Darton to transition three sports

ALBANY — In an effort to cut cost within the athletic department, Darton State College will be transitioning three of its sports programs from intercollegiate status to club sport status beginning in the 2015-2016 academic year.

The wrestling, cross-country and swim programs will be the three transitioning and Darton athletics director Mike Kiefer met with members of the press Wednesday to explain the changes as well as answered why the three sports were chosen.

“These sports are easy to transition and can be very feasible as a club model,” he said. “Factors such as the number of collegiate opportunities in our region for those sports, the extensive district and national championship travel in those sports, combined with that feasibility to transition into a club team made those sports a fit for this approach.”

He noted that all other sports have already buckled down in terms of spending and with the additional changes, an estimated $200,000 dollars will be saved. As it stands now, this should be the last of any drastic changes to the athletic department.

Kiefer explained that one of the primary differences in intercollegiate and club sports is the funding model. Athletic fees are the primary funding sources for intercollegiate sports and for club sports, there are alternative funding sources available. The model for coaching is also different and has not fully been identified and defined at this time but Kiefer said there will be some significant differences.

With the club sports status, the three programs will have flexibility in scheduling. Kiefer said there will be similarities in scheduling in terms of how many regular-season matchups the teams will participate in with postseason structure being the main difference. As far as students’ reactions, he said “They’ve taken it how you would expect them to take it.”

“They’re certainly disappointed,” he said. “They’ll persevere. They’ve already started asking questions about the club model and the transition, so I’ll be meeting with them in the coming weeks to further define that.”

He added that the college will still be available to those student athletes in terms of assistance in transferring to a four-year university.