Apr 23, 2003 2 min read

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia University’s only male national champion in track and field has resigned as president of the Varsity Club over the school’s decision to drop five sports, including all three men’s track teams. Mike Mosser, a four-time All American distance runner, called the elimination of the coed rifle, men’s tennis and men’s track teams a “surprise ambush” in his letter to Athletic Director Ed Pastilong.

Pastilong said the cuts, announced last week, were made to save an estimated $591,230 a year in the face of rising tuition. Men’s sports took the hits to ensure compliance with Title IX, the federal law banning gender discrimination in sports at publicly funded schools.

The Varsity Club allows former WVU student-athletes and coaches to stay connected with their sport and teammates.

“To me, this is a statement,” Mosser said Monday. “I’ve had three of my sports dropped. I represented all the athletes – non-revenue and major sports. I can’t in good faith represent the body of former athletes without my sports represented.

“The athletes’ trust in WVU and the institution’s commitment to the athletes were breached by a cowardly approach to an appalling university decision,” he said.

Mosser said the athletic department created budget pressures on other programs by granting football coach Rich Rodriguez a salary increase when he threatened to leave WVU for either Alabama or Kentucky.

In December, during the second year of a five-year contract, the university gave Rodriguez a seven-year extension and a $291,000 raise.

That brings his salary to a minimum of $700,000, with increases each subsequent year. He can earn even more through various incentives.

“The liquidation of 100 years of program history was accomplished at the greedy hands of a few,” Mosser said.

Athletic department officials declined comment on Mosser’s decision Tuesday.