If Funds Raised, UCI Will Reinstate Track, Cross-Country : Finances: $70,000 needed by Aug. 3 for programs to survive on non-scholarship basis in ‘92-93. Coach believes top athletes still will transfer.

Bowing to pressure from distressed athletes and their parents, UC Irvine announced Tuesday that it will bring back men’s track and cross-country if supporters raise $70,000 by Aug. 3.

If the deadline is met, the university will reinstate the programs on a non-scholarship basis for the 1992-93 academic year. Another $70,000 would have to be raised by Dec. 18 for the programs to be continued through 1994.

“We’re happy right now,” said Robert Hild of Yorba Linda, whose son Brian is a junior on the teams. “We’ve appealed to them emotionally and they’ve come back to us with a counteroffer, which means they do have a concern about the programs. . . . We are going to do everything within our means to raise the money. (The goal) is extremely reachable.”

Tuesday’s announcement is a reversal of the university’s stance on May 26, when it announced that three men’s sports, including baseball, would be dropped because of budget problems and concerns about gender equity in the athletic department.

Baseball, which had survived elimination by raising money the year before only to have the sparsely funded program dropped this year, did not fight the decision. But supporters of track and cross-country mounted a letter-writing campaign and staged a small campus protest. Last Wednesday, in a gymnasium meeting with Horace Mitchell, vice chancellor for student affairs, the group apparently persuaded Mitchell to do an about-face.

“We were really not ready to entertain bringing these sports back,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t see any way we could come up with the money. But in that meeting we had people coming forward saying, ‘We’re confident we can raise it if you give us a chance.’ From my standpoint, we don’t lose anything by giving people a chance to save something they consider important and we consider important.”

Though the elimination of the programs was partly done to improve the number of athletic opportunities for women in comparison to men at Irvine, Mitchell said he found the support of women track athletes for the men’s programs persuasive.

The possibility that the programs might survive was greeted with varying degrees of satisfaction in the offices of the track programs. But it throws more confusion into the decisions some athletes face about transferring to other schools.

“You have to ask yourself, if you’re a kid on a scholarship, if you’re willing to give up the money to come here for the love of sports,” said Danny Williams, who was told his contract as women’s track coach would not be renewed.

Mitchell said Tuesday that the coaching positions that had been targeted for elimination will be continued while supporters try to meet the Aug. 3 deadline. Kevin McCarthy, a part-time assistant coach, already has taken a head coaching job at Cal State Los Angeles.

Vince O’Boyle, director of track and cross-country, said he believes most of Irvine’s top athletes still will transfer.

“The good ones are going to go, there’s no way we can stop them now,” O’Boyle said.

Dustin James, a sophomore sprinter who qualified for the NCAA championships this season, is perhaps the program’s premier athlete.

“Dustin, for example, has found out that he’s worth a scholarship,” O’Boyle said. “He’s going to get a full ride someplace in the country. He was happy, getting a good education and competing here. But we’d be foolish to keep him here when he can get a good solid education and a full ride somewhere else. We can’t replace a Dustin James.”

O’Boyle said the announcement will not affect his pending decision on an offer to become men’s and women’s cross-country coach at the Air Force Academy. He will make the decision “based on family, first,” he said.

O’Boyle, whose job at Irvine was not eliminated, is prepared to help in the fund raising, but is concerned about the program’s ability to compete.

“It will be a skeleton-type program with no scholarships,” he said. “Competitive? It depends. Compared to UCLA and USC, no. In our conference, before they did this we had to be considered a favorite to win the conference. Now, even with this fund raising, I don’t see us winning the conference. We’d be breathing, we’d be alive. The kids would be able at least to participate in track and field.”