The Big Serve
Take Heart. Take Part. Take Action.

Western Michigan University

Goal: Save men’s and women's varsity tennis at Western Michigan University

Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan

Student Enrollment: 25,000

Introduction: The new WMU president had a history of cutting programs and recently cut a very successful women's tennis program at Northern Michigan University, where she was president before taking over at WMU in June 2003. When she tried to do the same at Western Michigan, Dave Morin, the coach of the varsity men's tennis program, brought the impending decision to drop the varsity men's and women's tennis programs to the attention of the USTA and the ITA. In addition to tennis, additional non-revenue sports were being threatened: soccer, synchronized swimming, women’s golf and men’s track and field. The reason for the cuts was given as a financial decision made in order to reduce the budget as a result of state reductions in funding.

History: Responding quickly to Morin's notification, David Benjamin of the ITA sent a letter to the president of WMU. His letter was followed by letters from USTA Executive Director Lee Hamilton, USTA Chairman and President Alan Schwartz, Chairman of the USTA Collegiate Committee Jerry Noyce and USTA Recreational Tennis Managing Director Scott Schultz. Additional letters were sent by Jay Hacker, the local USTA Midwest section president, and Steve Wise, College Coordinator. The letters were given to a review board at WMU, who would ultimately make a recommendation to the university president. The letters stressed the importance of the courts and program to the general community and the unique place of Kalamazoo, the host of the USTA National Championships, as a tennis town. Letters and e-mails from the College Tennis Advocacy Network—an association of collegiate coaches and concerned members who rally behind a program in jeopardy of being cut (see glossary of terms in appendix for more details)—continued to flood the president’s mailbox, adding more pressure not to cut the program.

Advocacy in Action: Steve Wise, College Section Coordinator, brought together other allies in the communities, which included alumni, students, local tennis sports figures, business leaders, lawyers, parents, junior tennis players and the WMU Public Relations Department. Advocates attended two local public sessions and two primary arguments were devised to save the program:

  • In an appeal to university administrators, the review committee and the coaches, tennis instructors and community leaders stressed 1) the importance of the community tennis outreach programming that WMU offered to assist underprivileged members in the community, and 2) how terrible it would be to lose this kind of support from the members the community for the university.
  • The second argument focused on the history of the tennis team in Kalamazoo, as well as on the economic impact of the USTA National Championships, hosted at Kalamazoo and co-sponsored by WMU every summer in August. If the courts were not used, they would fall into disrepair, which would negatively impact the Boys’ 16- and 18-year-old tournaments. Wise also reached out to the local Chamber of Commerce and the Kalamazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau, spectators, participates, junior players, the city council, local sport figures other influential sectional and local advocates to express their concerns. The city had been hit hard due to a business merger and had lost some of its tax base. Thus, southwest Michigan needed the economic boost that the tournament brought in every year, introducing a political factor into the process.
Finally, local newspapers, columnists, editors, radio and television, as well as other media outlets, were contacted. And though the WMU president was absent from the meetings, the tennis advocates attended two public sessions and spoke on the issues.

The Outcome: Although soccer and skating were eventually canceled, below are the Winning Key Points that clinched saving the tennis program:

  • Kenneth Fischang, Executive Director, Kalamazoo County Convention and Visitors Bureau, presented the following regarding tennis in Kalamazoo: The boy’s singles national event brings more than 400 players to Kalamazoo. The economic impact each year is over $500,000 to Kalamazoo County. The economic impact over the last 20 years has been greater than $6 million to Kalamazoo County.
  • Timor Corwin, coach of neighboring Kalamazoo College and the USTA National Tournament Director, spoke about "image and equity." Basically, Corwin said Kalamazoo is a tennis institution, and that dropping the team—and eventually the tournament—could undermine Kalamazoo’s positive image and therefore cut away at the equity the area has built with the tennis public over the years.

Lesson: Cover all your angles.
In Part 1, we discussed the different ways to make your case to your local decision-maker. In an effort to save its tennis program, WMU’s advocacy group hit upon a number of them—the group, including women’s tennis coach Betsy Kuhle, expanded its coalition by involving the ITA and the USTA, played on the local politicians’ financial concerns by invoking the economic cost of losing the USTA Kalamazoo tournament and involved the local media to expand the scope of the issue. Perhaps just doing one of these wouldn’t have saved WMU tennis, but the cumulative effect was an undeniable success.

Contact Information:
Betsy Kuhle, Women’s Tennis Head Coach
Western Michigan University
1903 W. Michigan Avenue • Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5406
Telephone: 269-387-3102 • E-mail: kuhle@groupwise.wmich.edu
Dave Morin, Men’s Tennis Head Coach
Western Michigan University
1903 W. Michigan Avenue
Telephone: 269-287-3125 • E-mail: morin@groupwise.wmich.edu