On Tuesday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the state's $85 billion budget into law. To eliminate the state's $26 billion deficit, the budget included $2.8 billion in cuts to higher education. Among the potential casualties, the University of California-Irvine swimming program.The university is expected to announce the cuts later this afternoon, but public support could help turn the tide for the Anteaters. The university has reportedly given the program a target of $2.2 million to save the teams. In the interim, alumni and the Irvine swimming community have been working to secure the $150,000 needed to sustain the programs through the year and buy themselves time.
If successful, UC-Irvine would be the latest in a growing number of programs working to sustain themselves, most notably Arizona State University. There’s reason for hope.
In both talent and resources, the Orange County swimming community is one of the richest in the country. The area reads like a who’s who of great swimming clubs including Irvine Novaquatics, NGSV Gators, Mission Viejo and the university’s resident Aquazot Swim Club. This spring the region produced more Division I signees than any other area of the country.
A lot of those signees wound up at UCI where head coach Brian Pajer, built the Anteaters into much more than your typical Mid-Major university. Under his direction, UCI has had consistent representation at the NCAA Championships. Moreover, they’ve largely spurned the foreign market, and been successful with local talent. All but seven of the athletes listed on the Anteaters’ roster hail from the land and sun and surf and several have developed into mainstays on the national scene including Eddie Erazo, Lyndsay DePaul and Randall Tom.
Should they not prove successful, the loss would be especially painful for swimming. The cut would leave the Big West Conference with just five teams, potentially jeopardizing the entire conference. It would also spell the end of the one of the nation’s biggest meets – the UC Irvine/Nike Cup. Most notably, it would end swimming at the only Division I university in Orange County.