As a former Terrapin athlete, I honestly think you all are giving to much credit to Maryland's administrative and financial acumen. I will reiterate what I have said during the first round of Maryland athletic department discussions on Letsrun. I simply do not trust that the university and its athletic department will be in any better position with this purported revenue windfall than they ever have been. I could just see a short term fix, followed by a return to the old mismanagement ways we have seen for decades.
I played soccer back in the 80s for Maryland, and was friends with guys like Mark Coogan from cross country and track, and Jon Perry, of decathlon and hunger strike fame.
Our athletic department's ineptitude dates back to our days. It all started with the the whole Len Bias tragedy and Lefty Driesell saga. Lefty was a legend, a guy who started the whole college basketball tradition of Midnight Madness. But the athletic department had let him do whatever he wanted, especially on the academic side, and the handling of Lenny's death was the final straw. Never mind the next chapter and choice of Bob Wade to replace Lefty, and Wade's recruiting violations.
Then shortly after came the resignation of Bobby Ross, who left because of failed promises for stadium renovations and a tightening of academic exemptions for football players, both of which went in favor of the next coach in line. Ross won ACC championships, bowl games, and recruited great QBs like Boomer Esiason. Guess what happened after Maryland ran him out of town? He promptly won a national championship with Georgia Tech. Oops! And maryland expanded it's football stadium as he was doing so.
These scenarios date back 30 years, and since then we have had unfunded, exorbitant expansion of athletic facilities, the still inexplicable buyout of the Fridge, who at least had some winning years, and was actually named ACC Coach of the Year as he was fired, and as his freshman quarterback Danny O'Brien was named the first Terrapin ever ACC Rookie of the Year. That makes sense, doesn't it?
Then we came to the most recent non-revenue sports cuts. With all the financial issues, and after buying out the Fridge's contract, instead of reigning in their idiocy on the basketball and football side of the house, they cut sports that had nothing to do with Maryland's underlying problems.
I agree with Rojo, the mission of a university is not the same as a corporation. When you cut sports, uproot the ACC tradition, and leave some of your most successful sports in a quandary (lacrosse, soccer), you are saying that only the allure of money matters, not the lives of your student athlete.
If this truly is the best decision the athletic department has ever made, as some imply, it would be a first. I hope they can get their act together and reinstate men's cross and remove the "temporary" status from men's track, but I'll believe it when I see it happen. After all, I have seen too many embarrassments to have unbridled faith in a permanent outcome.