The state of TU Athletics is better than portrayed
From: Zoë Winslow, Towson University student
Jordan Cope’s opinion piece, “Calling on TU athletic programs” in the March 13 edition of The Towerlight offers several mischaracterizations and includes a number of omissions to create a false impression of the current state of Towson athletics.
Mr. Cope, who was The Towerlight’s sports editor for a year and a half before becoming senior editor, begins his article by mentioning his “huge sense of pride” for University of Maryland, Baltimore County basketball” and questions himself for not feeling the same way about his own school, stating that: “there is nothing to cheer about here at Towson in regard to sports.”
He does mention the 2011 CAA championship and 2013 FCS championship game in football, as well as last year’s CAA Championship in track and field as great accomplishments; however, he completely disregards our men’s and women’s lacrosse teams even though it was Mr. Cope who was assigned to cover men’s lacrosse last year. [Editor’s note: Staff Writer Desmond Boyle was the men’s lacrosse beat writer last year. Cope picked up games after The Towerlight had concluded its print coverage for that semester.]
His column fails to mention that Towson is the reigning CAA men’s lacrosse champion for the past three years, as well as the Tigers appearance in last year’s NCAA Division I semi-final. Correct me if I am wrong, but a conference championship and a final four appearance in any sport are great accomplishments.
What’s more, Towson’s women’s lacrosse team also advanced to last year’s CAA semifinals and won the CAA title in 2016 for the 7th time, an accomplishment that seems to be lost on the senior editor.
Mr. Cope ends his article by tipping his hat to UMBC Athletics and erroneously stating that its soccer and lacrosse teams are always winning, too. UMBC men’s soccer is 12-15-8 over the last two years and UMBC men’s lacrosse has not had a winning season since 2014. They are currently 2-6. Mr. Cope, Towson beat UMBC 8-6 on March 3. [Editors note: Cope’s column did not specify men’s or women’s lacrosse or soccer. UMBC women’s lacrosse went 20-14 the past two seasons.]
In most people’s eyes, participating does not qualify as “always winning.” Apart from Towson’s team accomplishments, he also failed to mention the many individual accomplishments within Towson Athletics. Many of our student athletes have broken school records over the past couple of years.
Although Mr. Cope is entitled to his own opinion, if a sports writer is trying to make the point that there is nothing to celebrate, we should expect substantiated facts to support his claim.
Rather than pride in UMBC sports, we suspect what Mr. Cope really felt was a sense of excitement due to the dramatic fashion in which the Retrievers’ basketball team advanced.
