Three Men’s Sports Eliminated by UC Irvine : Budget cuts: Baseball, cross-country and track and field are discontinued.

Strapped by a budget crisis in the University of California system and under increasing pressure to provide equal opportunity for women, the UC Irvine athletic department announced Tuesday it is eliminating three men’s sports.

Baseball, granted a reprieve last year when supporters rallied after it was targeted for discontinuation, was eliminated. That leaves the school with no tenant for Anteater Field, a 1,500-seat campus stadium. Irvine does not sponsor football.

Men’s cross-country and track and field also were eliminated, stunning coaches and team members who had little idea their programs were threatened. The women’s cross-country and track programs will continue. In addition, women’s crew will be upgraded from club to intercollegiate level.

The changes will have a dramatic effect on the ratio of men to women athletes at Irvine, making the numbers nearly equal. Athletic Director Tom Ford said the moves were dictated by the law and by recent history--most significantly, a sex-discrimination suit settled in favor of the Cal State Fullerton women’s volleyball team after it was scheduled to be discontinued this year.

Speaking at a news conference, Ford called the moves “severe and drastic.” He said the cuts were necessary because the athletic department, already projecting a $319,000 deficit for this year, expects at least a 10% reduction in university funding for the next academic year.

“These cuts were extremely painful to me and the university,” Ford said. “We did so with a great deal of reluctance.”

With the UC system expecting 15% to 30% reductions in state funding, all non-degree granting programs at Irvine have been told to prepare for cuts of at least 10%, and perhaps as much as 18%, said Horace Mitchell, vice chancellor for student affairs.

“In no way has the athletic program been singled out for cuts,” Mitchell said.

Tuesday’s moves trimmed $518,477, or 16.4%, from a $3.16-million budget. In addition to the elimination of three sports, the department also made across-the-board cuts affecting every sport except crew, men’s water polo, women’s basketball and women’s soccer.

Five will lose their jobs: Mike Gerakos, baseball coach; John Altobelli, assistant baseball coach; Danny Williams, women’s track coach; Kevin McCarthy, part-time assistant track coach, plus an administrative assistant.

Vince O’Boyle, cross-country and men’s track coach, will remain as director of track and field and cross-country for women.

The athletes affected include about 50 baseball players, 58 members of the men’s track team and 24 members of the men’s cross-country team.

Ford said that although achieving gender equity was not the reason for the cuts, the department structured them in order to move toward compliance.

At Irvine, there were 318 male athletes and 164 female athletes during the current academic year. Next year, there are projected to be 186 men and 185 women.

In an out-of-court settlement reached last week involving Cal State Fullerton, the volleyball team was reinstated and Fullerton agreed to add women’s soccer in 1993 and move toward gender equity over the next 10 years.

The settlement ended a legal battle that began Jan. 28 when Fullerton announced its intention to drop women’s volleyball and men’s gymnastics in a cost-cutting move. Critics said the cuts made an inequitable situation within the Titan athletic department even worse.

Ford said that Irvine is moving to avoid a similar situation.

“It heightens our awareness that we could be next,” he said. “Every other school out there ought to looking at it in the same way.”