Brown chooses pursuit of championships over opportunity in dropping 11 varsity programs

Bruno has fewer varsity sports teams to root for after the university decided to approve a net loss of nine varsity athletic programs in an effort to garner more wins and championships among the programs that remain. | Photo by Erica Denhoff

What is the purpose of collegiate athletics? Is it to win? Or is it to provide as much opportunity to compete as possible?

Brown endorsed the former interpretation with its announcement Thursday that it is dropping 11 varsity programs starting with the 2020-21 academic calendar.

Browns is eliminating varsity men’s and women’s fencing, men’s and women’s golf, women’s skiing, men’s and women’s squash, women’s equestrian as well as men’s track, field and cross country while bumping club coed and women’s sailing up to the varsity level.

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The beginning of the end for Cornell

In the midst of a six game losing streak, Cornell headed to Penn and Princeton for its final road trip of the season.  The Big Red were hoping to get back in the win column, surprise a top-tier team and escape the league basement.  Unfortunately, the team finished the weekend with two losses, an eight-game losing streak and sole possession of last place.

Most of the information about this past weekend was covered well by Mike Tony in his Friday roundupSaturday recap and Ivy Power Rankings.

Just to add a small amount to those items:

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Brown all-time moment No. 2: Winning at Princeton for the first time

We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Brown is next because losing records at Jadwin were meant to be broken. 

A lot of Brown supporters fell in love with the program all over again on Valentine”s Day 2003, a day that provided definitive proof that the Bears were back after years of struggling prior to coach Glen Miller taking over four years prior.

That day, Brown won at Princeton for the first time ever in 53 tries.

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Brown all-time moment No. 5: 2003 NIT appearance

We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Brown is next because people need to know whether there are Bears in Charlottesville or not.

In just its third postseason appearance ever, Brown represented itself quite well against Virginia in Charlottesville in a NIT first-round matchup, the Bears” first ever NIT appearance. Sure, Brown lost, 89-73, but there was so much more accomplished here beyond just a final score.

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Brown all-time moment No. 8: Glen Miller takes over Brown program

We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Brown is next because the bandleader plays on…

Glen Miller wouldn’t have had the opportunity to turn the Penn basketball program into a still unextinguished dumpster fire if he hadn’t done a solid job in Providence.

Before Miller became Brown head coach in 1999, the Bears had enjoyed just one winning season in 23 years (the 1986 Ivy title season) and 14 total wins in the previous three seasons. Under Miller, whose previous coaching stop was at Division III Connecticut College, Brown quadrupled that achievement, reeling off four straight winning seasons from 2000-01 through 2003-04, including the school’s only NIT appearance in 2003.

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Brown all-time moment No. 9: Earl Hunt pours 39 points on Harvard as freshman

We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Brown is next because we need a man like Earl Hunt to help us navigate these turbulent times for the global stock market.

Earl Hunt’s numbers speak for themselves. His 2,041 points make him Brown’s all-time scoring leader and No. 4 on the all-time Ivy League scoring list. He was named an All-Ivy selection all four years of his collegiate career, including three straight first-team selections from 2001 through 2003. The guard’s Bears finished second in the league in 2003, the school’s best finish in 17 seasons, not to mention three straight winning seasons for a program that had faltered for decades prior to his arrival. Hunt was inducted into the Brown Athletics Hall of Fame last November for his achievements.

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