I'm posting the entire article below. But a couple highlights should be noted:
-The decision was not made by "anyone associated with USC Sumter, but by a board with the USC system"
-Baseball and softball are not cut. Just soccer and basketball.
Here's the article:
The University of South Carolina Sumter announced Wednesday it will discontinue its men's and women's soccer programs and its men's and women's basketball programs.
In press release emailed Wednesday afternoon, new USC Sumter Interim Dean Lynwood Watts said the decision to discontinue the programs came as part of a budget reorganization plan. The release also stated that neither the baseball nor the softball programs would be affected.
Watts nor Athletic Director Bruce Blumberg could be reached for comment after the release. Earlier in the day, Watts, whose first day as the interim dean was Tuesday, wouldn't comment on rumors that the programs might be cut other than to say the idea was under consideration. He also said a final decision would be made on Monday.
Otis Holloway, the head coach of the men's and women's soccer teams, said he was caught totally off guard by the announcement.
"I'm shocked, I'm surprised, I did not see it coming," said Holloway, who took over the programs a couple of weeks prior to the 2011 season after head coach John Borycki was fired. "We had 33 kids who were committed (between the two programs) that were coming here that now have no place to play.
"We had enough players to field a women's team, and I really thought we were going to have a strong men's team. It's a university decision though, and it's one we're going to have live with."
Holloway, who will be retained at USC Sumter in a previous position he held, only coached the boys team last season because there were not enough girls to field a team, the reason Borycki said he was given for his firing. In the women's program's four years, it twice didn't field a team. In '09, there weren't enough academically-eligible players after a late coaching change from Giovanni Vlahos to Borycki.
In the two years the women's team played though, it was competitive. The Fire Ants were 5-7 in '08, winning a NJCAA Region X tournament game, before going 9-9-1 in '10.
The men's program was 4-59-1 in its four years. It has gone winless the past two years, going 0-14 in '11 and 0-18 in '10. It ended with a 39-match losing streak.
The soccer programs began competition in '08 and had three different coaches.
The basketball programs just completed their first seasons under head coach Adam Wainwright. The men's team went 12-15 while the women's team was 6-16.
Like Holloway, Wainwright, who will not be retained, had no inkling this would happen.
"None whatsoever," Wainwright responded when asked if he had any idea this decision would be made. "We just signed (former Sumter High School standout) D.J. Coleman to a national letter of intent yesterday (Tuesday). I was just totally blindsided by this. I really didn't see what the reason was for cutting out the programs. We had a lot of kids coming to USC Sumter to play.
"We were told there were going to be cuts, but we were pretty much told we were going to be safe. It's a shock to me, and I'm doing the best I can."
Both Holloway and Wainwright were concerned about their players and trying to get them at other schools.
"It's kind of late in the game now," Holloway said. "Rosters and schedules are set, and it's going to be tough to get them some other places. I've been making calls to coaches in the region and at schools around here to see if there is something they can do."
The decision to cut the programs was not made by anyone associated with USC Sumter, but by a board with the University of South Carolina system.
"I don't feel like we were given a shot to build a program," Wainwright said. "I don't feel that it was appropriate that people in Columbia cut out parts of the (USC Sumter) program that they had never seen before."
The baseball and softball programs were the school's first two programs when it announced in '06 it was going to start offering athletics for the first time since 1979.
Those programs started competing in the spring of '08. Baseball has been ultra successful under head coach Tom Fleenor, winning two NJCAA Region X regular-season titles and earning a trip to the Eastern District tournament in just its second year. Fleenor won his and the program's 200th game this year.
While not enjoying the success of the baseball program, the softball program has made a steady progression under head coach Adrienne Cataldo. The Fire Ants are 79-107 in five years, going 16-20 this past season.
