The Colorado men’s tennis program stands more than $400,000 short of its $1 million fundraising goal, but coach Sam Winterbotham hopes the money pledged will be enough to convince CU athletic director Mike Bohn to save the program.
The deadline to reach the $1 million in fundraising is Saturday, the day the 23rd-ranked Buffaloes meet Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Bohn announced March 23 that he would cut the men’s tennis program to help erase a projected $7 million athletic department deficit.
Winterbotham said he has raised $584,000, which more than covers the $325,000 annual budget.
“It’s a considerable amount of money raised in a short space of time,” he said. “That means something. It’s not like we had a year to fund it.”
Bohn has said he would consider keeping the program afloat if it raised $1 million by Saturday.
Winterbotham said more than 300 people have pledged money and more than a thousand have sent letters to CU president Hank Brown. Winterbotham, whose 19-8 Buffs are enjoying their best season in nine years, will try to convince Bohn to keep the sport based on the pledges received so far.
“To me it makes sense to accept it,” said Winterbotham, the Big 12 co-coach of the year. “We have had a wonderful pool of people willing to support the men’s tennis program. Over time, that support will certainly become physical and financial.”
Winterbotham said he doesn’t feel any added stress knowing Saturday’s match could be the last in the program’s 93-year history. If CU beats Arizona (12-9), the Buffaloes on Sunday would likely face 10th-ranked UCLA (17-5), which meets Stony Brook (14-6).
“You can only control what you can control,” Winterbotham said. “If we were making the decision, the decision would already have been made. We’re not. We leave that in the capable hands of our athletic director. I believe he’ll make the right decision.”
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
