“Our tennis team was perhaps one player away from winning the national championship this past year. But, we didn’t have the money to put up for that extra scholarship, because the money is too thin.”

As far as the basketball players are concerned, Bridges reiterated what he had said earlier in the week about all of the players being granted

releases, if they chose them, from their scholarships in order to play with other schools. He also said all of the basketball players would have their

scholarships honored, if they chose to stay at the school.

He did add something he had not said earlier: “Our coaches have given out tapes, and stats to players, to help them find another place to play. But we are limited in what we can do, because we don’t want them to lose their eligibility.”

With the loss of basketball, Bridges is hoping for the school’s other sports to do well on a state and national stage.

“I met with the coaches, and I told them to make me proud. I want us back on top,” said Bridges.

Later answering questions from the audience, Bridges again said the process began a year ago.

“You don’t know how many gyrations, me or my senior administration has gone through. You hear about politicians flip-flopping, all of us have done a lot of that,” said Bridges.

“I do want to emphasize that we didn’t make the cut due to a forthcoming cut in the state budget.”

The president then went to indicate that little thought was given to part-time coaches, because, “our athletics people said we could not run a credible program with part-time coaches.”

That issue has been brought up by proponents of playing one last season of basketball. Several individuals have indicated they would have worked as volunteer coaches.