Track Talk: Comments on UTC eliminating men's track and field
Dwight Thomas 2000-2001 "It was not the decision that makes the least amount of impact. I think the AD, over the last 24 hours, is finding that out. It has an impact on those of us spread across the world doing things that we couldn't have learned without wearing blue and gold." Ian Mayne 2001-2006 "You don't want your records to stand. You want people to make the program better and see your records broken. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen." Chris Berry 2007-2012 "It's a shame that future guys won't get to experience what I and many others did. There is no future for the program." Patrick O'Brien Class of 2015 "It's a sucker-punch. We've all been hurt. Growing up in this rich running community makes it harder. I feel bad for people who are going to miss out." Bill Gautier UTC coach "These guys live, eat and breathe running. We wake up and run together, go to class together, go home together. A lot of runners made Chattanooga very proud." David Blackburn UTC athletics director "You don't ever want to go through this. Ultimately, you'd like to grow revenues and add a female sport. You want to grow instead of diminish. But to keep in line with the federal law, it's something that had to happen." Chas Webb Former president of Chattanooga Track Club "I've talked with most of the officers, and the consensus is that this is pretty sad. The Chattanooga Track Club has supported UTC running for many years, and we give usually around $1,500 to the team. They're an important part of the community."
Paul StuartPaul Stuart followed in the track cleats of his older sisters who ran for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga track and field team.
Emmie Stuart started the family trend of competing for the Mocs. Kathryn Stuart followed and finished her career with coach Bill Gautier.
Paul, a junior long-distance runner at UTC, has a life-changing decision to make in the coming weeks that his sisters never faced.
Either he can hang up his spikes and continue toward a degree in accounting from UTC with his 3.9 GPA. Or he can lose some credits by transferring to another college and continue his collegiate running career.
"I think I can speak for all of us on the team when I say everything has been going 100 miles per hour," Stuart said. "Since Tuesday morning, everything has changed."
The UTC administration, specifically athletics director David Blackburn, announced on Tuesday that the men's indoor and outdoor track and field teams will be eliminated at the end of the school year.
Blackburn, with confirmation from chancellor Steve Angle and other administrators, made the decision in order to help UTC improve its enforcement of Title IX federal law.
"You don't ever want to go through this," Blackburn said. "Ultimately, you'd like to grow revenues and add a female sport. You want to grow instead of diminish. But to keep in line with the federal law, it's something that had to happen.
"We wanted to be as humane as possible while following the law."
The men's indoor and outdoor track and field program has been sentenced for execution at the end of the season. It's persecution by administration of the law.
"Making these kinds of decisions aren't what you want to do," Blackburn said. "You want to grow and prosper and be fruitful.
"But given the federal law, and where we are in our recovery process, we didn't have one other option than this."
Former runners -- UTC graduates who have grown into surgeons, salesmen, and civil engineers -- are hurt, disappointed, and a little angry.
Current student-athletes, like Stuart, have cried and are conflicted about their next move.
Future runners -- a recruit whose first-name is Wesley that Stuart hosted for a visit -- will never have an opportunity to join the legacy Gautier started 23 years ago.
"He could have been my teammate," Stuart said. "He could have been a great friend."
Gautier, who turned down an opportunity to become the head coach at Florida State earlier in his career, has been shaken by the decision.
He hasn't slept much since Sunday. He hasn't been able to put his phone down because text-messages and phone calls from friends and supporters of the team have been flooding him. Most of the messages have been from former athletes, but some have come from runners in the Chattanooga community.
"This has been a family," Gautier said. "We wake up and run together. The kids go to class together. Then run again together. Then they go home together.
"I'm pretty emotional about it."
Stuart is one of the 16 track and field athletes impacted by the termination of the program. His future is in doubt.
"Where do I go from here?" Stuart said. "What options do I have? What is the best one to act upon?
"You're disappointed, you're angry and you have to understand that we still have to finish out the season."
That's not easy.
After all, the school that all 16 male track and field athletes committed to, is abolishing the teams that they represent in events from Florida to California.
"It really is hard because you want to use your time in college to do something that you love -- running track and cross country," Stuart said. "But you know that your degree is going to matter more after college than running.
"It's a feeling of total loss."
He's not the only one feeling pain.
Senior Patrick O'Brien, who grew up in the Chattanooga area, attended Signal Mountain High School and first met Gautier when he ran in middle-school, is crushed, devastated and emotional about the subject of UTC losing teams that competed in the classroom with few peers and on the track with many peers.
He knew the 2015 season would be his last because he is a senior. He didn't know that it would be the last team in UTC history.
"It's a sucker-punch," he said. "Everything has changed. All my teammates, all my friends have new scenarios to decide. "We feel that we exceed everything a student-athlete should do.
"We feel that we embody the student-athlete quest for excellence."
Blackburn, who made the ultimate decision, has been flooded with e-mails, voice-mails and text-messages regarding his decision.
Chris Berry, who still holds the school record in the 10,000-meter outdoor race, said Blackburn responded to his message within 30 minutes on Tuesday.
Berry's message, he said, chastised Blackburn for his decision because it ends a long run of Gautier turning boys into men.
"I wanted to tell him how much that program mean to me and other people," said Berry, who is finishing a Ph.D. in marketing at the University of Arkansas. "My little bit of legacy that I left is coming to an end.
"But that's just a small piece of the puzzle."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.