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By Tim Fang,
/ CBS San Francisco
San Francisco State University announced Thursday that three athletic programs will be disbanded at the end of the school year, as the school’s athletics program faces a major deficit.
In a letter to the campus community, school president Lynn Mahoney said baseball, men’s soccer and women’s indoor track and field would be eliminated.
“I recognize this decision is particularly painful for the student-athletes it impacts, their families and their coaches – not to mention the countless alumni and supporters of these three teams,” the university president said.
Mahoney said the decision was made after the school’s Athletics Task Force recommended reducing the number of teams.
According to a report by the task force, the athletics department is $1.2 million in debt in its scholarships account. Along with the shortfall, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed a 7.95% reduction to the California State University budget, amounting to $375.2 million.
“Sadly, though, we must take this important step to give our athletics program an opportunity for long-term sustainability,” Mahoney went on to say.
In the middle of their season, with four home games scheduled this weekend, the baseball team found out Thursday their program will cease to exist at the end of this school year.
“Caught us all off guard. We kind of had an idea going in but we knew that there were some financial problems at the school but yeah it was tough, tough news for everybody,” said Derek Laferriere, who plays catcher.
He says the team found out their sport was getting axed through the statement sent by the university’s president.
“Tugged on the heart strings a lot because we wanted to fight for this program. We wanted to kind of see if we could keep it going, fundraise, do something to help the team,” said Laferriere.
Head baseball coach Tony Schifano has been in the job for 10 years and helped improve the team from a mediocre squad to one that went to the NCAA Division II Regionals last year.
“It was building the program from the ground level and here we are. Last year we were really close. We have a wonderful team this year, we received votes in the top 25 in the country this week,” he said.
Schifano said the end of this program is a huge blow but one he’s telling his players is something they’ll all get through together.
“There’s no doubt in my mind they’ll get through this. I tell them every day I said there’s bad things that are going to happen in your life and you’re going to have to find a way to overcome it and here’s one early in your life that’s thrown at you,” said Schifano.
The coach said he plans to work with every eligible player on his team to help them transfer to another program next year if they so choose.
For Derek that’s not an option. This is his senior year.
His goal now, to get his team as far into the postseason as possible, hopefully all the way to the College World Series.
“Knowing that this is the last year the Gators Baseball team is going to be around, so use it as fuel, try and make the best of the season and finish on top for the program,” said Laferriere.
Mahoney said 44 student-athletes would be impacted. Students who decide to stay at San Francisco State would continue to have their scholarships honored, while students who wish to continue playing would receive assistance to transfer to another institution.
The cuts to athletics at San Francisco State comes after officials at Sonoma State University announced the elimination of its entire intercollegiate athletics program as part of several cost-cutting measures to address a nearly $24 million budget deficit.
Tim Fang is a digital producer at CBS Bay Area. A Bay Area native, Tim has been a part of the CBS Bay Area newsroom for more than two decades and joined the digital staff in 2006.
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