UM-St. Louis athletics largely overlooked

With all the recent improvements to the university there is one glaring hole: the funding of the UM-St. Louis Department of Athletics.

What many fail to realize is that campus athletics bring national exposure to a campus. Sad to say, but many outstanding athletic achievements go unnoticed. Athletics draw exposure to a university that they otherwise would not recieve.

The athetics department has flourished over recent years attracting many great coaches to go with an already good roster of coaches. Allocations have risen slowly. However, many of the programs need much more revenue than they are given. Something needs to be done.

The Mark Twain Building is in good physical shape, but other areas need to be addressed. The Rivermen baseball field has not been improved due to the realignment of Interstate 70. With these plans nearing finalization, the new field/stadium needs to be built. The program is thriving, but with the current makeshift area the team currently occupies doesn't always present a nice atmosphere.

In the future, the administration will need to think about becoming a Division I University. Many programs move to Division I and fail. The chances for success are greater when a university is in a major metropolitan area. The increased cost for the sports would be paid for with the increased student enrollment that would likely come from the exposure.

UM-St. Louis needs to realize it has a valuable commodity in its athletic department and should make a greater commitment to it.