Athletic training program cancelled

They never get on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays, nor do they ever get to record a single statistic. In fact, fans are never happy to see them step onto the field.

But athletic trainers are as much a part of sports as the players and coaches themselves.

Until two weeks ago, the Bulls got many of their trainers from a group of athletic training majors in the School of Public Health. But the new chair of that school, Joan Wilson, has cut the athletic training major, disappointing some students and leaving UB looking for other options.

The athletic department will most likely have to pay people to do the work that used to be done for free by UB students, said Bill Maher, the interim athletic director.

"It's likely we would (hire people)," he said. "Certainly there's an impact when we have to try and figure out how to do that, but we'll look at the most effective way in a cost standpoint to counteract that and continue to provide the best athletic training for our student-athletes."

According to Maher, the cancellation of the athletic training program at UB will not affect the quality of training that student-athletes get.

"It's not going to affect the health of the players because we're going to have to ensure that we get suitable replacements," he said. "We will not compromise the health of our student-athletes."

Maher said the department of athletics tried to keep the athletic training major afloat, but in the end, conceded that it was a decision to be made by the educational administrators.

UB's athletic training department received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs nine months ago.

This program was one of just two programs in the nation that offered a five-year BS/MS degree in athletic training.

Students in the program said they were disappointed that it was being cancelled.

Tim Kennedy, a student who is graduating this year with a BS/MS degree, said he believes that the experience of being able to work with UB's Division I athletes helped him greatly.

"I had great satisfaction in using what I learned every day when I was working with the UB Division I sports," he said. "I know that when I graduate that I have truly earned my BS/MS degree."

Paula Maxwell, a professor of exercise science, said the program was cancelled because the new chair of the school of public health was told to look into cutting programs that were not research-intensive. Since athletic training is focused more on hands-on and clinical work, the program faced a severe level of scrutiny, she said.

"We asked what we could do to get in line with the research program and those questions were never answered for us," said Maxwell. "It appears they kind of had an agenda to eliminate the program."

Neither the office of the provost nor the chair of the school of exercise science was available for comment.

After being told that the department was being phased out because of the department's decision to move more in the direction of research, the issues turned towards the financial status of the athletic training program.

"Our numbers have been low because we just got accredited, but numbers are up this year, because this is our first year of recruiting as an accredited program," said Maxwell. "And numbers are exactly where they need to be with these students and exactly where we predicted they would be."

Maxwell said she had to turn her attention to the students who would be affected by the program being phased out.

"I had to send out letters to incoming freshmen who possibly were coming to UB solely for this program that (said) 'sorry the program is no longer available' and to freshmen and sophomores who were finishing prerequisites," said Maxwell.

One of the students who was told he will miss out on the opportunity to work with Division I athletes at UB is Adam Ellis, who is in his freshman year as an exercise science major.

"I was greatly looking forward to working with the D-I athletes here at UB," he said. "I come from a small school and the level of talent here was outstanding and I feel that a large school like UB would provide a great environment to practice techniques athletic trainers carry out."

Ellis said his biggest concern is that he will not be able to pursue his dream of becoming an athletic trainer if he continues his studies at UB.

"I love the idea of being an athletic trainer, and I love UB, but it may come to the fact that I might need to transfer so I can be happy," he said.