Coach firings bring UMBC athletic department reputation into question

Unlike many of its peer institutions, UMBC does not have vast resources at its disposal. The university is one of only two schools in the America East Conference that did not opt into last summer’s NCAA v. House settlement that permitted universities to share revenue with their athletes. UMass Lowell is the other.

According to the university’s 2026 fiscal-year operating budget for athletics and recreation, the university anticipated generating $17.8 million in revenue while funding $21.8 million in expenses. How much of those numbers can be attributed solely to the Retrievers’ backing of sports is unclear.

Sroka said that the deficit might be a tipping point.

“The calculation of having a D1 program is that the increased profile will bring reputational benefits to the school (as well as donors and more applications) that outweigh the immediate direct financial cost to students,” he wrote. “If the reputational impact of the athletics program is repeatedly negative, that calculus changes.”

Asked March 25 if she was concerned about the adversity impacting the university’s reputation, president Valerie Sheares Ashby said, “What I hope people see is that we are serious about accountability, and we have made significant improvements. … That’s why our processes are so rigorous, and that’s why they’re in place to ensure that the next right things always happen.”

Milton Kent, a professor of multimedia journalism at Morgan State, said the onus will be on Sheares Ashby, Tucker and other school leaders to demonstrate to athletes and their parents that the recent furor is a blip on the radar.

“Every program to a certain degree has some kind of skeleton in its closet,” said Kent, a former sports reporter and columnist for The Baltimore Sun. “It’s just a matter of how you manage it, and I think the test for UMBC is how they manage this.”

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Dionne Koller, professor of law at the University of Baltimore and director of the Center for Sport and the Law, said the frequency of incidents is troubling. But she noted that the list of schools rebounding from scandals is long.

Even area colleges have weathered tragedies, scandals and controversies recently. The University of Maryland fired football coach DJ Durkin after the death of freshman offensive lineman Jordan McNair, a Randallstown resident and McDonogh graduate in 2018.

In 2023, Coppin State said men’s basketball coach Juan Dixon would not return shortly after he was named in a lawsuit by a former player claiming an assistant coach blackmailed, sexually assaulted and harassed him. A court later dismissed Dixon and the school from the lawsuit.

Since 2024, both Loyola Maryland and Coppin State men’s basketball have been involved in gambling scandals involving players.

“As a society, we unfortunately have far too many examples of even worse athletic department harms and wrongdoing, and the reality is that schools usually do not suffer long-term damage,” Koller wrote, noting that Michigan State and Penn State overcame scandals involving former team doctor Larry Nassar and assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, respectively. “UMBC athletics is undoubtedly taking a reputational hit in the short term, but in the long run, college athletics and the institutions that participate always endure.”

Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.