Scott Barclay, the men’s gymnastics coach at Arizona State University, thinks it’s about time to cut the crap (i.e. academic spending) and refocus on what’s really important: the Olympics. While China relies mostly on training Olympic athletes at state sports schools, the U.S. relies more heavily on private gyms. Inexplicably, Barclay believes that Americans should adopt the Chinese model, despite the fact that the U.S. brought home 110 medals from Beijing, while the Chinese brought 100.

Yesterday a Wall Street Journal article reported:

"We used to have a lot of kids going for the Olympic dream," says Scott Barclay, coach of the men's gymnastics team at Arizona State University. "Without the carrot of a college scholarship, a lot of kids give up, or their parents won't support them as much," he says. Mr. Barclay took out a personal loan several years ago to build a private gym as a way to keep his team alive as a club sport after ASU cut the varsity program…

In May, on the day Mr. Barclay and team supporters mailed a proposal to the ASU athletic director on reinstating the team, the university eliminated men's swimming, wrestling and tennis. Those teams were in or near the top 20 in the nation for years, producing a host of Olympians.

"It comes down to what the market wants," said Linda Love, the ASU athletic director.

One can only speculate as to where Barclay expects to find funding for men’s gymnastics. In the meantime, maybe someone ought to dangle a carrot in front of Barclay to lead him away from the school budget.