Save AU Men's Tennis

My brother is a sophomore on the American University men's tennis team. A couple of days ago, in the middle of their season, they received word from the athletic director that the tennis program will be terminated at the end of the year. The situation is best captured through this email from Head Coach Kyle Bailey: Dear American University Tennis Friends, Alumni and Supporters, As many of you might already know, American University announced yesterday that it will discontinue the men's and women's tennis programs at the end of this season. This decision has shocked the department, the members of our teams, their families and all of us who consider ourselves friends of the program. We need all of your help in trying to save AU Tennis. We feel that this was a terrible decision and something must be done. We were not given a chance to fight for our program nor were we given any warning as to what was going to happen. Now our players are left during the middle of their season with the task of trying to find another program. As a coach I can tell you that most schools are finished with their recruiting for next year and thus this task will be extremely difficult for all of them. AU Tennis embodies everything that this department should stand for and we must prove to AU that we have earned our right to stay. Our kids practice, compete, study and support AU as hard as any other team in the department. We have been the most dominant team in the DC Metro area for years and a national contender with the best teams in the country. According to the AU 2003-2004 annual report, part of the $200 million capital campaign is to improve athletics at AU. Yet after achieving the following results AU still feels we are not worth keeping... - 3 straight Patriot League Titles - 3 straight NCAA tournament berths - 10 All-Patriot League Team Members - Patriot League Player of the Year (Bence Hamori, 2001) - 4 Coach of the Year's (Martin Blackman) - 3.2 GPA over the last 5 years - 6 ITA Academic All Americans - 15 Patriot League Honor Roll Members We need all of you to voice your support for AU Tennis in any way you can. Please contact the following people ASAP: Al Checcio Vice President of University Relations American University 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20016 ac@american.edu (202)885-3462 Ms. Joni Comstock Athletic Director American University 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20016 comstock@american.edu (202)885-3190 Mr. Benjamin Ladner Office of the President American University 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20016 president@american.edu (202)885-2121 If you have any suggestions or comments and would like to speak with me please do not hesitate to call. Thank you for your time and continued support. Sincerely, Kyle Bailey Head Men's Tennis Coach American University