Cincinnati is bringing back some of its Olympic sports and it’s due, in part, to the generosity of football coach Tommy Tuberville.
In 2009, the university was forced to put scholarship restraints on several Olympic sports and nix scholarships altogether for men's cross country, men's track and field, and men's swimming and diving. Those sports are now all coming back.
Tuberville pledged $300,000 over the next five years to Olympic sports, a donation that was announced during his introductory press conference back in December, but is now seeing tangible results.
"I'm making this commitment because it's the right thing to do," Tuberville said. "These student-athletes compete as hard as all of us. They need to know we fully support them and their sports. We are all part of one team here at UC and winning is contagious. It starts with players, it starts with scholarships."
This is quite a pledge considering Tuberville has only been at the school for a few months and has yet to actually coach a game. But it will help the overall morale of the Cincinnati athletic department and make Tuberville a temporary hero. And, Tuberville’s new contract does pay him $2.3 million, which could pay for a lot of scholarships and athletic equipment.
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