The running community can respond to this disgraceful action and the indefensible way it was handled and announced in one of two ways:
1) We can fill up our message boards with endless discussion of how wrong, unfair, and illogical the decision is (all of which are true); lament how many times it's happened around the country; feel sorry for all the profoundly affected coaches, athletes, and recruits; and continue to worry about the health of our sport at the collegiate level. To date, this approach has done nothing to alleviate the problem. In short, we're just talking to each other.
2) Or, we can use this as a call to action. The poster NCProud had the right idea. He tried to discourage an athlete from going to UNCW because the school had already tried to kill the program once before. It was only a matter of time before they would finish the job.
Our sport's media (in particular LetsRun) has done a great job of using the internet to affect the mainstream media, and in some cases to effect change. Let's use our resources to spread the word in a constructive and forward looking way, instead of just crying in our beer about what's already happened. Let's use the single most powerful force the internet and social media have in their arsenal -- shame.
We should compile a black list or dishonor roll of all the schools that have dropped cross country and/or track and field. Display it prominently on as many running related websites as possible. Compile a similar list of any schools that have even talked about killing their programs, or where it has even been rumored the program might be in jeopardy. Put the athletic departments in the position of having to confirm or deny on the record.
Our first goal should be to bring as much exposure and pressure on athletic and school administrations as possible. Let them know that if they take this step the consequences to their image and reputation will go beyond just the limited number of immediately affected athletes and coaches.
But our second goal must be to serve our community by warning all high school runners and track and field athletes who the villains are, and who the next suspected villains might be. We need to teach them the importance of, and how to do, proper research not just on a school's running program, but also on it's athletic department.
Let's stop feeling sorry for ourselves and our sport.
Let's take some serious action.