Originally Posted by Drive4cy 
What was the reaction of the players when Bruce told everyone? People just like wtf or what? It would be weird to find out in April if you were an underclassman that you had to quickly find another school to enroll in for next year. Oh, and how did the mid-week trip to Iowa go?
I beleive the first thing anyone said was, "that's f'n b.s!"
Most guys were extremely upset, some scared, some cried. Most of us had just signed leases for the next year (which they were not let out of without paying a fee). Most people were upset about being blindsided by it. Gene Smith had said the year before that baseball would always be safe, smashing rumors that had come up. VdV said that it came down to the fact that there was a deficit and cuts had to be made. Players asked how much money would need to be raised to save the team and he said that it wouldn't matter, the decision was made. Within an hour someone had a pledge to finance the team for ten years. VdV said it would take that PLUS the amount needed to get the department out of debt.
The game at Iowa didn't go well, despite the fact that we had destroyed them a week earlier.
