MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia University is not the first school in the Big East to cut low-profile sports to save money. At least four other schools in the conference have dropped programs since 1996, a spokesman said Thursday.

St. John's cut men's track, cross country and football in 2002. Next year, it will start phasing out swimming and diving, Big East spokesman Rob Carolla said.

Toledo slashes men's sports

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Toledo will eliminate men's swimming and men's indoor and outdoor track and field this year because of budget shortfalls in the athletic department. Toledo will save $478,000 by dropping the three teams with 59 athletes, the school said Monday. The moves will put the athletic department in compliance with Title IX, the federal law that mandates equal opportunity for female athletes at schools that receive federal money. "This decision was necessary to stabilize our financial future,'' athletic director Michael O'Brien said. With the decision, Toledo will have 16 varsity sports, the minimum required by the NCAA for Division I schools. The National Women's Law Center last June released a study that said Toledo slighted its female athletes by $155,235 during 2000-01. According to the figures, women made up 45 percent of the varsity athletes at Toledo but received 40 percent of the scholarship money. --The Associated Press

Seton Hall dropped men's tennis in 2000. Providence cut baseball, golf and men's tennis the year before that. And in 1996, Syracuse cut gymnastics and wrestling.

Some athletic directors, including WVU's Ed Pastilong, expect the trend to continue, either with the elimination of teams or scholarships.

WVU men's tennis coach Ed Dickson, who will lose his job June 30, 2004, acknowledges financial distress is spreading.

"I read about it all the time at other schools," he said. "It's happening way too much."

To slash nearly $600,000 a year, Pastilong said Wednesday he will cut four men's sports -- indoor and outdoor track, cross country and tennis -- and WVU's coed rifle team, the only one in the Big East.

There is little chance of reinstating the sports even if WVU's financial picture were to improve, Pastilong said.

WVU is facing tuition increases of as much as 11 percent this fall, inflating the athletic department's scholarship bill by some $300,000.

Cutbacks are not just in the Big East.

On Tuesday, California's Fresno State said it will drop four sports to address a seven-year operating deficit. Men's soccer, indoor track and cross country teams got the ax, along with the women's swimming and diving team.

"There is a clear misconception ... that we're rolling in money," said Syracuse Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel.

Fans "look at a Saturday afternoon game at Mountaineer stadium and see a full house and think about the ticket price, with no understanding that there is an expense involved," he said.

"Certain schools -- because of who they are, where they are and the kind of support they get -- are able to pretty much fund what they want" without regard to other financial considerations a university might have, Crouthamel said.

"But schools that are able to operate in the black without doing anything dramatic are in the minority," he said.

Syracuse isn't planning to eliminate more teams, but it might eventually have to cut scholarships, Crouthamel said.

While WVU undergraduates will pay between $1,800 and $5,400 in tuition and fees this fall, Syracuse students pay about $29,000. That means scholarships cost Crouthamel's department six to 10 times more than they cost WVU's athletic department.

Virginia Tech also has suffered with budget cuts, but Athletic Director James Weaver said it has no plans to cut teams, either.

Thanks to a robust football program, athletics gave the administration nearly $3 million last year to help cope with budget reductions, Weaver said.

Providence Athletic Director Robert Driscoll said it all boils down to philosophy: Schools today must choose between competing at the highest levels in a few chosen sports and allowing students to participate in as many sports as possible.

Providence has 19 athletic teams in a tiered system that combines both approaches, Driscoll said. A handful of teams, including men's basketball, are fully funded and offer as many scholarships as the NCAA allows. Those teams are expected to compete for conference and national titles.

A second tier, which includes lacrosse and women's volleyball, is partially funded with some scholarships. The third tier has no scholarships but still allows students to participate.

"It's just a different strategy," he said.