Towson Coach Gets Contract Extension Despite No Postseason

Towson University just backed the truck up to Pat Skerry, who in two years has taken Towson to 1-31, then 18-13. But the team did not make the postseason, as their Academic Progress Rate was too low to make the postseason. Yes, Towson just extended a contract of a coach whose players' grades are too low for postseason play.
Towson, of course, shut down their storied baseball and soccer teams earlier this year claiming budget concerns. Skerry will also begin play in a new $62M arena.
Read more at College Basketball Talk.

Towson's Title IX Dump Comes Up Again

Following the axing of baseball and men's soccer at Towson University, the Governor and Comptroller for Maryland have halted construction related to a $25m adjunct campus (Baltimore Sun). Besides the rapid decision, they're not happy that the school president made her announcement flanked by campus police. That, and the issue of Title IX and budget concerns still are a controversy, as Towson is about to open a $62m basketball arena.
Again, the issue of Title IX being used as a scapegoat rears it's ugly head. After dropping baseball and men's soccer, Towson added men's tennis so that they could maintain the minimum number of sports required to stay in D-1. According to the New York Times, Vermont's baseball program cost $600k in 2009. According to a report by the National Women's Law Center, Rutgers cut men's tennis at a budget of $175k in 2006. $175k was also the amount the school spends on hotel rooms for it's football program - for six home games in a on-campus stadium. They also note that on average 80% of FBS budgets are spent on football and men's basketball. And the average losing football program averages $3m in losses, and men's basketball teams are almost $1m in the red.