PantherNOW Editorial Board
Discolored water. Broken, run-down facilities and equipment.
These are some things the PantherNOW staff found during our investigation into the issues the track and field and cross country teams at FIU face.
Over several months, we looked into the state of locker rooms, equipment, and the commute to Tropical Park that athletes take because they don’t have a track of their own.
The track team lives in an alternate world where they jump fences instead of hurdles and sand pits.
Those are only a few of the issues our investigation found. However, we only have one thing to say to the university: This is unacceptable.
None of us on staff take the responsibility lightly to handle funds and meet the needs of the dozens of sports that FIU Athletics is responsible for. We know that track and field and cross country teams aren’t the only ones here.
Further, we were encouraged by athletic director Scott Carr’s response to our article and appreciated the dedication he demonstrated and the plans he discussed in sitting down with our reporters.
It’s discouraging, however, to see some of FIU’s best-performing athletes treated like the worst. The university has a long way to go before it can confidently say it offers quality facilities and treatment for athletes all around.
D50 treatment for D1 athletes.
Some of these things should have never happened to begin with and should have been addressed years ago. It’s one thing not to have a track and make students commute – it’s another thing when many of them are international and can’t even rely on transportation from the university.
Injured runners couldn’t use the ice baths because the water was green. Fortunately, new tubs are on the way, but this should have been addressed before Carr accepted his current position.
FIU should have done the bare minimum of caring for athletes long ago and needs to provide the athletics department full support in making improvements.
We hope that Carr and his department have that support and that they maintain the dedication they said they had in speaking to us. Athletes at FIU work incredibly hard to be top performers and they deserve administrators who work just as hard to back them up.
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