ORONO – One by one, they filed to the podium on Wednesday night. One by one, they told the University of Maine’s Athletic Advisory Board why it shouldn’t recommend the elimination of the school’s men’s soccer and men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs.

And after two hours of numbers, cost estimates and impassioned pleas, two comments helped put the hearing in perspective.

Board Chairman Kathryn Slott “mentioned a couple of names, previously, who are not in attendance tonight,” said Greg Jamison, who is the chairman of the board of the UMaine Alumni Association, as well as a member of the UMaine Athletic Budget Committee, whose cost-cutting recommendation was the catalyst for the meeting.

“I think that they should have been here to hear the passion and enthusiasm you have for University of Maine athletics,” Jamison said. “And I hope that you will take an opportunity to let them know what you think personally and directly, because I’m certain because they weren’t here, they won’t be as aware of it as they might otherwise have been.”

The “they” in question included UMaine President Peter Hoff and Vice President for Student Affairs Richard D. Chapman, who were not in attendance in the crowded lecture hall. About 350 people attended the hearing, including former Black Bear athletes from New York and Alaska who made special trips just to be heard.

Hoff will make the final decision, which is forwarded to the board of trustees.

“The Athletic Advisory Board is advisory to the president,” Slott said. “So let’s put it this way. No matter what we decide, what we vote, it’s advisory to President Hoff, and it’s up to him to accept or reject our recommendation.”

The Athletic Advisory Board will meet again today, with representatives of each affected program being given the chance to speak again. Slott said the board may or may not vote on the matter, as a technical question regarding changing bylaws has not been addressed, and some members of the board who will become full, voting members have not yet been granted that privilege.

For more than two hours, more than 30 people took turns stating the cases for leaving the two programs intact.

For head men’s and women’s swim coach Jeff Wren, the situation is familiar: His program avoided the budget ax back in the early 1990s. It was retained after a public fund-raising campaign built up an endowment fund for the program. Authors Stephen and Tabitha King were instrumental in that effort.

“Elimination of a program is a permanent solution to what should be a temporary problem,” Wren told the crowd, promising to provide both an intellectual and emotional rationale for saving the sport he has coached for 31 years at UMaine.

“Some of what we’ll present are facts and figures,” he said. “Some will be warm and fuzzy moments.”

Among the facts and figures:

Duffy Akerley, who is president of the UMaine swimming and diving endowment, presented figures that stressed the money that will not be saved if swimming is cut.

Akerley said that while the Budget Advisory Committee’s report would result in a savings of $304,466, it doesn’t accurately reflect where the money comes from, and what would be lost.

Akerley cited the $18,405 annual contribution from the endowment; $24,000 per year earned and contributed by student-athletes who teach swim lessons; and payments made by team members toward their annual winter training trip.

Also, he said the NCAA sports sponsorship distribution gives $13,817 per sport to the university, and the NCAA grants-in-aid distribution accounts for $1,028 per grant.

Also, Akerley points out, Wren’s position as director of aquatics would seemingly remain, since the pool would remain on campus.

Akerley’s synopsis: The elimination of swimming and diving would result in a net loss of $1,542 for the first year, and would save only $66,458 the second year.

A key component that was not quantified: the loss of tuition dollars from student-athletes who do not attend UMaine because it doesn’t offer swimming.

Men’s soccer coach Travers Evans presented similar figures, but did quantify the lost tuition costs in his estimates.

According to Evans, who focused his presentation on the program’s participation and public service, diversity, academic excellence and history, the elimination of men’s soccer would result in a loss of $336,325 per year. Included in that number is $421,000 in lost tuition, $36,325 in the loss of fund raising and clinics the program provides, and $16,000 in NCAA payments based on distribution for sports sponsorship and grants-in-aid.

Former UMaine soccer captain and current Brewer Middle School Principal Bill Leitheiser told the board that eliminating programs with a history of academic success was a bad idea.

“I have a huge concern that Maine’s number one export is smart kids,” Leitheiser said.

UMaine field hockey coach Terry Kix was one of many coaches who rallied to show their support. Kix said every coach who was in town was at the hearing.

“If you cut one of our programs, you cut us all,” Kix said. “We are not going to go down without fighting, and we will not quit. This is just the beginning of our representation.”

Former UMaine soccer star Jeff Spring, who is one of just 14 student-athletes who have had their numbers retired at the school, traveled to Orono from New York City.

“I’m sure you can hear the lump in my throat when I try to defend something I can’t imagine my life without,” Spring said.

The loudest applause of the night occurred when Mark Young of Milford, Mass., stood up to defend the men’s soccer program.

Young, whose son Matthew plays for the Black Bears, said UMaine was the only team that recruited his son which made education a priority during meetings with him.

Young said athletes make commitments to institutions, then carry out that commitment on the field and in the classroom. Then he challenged the board.

“Matt’s lived up to his end, and will continue to live up to his commitment,” Young said. “I need the University of Maine to live up to theirs.”

Dave Halligan, the successful high school soccer coach at Falmouth High, attended a teachers meeting at 7 a.m., taught all day, coached a softball game in the afternoon, then headed to Orono.

“I’m not a softball coach,” he said. “But we didn’t have one, so I said I’d do it. In Falmouth, when things get tough, we don’t abandon our kids.”

Wednesday’s hearing followed the release of a number of possible cost-saving measures compiled by UMaine’s Athletic Budget Committee. Among the measures considered were several scenarios in which one or more sports at the university would be eliminated.

In order for a sport to be eliminated, it must first be subjected to a public forum, and then be approved by the university’s board of trustees.

Back in April 2001, Hoff asked the Athletic Budget Committee to generate savings and revenue of at least $487,000 over the next two years and beyond.

When Suzanne Tyler announced her resignation as athletic director on Friday, she indicated that recent private donations have helped reduce the amount of cuts from $487,432 to about $150,000.

The Athletic Budget Committee’s recommendations resulted in a budget recommendation being placed before the UMaine Athletic Advisory Board calling for the elimination of men’s soccer and men’s and women’s swimming and diving.

The Athletic Advisory Board is responsible for making a recommendation on the matter to Hoff.

The Athletic Budget Committee considered the advantages and disadvantages of several options.

Among those: cutting both men’s and women’s swimming, men’s soccer, and reducing the size of the football roster; and cutting both swimming programs and men’s soccer.

Elimination of some track and field offerings were considered as well, but not recommended. Since the sport essentially counts six times – as cross country, indoor track and spring track for both men and women – the elimination of the entire program would drop UMaine from 19 varsity sports to 13. The NCAA minimum is 14.

The elimination of both swimming programs and men’s soccer was cited as the top money-saver in the report, with a savings of $437,062: $132,616 for men’s soccer and $304,446 for swimming.