseball and gymnastics weren't reinstated.
“We are all greatly impressed by how our community organized itself in the attempt to help these five sports and the university,” said Vice Chancellor Frank Yeary. “We are delighted that, together, we have found a path that allows us to retain the two women’s teams and our rugby program without adding costs to the strained budgets of the university and Cal Athletics.”
“Sadly, the efforts did not meet these criteria insofar as baseball and men’s gymnastics are concerned,” he said. “Although the amount of money raised for these two programs is meaningful, the teams’ costs are also significant. Both programs would have needed to raise multiples of what they actually did raise to meet our criteria. In the context of both current and forecasted economic and financial conditions, we simply could not agree to short-term, stopgap measures.”
The grassroots group, Save Cal Baseball (Sports), earned approximately $15 million in pledges toward the cause of reinstating baseball and other affected programs. And when the university announced Thursday it needed more time to make a decision, it was thought all signs pointed toward the program getting reinstated.
However, sources confirmed early Friday the program wasn't saved and the plan to cut a program that has played intercollegiate athletics since 1892 still standed. The pledges made by the grassroots group fell short of the university's stated goal of $25 million to cover all five affected sports.
"We were led to believe that all five sports, or none were coming back," Cal coach Dave Esquer said. "The people that led our fundraising efforts did a great job of raising money and spearheading funding for all five sports. It's just very disappointing to watch all their efforts not be rewarded."
"Basically, the numbers didn't add up to maintain the six or seven years they had asked for all sports, but we weren't told it was an individual sport deal. We were told it was an all or nothing deal," he said. "I'm just sick that our kids have to go through this again. It's like a second letdown for this program."
Though disappointed with the university's decision, Esquer doesn't believe this decision is the program's obituary. He believes the program will come back, perhaps sooner rather than later.
"I do believe at some point in the future there will be baseball again at Cal," he said. "But for now, it looks like regardless of any fundraising efforts, the sport can't be reinstated until at least 2013. It looks like the program will be gone for at least a year."
The news comes at a tough time for the Golden Bears. Most of their players stayed put during the fall despite the uncertainty. And only freshman Eric Jaffe, now at UCLA, decided to part ways.
Now, with their fate sealed, the Golden Bears, ranked No. 21 in the Perfect Game Top 25, must go through the season with more uncertainty.
The Cal situation isn't sitting particularly well with several Pac-10 coaches, including Oregon's George Horton, who believes schools and coaches must be more proactive about budgetary issues when it comes to athletics.
"It's a really sad day for our industry and for the Pac-10 in general. The main point I'd like to make is that this is a wake-up call for everyone around the country to find a way to market our programs and generate television revenue," he said. "Ultimately, it's just a sad day and I feel very bad for the coaches and student-athletes down there. This is not a good thing for the Pac-10's future."
Washington State coach Don Marbut echoed Horton's sentiments.
"It's just a sad day for baseball and the Pac-10, specifically," he said. "It's really a sad decision when you consider the tradition the program has. I never thought this would actually happen to them. I figured cooler heads would prevail. I guess not."
The No. 21 Golden Bears open the 2011 season next weekend against Utah.
Kendall Rogers is the managing editor of college baseball for Perfect Game USA and has covered the sport for over 10 seasons. He can be reached at kendall@perfectgame.org