Yet that same October meeting also opened the door for opponents to overturn the change.
The proposal received 67.4 percent of the weighted Cabinet vote, less than the 75 percent needed to avoid a 30-day cancellation period. Among those who voted against it was Pitt athletic director Allen Greene. Based on the tally released by the NCAA, a “yes” vote from Greene would have raised support above that threshold.
Sources told GOAL that Pitt men’s soccer head coach Jay Vidovich was not informed of Greene’s decision in advance and described the vote as a surprise to supporters of the proposal. Greene did not respond to a request for comment.
Committee members who supported the change were unprepared for the campaign that followed, sources said. Once approval was obtained, supporters did not prepare a backup communications plan for a sustained effort to overturn the project. The institutional override process also differed from the weighted Cabinet vote: eligible Division I schools each had an equal vote, including those that did not sponsor men’s soccer.
Still, supporters initially thought opponents would have trouble getting the required 241 votes. Thursday evening, according to information from GOAL, this threshold had been reached. This was confirmed on Friday evening.
CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio was among those calling for the reversal. Sources told GOAL that during a recent video call, he told committee members that he had gathered support for the effort and would seek consideration of the matter by the Division I Board of Directors. One source described D’Antonio as “angry” during the call. A subsequent motion to overturn the Cabinet decision at board level was unsuccessful. D’Antonio did not respond to a request for comment.
Opponents continued to gather institutional votes to overturn it.
Those who seek to overturn the proposal have their reasons. Drake University cited pressure on its support staff as a key driver of its opposition. Its men’s soccer SID also handles communications for women’s basketball, soccer, track and field, and men’s and women’s tennis.
Other problems emerged. Some schools have cited potential tensions over shared facilities. Sources also said some programs may need to rent additional practice fields, which would increase costs. The difficulties associated with playing games in cold weather were also highlighted.
“We have significant concerns regarding facilities, primarily the maintenance of our turf field during the winter months in the Northeast, the use of shared lockers, and the inability to use our turf field as men’s and women’s lacrosse are also in season,” Fairfield University, which voted to overturn the proposal, said in a statement.
Several programs also raised concerns that other sports could request similar changes, creating additional scheduling and resource pressures. Those arguments are now part of efforts to win support from schools that don’t sponsor men’s soccer.
Supporters objected to the idea that these possibilities should determine the fate of the proposal.
“Can you imagine if men’s football grew and became politicized against the interest or proposition of another sport? That would never happen. And not only that, we are so low on the totem pole that people would knock us so far off our pedestal for having the courage to do it,” Somoano said.
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