Golden Nuggets: Jack Clark Fights to Restore Cal Rugby to Varsity Status

BearInsider has a great article on Jack Clark and the current state of Cal rugby.  Clark's view of how to manage the profit-generating, financially healthy sport differ notably from those of the administration.  Clark and his supporters (among the most passionate can be found at SaveCalVarsityRugby.com) will continue to fight the demotion.  Whether the decision was spurred by financial issues or Title IX, Clark and his supporters find little reasoning for removing rugby from varsity status.

Says Clark, all the money raised in excess of the program's budget goes back to the athletic department. And, according to Clark, rugby's generosity goes beyond that.

"The other thing that has to go into the equation is all the other money that rugby people give. We are a loyal bunch of people here. I think when you go through the Bear Backer rolls you will find that rugby people split their gifts a lot. They give to other things as well.

"I'll tell you what else they do is they give to the library, and they give class gifts, and they give campus gifts. So when you sit down and look at rugby's contribution here, it is in the multi-million dollars annually. Not only are we paying 100% of rugby's costs and contributing back money, we are a revenue source for this entire university. For them to aggressively say in front of those cameras the other day, that rugby has the chance to go over here and be self supportive, it was unethical, it was wrong, to not take a holistic look at the revenue we are bring to this university."

If Title IX is playing a role in this decision, Clark has a solution to that issue.

Clark has his own solution to that problem. The creation of a women's rugby team that would be funded by the men would be a positive way to grow opportunities for women rather than cutting opportunities for men. He talks about the proposed team with his usual enthusiasm.

"Get the vision of this team. I'm talking about some serious women athletes. You go up and down this state here, and we have the best women's scholastic sports in California. We don't need to go overseas; we don't need to go to any other states. We are a California institution; we go to California high schools.

"You are going to find athletic girls that are spiking volleyballs down some other girl's throat, but that might not be good enough to get a volleyball scholarship to Cal. We are going to bring that woman here as a non-scholarship varsity athlete and we are going to build a Cal women's rugby team, and we are going to have Olympians on that team, because rugby is back in the Olympics. We are going to bring honor to our campus, and credit to our campus because we are going to have a national championship women's team. The men are going to fund it, and this team will offset all of our (gender) numbers."  

After the jump football uses the bye week to prepare for UCLA, the LA Times addresses whether Tedford should continue to coach at Cal, women's volleyball continues its impressive winning streak (14 games now), and baseball begins preparing for its final season.

Football

• Tedford is still deciding whether Kaelin Clay and Tevin Carter will redshirt.  He remains hopeful that JC transfer Coleman Edmond, whom he compares to Verran Tucker, will see more playing time as the season progresses.
• Andrea Adelson predicts a Cal-North Carolina Sun Bowl.  Mark Schlabach does not predict a Cal bowl...forgetfulness or something more sinister?
• Shane Vereen is Mel Kiper's #5 non-senior running back and Anthony Miller is the #2 non-senior tight end.
• Chris Conte, Jeff Tedford, and Clancy Pendergast talk about promoting Conte to the role of starting strong safety.
• A disgruntled LA Times reader asked Chris Dufresne if Cal should fire Tedford.  In addition to responding with a resounding "NO" Dufresne opened the possibility of the university firing certain fans.