ISU Athletics Director Bruce Van de Velde confirmed the rumors Monday afternoon – ISU men’s swimming and baseball teams will be cut from the Athletic Department beginning with the 2001-2002 academic year.

In the wake of two Big 12 program cuts since the beginning of March, talk about the cuts has been circulating on campus for nearly a week. The University of Kansas announced the elimination of its men’s tennis and swimming teams March 4, and the University of Nebraska cut its men’s swimming and diving team March 26.

With multi-million dollar budget cuts pending in the Iowa Legislature, the budgets of nearly every university department are facing a crunch. Van de Velde said the Athletic Department is facing a $1.4 million shortfall for the next fiscal year.

Cutting the two teams, with a total of 68 student-athletes on their rosters, will save the department a projected $370,000 for the upcoming fiscal year and $3.4 million over five years, Van de Velde said. Although these cuts will not alleviate the full impact of the budget shortfall, he said, it is a first step – a step he was reluctant to take.

“The solutions we had were very limited,” said Van de Velde, who is in his first year as ISU Athletics Director. “It really is about students. . What we thought about was the other 18 sports and 400 student-athletes we still have in our program. A decision had to be made.”

Gender-equality issues and increasing head-coach salaries for profit-generating sports did not play a major role in determining what programs would have to be cut in order to dodge a budget crisis next year, he said.

“It’s not that easy of an answer – [gender equality] is part of a bigger, more complex issue that we face,” Van de Velde said. “We want equality, but we don’t want to get there by cutting sports. We want to get there by providing opportunities for women.”

Recent raises in the salaries of Larry Eustachy, head men’s basketball coach, and Dan McCarney, head football coach, are a separate issue from the budgets of the non-revenue, Olympic sports, he said.

There is a contracted 5.5 percent annual increase for some department employees, Van de Velde said, that cannot be negotiated.

“It’s a factor, but it’s not the only factor,” he said. “I think it has an impact, but it could impact the reverse, too . the market drives the salaries, and we are in a very competitive market.”

If the two major sources of revenue for the department – men’s basketball and football – are hindered, he said, it would adversely affect the non-revenue generating teams, which depend on that revenue for their survival. Of the $20.2 million budget, $1 million is allocated from student fees and $2 million is from the university. The other $17 million, Van de Velde said, is generated by revenue.

“We are set up to be independent,” he said. “If we want someone to mow our grass out there, we pay for it. If we want to switch on our lights, we pay for it. The parking lots – we pay for it.”

The swimmers and baseball players will remain on scholarship, he said, so the department will not eliminate all costs from those programs immediately.

In the mean time, Iowa State and the University of Iowa meet today on the baseball diamond for what could be the final time.

A list of potential and signed recruits hangs on the wall of Head Baseball Coach Lyle Smith, and Cyclone baseball paraphernalia covers his office. But all the spirit in the world could not put words into his mouth when he found out his team would not play again after this year.

“Shock. Disbelief. Sense of loss. . I’m running out of words,” he said. “Sometimes you can’t express them. It’s an emptiness.”

For now, Smith said, he is focusing on finding his players a new team and finishing out the season.

“Let’s face it – they came here to play baseball,” he said. “They enjoyed their visits, and they saw the opportunities they could get academically and athletically, and that’s what it’s all about. And now that opportunity is not going to be available.”

Infielder Spencer Allen, senior in history, said he was shocked when he found out the baseball team was in its final season.

“You hear a lot of rumors, but unless I hear it from a coach . you tend not to pay as much attention,” he said. “It was a shock when we got called in today and they let us know.”

For Tim Hansen, assistant men’s swimming and diving coach, the cut is a blow to his family.

“My brother played baseball here and I swam, so it hits our family pretty hard,” said Hansen, senior in liberal studies. “We’re looking into [the team’s] best interests. And if it means trying to find one of the best programs in the country that appreciates swimmers, we’ll do whatever it takes to find them a new family.”

Smith said he is thankful to the team and Iowa State for the memories.

“I read a quote that said, `There are last things and things that last,'” he said. “Looking at this whole chain of events, the memories, the efforts, the players we’ve had, the passion that they’ve all played with, the support we’ve gotten from people in the past . those things always last. The good wins, the tough losses, those things will always be with our kids. And those are the things you can’t replace, and they can’t take them away from you. That’s why it’s so hard to have something that you love and invest all your time and energy in trying to get good at . if you don’t get upset about it, you don’t have a pulse.”