Budget cuts are the norm at the University of Maine. We are a poor state, 36th in per capita income ($25,623 circa 2000), and industry isn’t exactly speeding up I-95 to the Pine Tree State.

Our governor has nixed any plans for casinos in Calais and Kittery because he wants to preserve our image, he says.

Our residents don’t need jobs, apparently.

We have an image to protect.

So the trickle-down effect, compounded by the rising health insurance costs, salary increases, and gender equity, leaves State U. having to raise tuition and looking for other ways to cut the budget.

Again.

And consider dropping sports.

Again.

President Peter Hoff would like a minimum of $487,000 sliced out of the athletic department budget over the next two years and beyond. That will be a combination of savings through budget-cutting measures and additional revenues raised.

Cutting sports is not the answer.

The ones most often mentioned are men’s soccer, the six track programs (indoor, outdoor, and cross country for men and women), and men’s and women’s swimming.

A report by the Athletic Budget Advisory Committee laid out some cost-cutting options in a report, but indicated that “sports eliminations, particularly in the case of nonscholarship sports, would likely result in the loss of tuition-paying students, thus the overall savings to the university may be somewhat attenuated.”

There are 119 high school boys soccer teams in the state of Maine.

Next fall’s Maine men’s soccer team could have as many as 10 Mainers on the roster.

Maine is 22-70-7 over the last six seasons because the program is handicapped, scholarship-wise. It has the equivalence of 2.5 scholarships and the NCAA allows 9.9.

But Travers Evans, the coach the past two years, accepts the challenge without complaint and will try to build as competitive a program as possible.

He has also been involved in the Maine Olympic Development Program and is overseeing the Black Bear United program that has four teams for boys and girls 16 and under.

He noted that the soccer talent in the state has improved dramatically in recent years and will continue to do so.

It is important to keep the program.

Swimming, track and field, and cross country have also been popular mainstays in the state of Maine’s athletic diet.

Those programs have been regionally competitive, but, more importantly, their rosters are laden with Mainers.

Seventy of the 96 track athletes on the men’s and women’s rosters are from Maine as are 27 of the 36 cross country runners and 28 of the 49 swimmers.

That is reason enough to continue the programs.

The irony of the whole situation is the Maine athletic programs are having a banner year.

The football team won its first playoff game; the men’s basketball team reached the America East final; the hockey team reached the NCAA championship game; the women’s hockey team earned its first playoff berth; the field hockey team reached the AE semis, and the baseball team is off to a good start and will host the America East Tourney.

There is no clear-cut answer to the school’s financial dilemma, but the athletic department desperately needs a charismatic fund-raiser who can reach Mainers. It also requires a more aggressive approach when it comes to marketing and promotions.

With the exception of men’s hockey, there is plenty of room for improvement at the turnstiles in the major sports.

UMaine should consider taking a minor league (baseball and hockey) approach to entice fans to come to games: contests, giveaways, an occasional rock band, etc. Make the games an event.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-860-3100, or lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.