Stanford re-instates varsity sailing...

[ChiGuy]

There's a Netflix video (Operation Varsity Blues?). John V is the only coach that appears on the film. His impression of the athletics department is pretty much as the OP describes. The only thing he was asked when he saw the AD was how much do you have in donations. 

 

[Alan H]

Two things.

1. It wasn't just sailing that was cut, right?  I mean.... WRESTLING was cut. While wrestling doesn't bring in big bucks, what major US University doesn't have a varsity wrestling program?  We're all sailing-crazy but keep in mind that not just sailing was cut. Synchronized Swimming was cut.  You might hate Synchro and say it's not a sport, but Half the freaking US National Sychro team is Stanford graduates. I personally know a guy who volunteers time for Stanford wrestling, he puts in HOURS at Stanfords summer wrestling camp.  He's a former Stanford heavyweight.  He was NOT happy about this.  A whole lot of the affected athletes, coaches and sports alumni are calling for the AD to be fired for not supporting all the programs across the board.

It's not just sailing.

2.)  The President of the university wrote a letter to the whole University trying to back himself out of this, saying that alumni stepped up with funding and support. Funny.....but the original announcement said "These sports are cut, doesn't matter if you find more funding or not, the decision is final".

Backtracking, much? BULLSHITTING, much?

 

[AJ Oliver]

There is no evidence that anyone was ever on the team, or even admitted because of donations.  John V. Has stated that there were not.

Thanks for the clarification - I am happy to be mistaken , , 

Prolly. 

 

[crashtack]

A few sailors took the year off, but they still have plenty of talent. The women's team just finished fifth at Dinghy Nationals and second at singlehanded. The coed and team race teams should do just as well if not better in the next two weeks.  Recent Stanford grad Luke Muller is gearing up to represent USA in the Finn class in Tokyo.

Muller, like so many other talented Stanford sailors, quit the team early to focus on campaigning if I'm not incorrect.

Regardless, we NEED Stanford or else literally anyone good in youth sailing with half a brain will go to Yale

 

[AJ Oliver]

There is no evidence that anyone was ever on the team, or even admitted because of donations.  John V. Has stated that there were not.

I think that is fishy. He had to have known that two yoot on the team had no sailing experience. 

He did not take money himself, but he was part of the scam. 

Vandemoer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering for arranging bribes of $110,000 and $160,000 to the sailing program and then designating two applicants, who had no sailing experience, as sailing recruits, according to his criminal complaint.Jun 12, 2019

 

[fastyacht]

I'm a current college sailor on the pacific coast, and this doesn't happen anymore. Stanford only hosts parties for themselves, and they don't go to parties hosted by other schools either unfortunately.

That's totally lame.

 

[Alan H]

Regarding the party thing... Remember that Stanford has dealt with a couple of seriously high-profile rape cases in the past couple of years.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/09/04/brock-turner-stanford-rape-case-chanel-miller-survivor-emily-doe/2207106001/

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/ncaa/ex-stanford-swimmer-rapist-released-after-serving-half-his-term

and that is just one of several big-news sexual assaults that have put Stanford in the spotlight, in a manner which Deans and Presidents don't much like, over the past six-seven years. Never mind the fact that the woman involved has been traumatized for a couple of decades, and the young men have had their promising lives totally screwed up as well.

I can't tell you the shockwaves the Brock Turner case sent through the University hierarchy, and rightly so. However, much of the uppermost echelon of Stanford academic management is REALLY concerned with Stanfords "Reputation".  They've had to deal with some really damaging incidents.  The Hospital is even more concerned with Stanford immaculate reputation, phrasing it as "patients trust relations". Cynical me is relatively sure that senior academic management here is MUCH more concerned with The Stanford Reputation, and the endowment and the grant-getting track record than any personal agony suffered by a young woman or a young man, but maybe I'm just being an ass about that.

All that has to happen at an inter-college athletic party is for some dumbass to do something 'effing stupid and POW, there's another public relations nightmare on the Presidents hands. I'm sure that the coaches have heard, loud 'n clear from the AD that official "parties" will be  tightly regulated and supervised.

They can't do much about the unofficial ones, of course.

 

[Alan H]

There's something you have to understand about Stanford.... there's a "drive" to "leave a legacy" and in most cases that means building more buildings. Perfectly good academic, teaching, Library and research buildings are levelled around here on a regular basis so that the Dean and some donor can have their name on a new building. The push is more...more...more...more...  the expansion and infill is insane and now sprawls far beyond the main campus.  I work here, though I'm at home most of the time now, and when I go to the gym, I go to Stanford Redwood City.  That single facility, mostly healthcare, is bigger than some entire Universities.      In the over 20 years that I've worked here, I cannot remember a time when traffic wasn't screwed up somewhere on campus with construction. IT...NEVER....ENDS.  Private companies with extremely tight ties to Stanford are started on a weekly basis.  As of 2018, Stanford was the second largest employer on the San Francisco Peninsula.

There is nothing quite like it. Harvard builds new facilities but they don't build multiple new buildings ALL...THE...TIME...

The Endowment is 27 BILLION dollars.

And the obviously overwhelming drive is to GROW..  go get MORE.  The public relations management issues are huge. In light of that enormous priority....the Dean MUST have his name on a new building or he's a failure.... some Stanford Sailing Team parties kind of don't matter very much. The potential damage done to Stanford by someone that Stanford couldn't discipline because they attend another University, is HUGE.  And the "management" is terrified of it.

I mean, my God. They might have to stop building for a couple of years.

 

[jimx]

About the parties - well things are different in college sailing now.  It ain’t the 80s anymore. Varsity team athletes, for many teams, are required to act like varsity athletes and one red cup picture during a regatta weekend could get you kicked off the team.

It ain’t the 80s. Schools are taking their programs seriously and that’s a good thing.

 

[SF Woody Sailor]

one red cup picture during a regatta weekend could get you kicked off the team.

It ain’t the 80s. Schools are taking their programs seriously and that’s a good thing.

This seems like the opposite of a good thing.

Take the sailing seriously? Dead fucking right.

Learn to socialize with other teams in a quasi-adult way?  I would hope so. Why do we have college sports? These kids aren't going to the NBA.

I learned a lot about sailing on the Stanford sailing team. 100 starts a week throughout college will do that. I also learned a lot about things OTHER than sailing from being on a college sports team. It would completely defeat the purpose if they remove the social aspect entirely.

 

[shrimp]

The world could learn allot from Stanford. Including it's mistakes. Stanford isn't perfect, no one is.

( sailing is not NCAA) , but looking at NCAA, PAC 12 and football, Stanford has said years ago that if collage sports go "professional" they'll most likely bow out, they'll find a alternative. Big money, and the athletic department does not run the university.

For those who don't know, whether its USC or Standard,  these are private schools, as private schools, they set their own goals and standards.  Even though they're 2 of  the PAC12, they are flagship, and the PAC 12 falls apart without them.  Stanford, carries some the biggest clout in the NCAA overall.

At the end of the day, i guess my point is,  Stanford man/women's up, runs their house, defines who they are, then they get on with it.   Which really is a skill, that is in shortage these days.

 

[jimx]

This seems like the opposite of a good thing.

Take the sailing seriously? Dead fucking right.

Learn to socialize with other teams in a quasi-adult way?  I would hope so. Why do we have college sports? These kids aren't going to the NBA.

I learned a lot about sailing on the Stanford sailing team. 100 starts a week throughout college will do that. I also learned a lot about things OTHER than sailing from being on a college sports team. It would completely defeat the purpose if they remove the social aspect entirely.

In a general, college is about learning and growing up and weren't the 80's great, kinda way I agree with you.  But it isn't the 80s anymore. If sailing wants to be a sport, it needs to be a sport. And sports in 2020 is not about socializing and drinking and parties. Sports is about professional performance.

So we probably agree that maybe that sucks and the America of 1980 was way better than the America of today. But we live in the America of today. And if we want sailing to be a sport we need to get with the program and put down the red cups.

 

[Snaggletooth]

https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/the-stanford-sailing-coachs-defense?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_Control_102221&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_recirc&bxid=6041d29f7104885d6b2dc057&cndid=64010974&hasha=0ddd32604c5a14b4c0a8753f49c5908a&hashb=e7f67e13b7641e74de0f76f4719cebcba8fe16b1&hashc=f5d89e614ae74820bc4e4752dc77283e9baf3c8d59591b0fb1487fb73845e94d&esrc=register-page&mbid=CRMNYR012019

Arcticle frome New Yorker, I hope I copide the licke ok.                               

 

[Chris in Santa Cruz CA]

I will give 1000 USD to the first person who gets their dog a full ride as a sailor.

 

[Somebody Else]

I will give 1000 USD to the first person who gets their dog a full ride as a sailor.

Dakota is a National Champion!

Mailing address available upon request.

 

[AnotherSailor]

Who cares about varsity sailing. Even the name "varsity sailing" is stupid! 

Actually university athletics are ridiculous. With a small percentage of the money universities could support non-professional sports teams that anyone could join. Give all students the opportunity to play soccer, basketball, frisbee, or sail (competitively or not). Have fun!

 

[jonminkun36]

Football eats all the mens scholarship at any major football school and at schools w/o football, Mens Basketball does roughly the same thing. In general, Mens Football and Mens Basketball are really the only sports with substantial alumni support. Certainly exception to this but in most places, this is the draw. These are the sports that bring the presiege which draws donor money. Woman have roughly double the number of scholarships in most of the non-commerical sport (e.g. track, cross country, soccer, tennis, etc.) to offset the number of scholarships that these two mens sports chew up.

It's great, of course, but I don't think there will be many applicants for it. I used to go to basketball games and I will go. I even found free samples, used https://studydriver.com/ to do nothing myself and go and watch the match. But for sailing, I definitely won’t do this. It doesn't appeal to me at all, to be honest.

It is, I think so too. These are the 2 most popular sports.

 

[[email protected]]

Who cares about varsity sailing. Even the name "varsity sailing" is stupid!

Actually university athletics are ridiculous. With a small percentage of the money universities could support non-professional sports teams that anyone could join. Give all students the opportunity to play soccer, basketball, frisbee, or sail (competitively or not). Have fun!

aside from the people participating, nobody cares about any college sport, club, intramural, etc except for basketball, football, and baseball.

all students are welcome to go out on the quad and kick a ball around, nobody is stopping them. And intercollegiate sailing IS fun! Finally, most schools w/ teams also have a rec program where all students are allowed to enroll in sailing classes.

 

[Lex Teredo]

Man. Feels like a lot of people around here got beat up by football players at some point in their high school careers.

 

[[email protected]]

There's something you have to understand about Stanford.... there's a "drive" to "leave a legacy" and in most cases that means building more buildings. Perfectly good academic, teaching, Library and research buildings are levelled around here on a regular basis so that the Dean and some donor can have their name on a new building. The push is more...more...more...more... the expansion and infill is insane and now sprawls far beyond the main campus. I work here, though I'm at home most of the time now, and when I go to the gym, I go to Stanford Redwood City. That single facility, mostly healthcare, is bigger than some entire Universities. In the over 20 years that I've worked here, I cannot remember a time when traffic wasn't screwed up somewhere on campus with construction. IT...NEVER....ENDS. Private companies with extremely tight ties to Stanford are started on a weekly basis. As of 2018, Stanford was the second largest employer on the San Francisco Peninsula.

There is nothing quite like it. Harvard builds new facilities but they don't build multiple new buildings ALL...THE...TIME...

The Endowment is 27 BILLION dollars.

And the obviously overwhelming drive is to GROW.. go get MORE. The public relations management issues are huge. In light of that enormous priority....the Dean MUST have his name on a new building or he's a failure.... some Stanford Sailing Team parties kind of don't matter very much. The potential damage done to Stanford by someone that Stanford couldn't discipline because they attend another University, is HUGE. And the "management" is terrified of it.

I mean, my God. They might have to stop building for a couple of years.

Do still work at Stanford, Alan? Seems like you hate it. While I do have friends that are Stanford alumni and are chill, the level of douche-baggery down in PA these days seems like its at a high...

 

[bgytr]

There's something you have to understand about Stanford.... there's a "drive" to "leave a legacy" and in most cases that means building more buildings. Perfectly good academic, teaching, Library and research buildings are levelled around here on a regular basis so that the Dean and some donor can have their name on a new building. The push is more...more...more...more... the expansion and infill is insane and now sprawls far beyond the main campus. I work here, though I'm at home most of the time now, and when I go to the gym, I go to Stanford Redwood City. That single facility, mostly healthcare, is bigger than some entire Universities. In the over 20 years that I've worked here, I cannot remember a time when traffic wasn't screwed up somewhere on campus with construction. IT...NEVER....ENDS. Private companies with extremely tight ties to Stanford are started on a weekly basis. As of 2018, Stanford was the second largest employer on the San Francisco Peninsula.

There is nothing quite like it. Harvard builds new facilities but they don't build multiple new buildings ALL...THE...TIME...

The Endowment is 27 BILLION dollars.

And the obviously overwhelming drive is to GROW.. go get MORE. The public relations management issues are huge. In light of that enormous priority....the Dean MUST have his name on a new building or he's a failure.... some Stanford Sailing Team parties kind of don't matter very much. The potential damage done to Stanford by someone that Stanford couldn't discipline because they attend another University, is HUGE. And the "management" is terrified of it.

I mean, my God. They might have to stop building for a couple of years.

This isn't just Stanford...
U of Md, same thing.. students are a minor afterthought, if not a major inconvenience to the faculty and management. The utter disdain sometimes directed at students by instructors/faculty and staff illustrates their purpose is not educational, but rather financial. Unending construction continues moving the student parking miles away from the class buildings by building in what had been student parking lots for buildings that have nothing to do with education.
Grow grow grow... aquire money, spend spend spend- and repeat. I very much encouraged my kids to not go to large colleges as my experience at them was terrible and I ended up transferring to a very small school. Ironically, my kids did apply to U Md as a safety school and got zero financial incentive to go there. They got big scholarships that covered most of their tuition at much better small private colleges, so they have done college debt free with the money I saved for them.

American youth is being sold a bill of goods that they have to have a college degree. So many of the majors are utterly useless as far as career or professional skill enhancement, and yield little to nothing as far as elevating the overall standard of society- but they do generate a lot of expenditures that make a small subset of people very rich.