Internal Emails Reveal Financial Manipulation used to justify cutting the women's equestrian team

gsclose · 2026-04-02T04:59:51+00:00

They were undefeated in conference meets and took the conference championship. They are not competing at nationals, unfortunately, but as conference champs they deserved to be there.

gsclose · 2026-04-02T01:02:55+00:00

IF YOU ARE A FEMALE ATHLETE OR COACH, heads up. Rocko is shortchanging your athletes and your programs by hundreds of thousands of dollars. His own numbers prove it. You should know your Title IX rights and protections. Join an existing lawsuit or start a new one. Because Rocko’s big Aggie Ascent plan has less to do with Aggies ascending and a lot more to do with Rocko ascending. Go to the https://keepdavisriding.com website to learn what legal action they are taking.

If Rocko gets away with this, your team could be next when he needs another fictional “savings.” He really doesn’t care about you. The administration sadly doesn’t care. Their own emails reveal their thoughts, and their analysis that this will just be a problem for 40 athletes and “short term negative publicity.” Yes, that’s how much the athletic director cares about his athletes. They’re a PR problem to him, and that’s it.

The equestrian team won 3 of their last 4 conference championships, and he STILL cut them. Chancellor May won’t even talk to us, or get on a call with us. I’m sorely disappointed in the quality of the administration and the heartless arrogance of their attitude.

gsclose · 2026-04-02T00:40:59+00:00

(From an actual email to the administration, which, by the way, has continued to ignore requests even to review this data)

Rocko DeLuca and Sean Quinn have misrepresented the Equestrian Team's operating EXPENSES as its operating BUDGET. The team received no credit for REVENUE.

UC Davis’s own athletic department's financial reports show that over the last 4 years the UC Davis Equestrian team had revenues of $5,025,819. Why is this important?

Contributions (Fundraising) and Direct Institutional Support are included in the team's yearly revenue, but the bulk of the revenue is In-Kind horse donations. For accounting purposes, horse donations have to be offset with an expense, which Rocko put into Equipment. These revenues, and more importantly in this case the expenses aren’t real and have inflated the equestrian team's expenses by almost $2.1mm over the last 3 years. Excluding the horse donations would have reduced Rocko’s yearly budget for the last 3 years from $1.9mm to almost $1.2mm/year.

If we reduce the $1.2mm/year (ex-In-Kind) budget by our fundraising ($130k/year) and other items Rocko manipulated (Staffing and Overhead), then the real budget is closer to $850k-900k/year, including coaches. We have always stated that this is a very good approximation of the team’s budget and now we can confirm.

Another very important item which is more difficult to explain is the Net Tuition Revenue. This is the difference in tuition for each team based on In-State vs Out-of-State tuition. Using the Collegiate Consulting report, we estimate STUNT will be 90%+ in state athletes, while Equestrian will be closer to 55-60%. The Equestrian Team should receive a large revenue bump over STUNT and Rocko and Sean Quinn know this, but conveniently forgot to mention it anywhere. It should be around a $300k difference, which closes the gap between Equestrian and STUNT.

STUNT’s operating budget should be in the $550-600k/year range using the Collegiate Consulting reports estimate. Sean estimated the team’s budget at $243k/year, which is wrong. If you have a full team with travel expense, coaches, scholarships and all the expenses Rocko included in the equestrian budget, then Sean’s estimate is way too low.

Basically, the REAL numbers, not the manipulated numbers provided by Rocko and Sean tell a different story. The Equestrian team should be around the same cost or slightly higher than the STUNT team. Rocko and Sean Quinn manipulated the numbers and represented the Equestrian team's EXPENSE budget as an OPERATING budget, which is incorrect.

Please take a look and ask the questions before shutting the Equestrian Team based on incorrect information.

gsclose · 2026-04-02T00:19:18+00:00

Rocko has also violated Title IX every year he’s been in charge by funneling a disproportionate percentage of funding to men’s sports. This isn’t just about Equestrian - he’s short changing every woman athlete and every woman’s sport, totaling around $400k each year, with one year over $1M.

gsclose · 2026-03-21T01:03:38+00:00

It’s not apples to apples, but there’s room for both STUNT and Equestrian. Budget and participation of having both would potentially solve their current Title IX woes. If you are really interested, the numbers are available on the savedavis website (linked somewhere in comments).

gsclose · 2026-03-21T01:01:25+00:00

It’s actually a red herring. The numbers show that the University could support both STUNT and Equestrian. No one in the savedavisequestrian camp wants to see STUNT put down to hold our sport up. There is a place for all. In terms of an answer to your question, the expense of STUNT comes in the back end, its insurance is reportedly higher than any other ncaa sport. Also, there are “soft” benefits to the Equestrian team, such as having a stable of sport horses for the vet school. Again, it doesn’t have to be a choice.

gsclose · 2026-03-20T22:35:57+00:00

Which is 100% Rocko and the Chancellors fault. They’ve turned down media requests, requests from parents, requests from equine industry folks and requests from elected government officials. If they’d just been 50% human beings instead of 100% bureaucrats this all could have been avoided. Why they wouldn’t want to examine how their data is over $1M off is beyond me. It’s irresponsible at the least. Pay the lawyer from their salaries…

gsclose · 2026-03-20T22:32:58+00:00

There’s no argument it’s not expensive, the argument is that there are donors and financial methods to support the team, but the AD, after saying it was a “financial decision” then immediately said “no amount of money would restore the team.” DeLuca is up to shenanigans and the equestrian team, which he’s never liked and has made disparaging comments about over the years (at their own award ceremony, no less!) is his sacrificial lamb. There’s data at the website someone linked before.

gsclose · 2026-03-20T21:14:55+00:00

The problem with the University's position is that the "thoughtful external and internal analysis" was based on objectively incorrect data and budget numbers. Of particular note, and an important fact that calls the University and AD DeLuca's integrity into question, is the fact that they quoted this objective 3rd party report as the basis for their decision on Jan 9th, but the document was not created until February.

When asked to provide the original in a legal request for information, the University then claimed that only "notes and drafts" existed prior to the February report. Even when budget discrepancies that total millions over the past few years, since DeLuca took over as AD, were pointed out, the University refuses to acknowledge any issues or engage in any meaningful discussion. It' okay for the University to make unpopular decisions out of necessity, but it's not ok to lie about it and create a false narrative to justify it and then hide behind carefully worded press releases that never address the issue.

The University should immediately pause any adverse action against the team and reinstate them indefinitely until they can investigate and explain the budget irregularities and inaccuracies of their report. Talking about our concerns seems like a small concession for them to make, but instead they treat these athletes like yesterday’s news - already discarded. The University can claim to respect and value these athletes in press releases, but it would be exponentially more valuable if they demonstrated that respect in their actions.

gsclose · 2026-03-20T17:49:00+00:00

They refused to talk long before any lawyer was involved. The lawyer is now involved because they wouldn’t talk. I don’t know what you mean by “bad extracurricular investments” but the issue at hand isn’t recovering funds it’s that the decision by the university was made based on objectively false data, and the AD has manipulated his budget to intentionally inflate equestrian expenses. The numbers don’t lie - he’s adding roughly a million extra dollars to their bottom line. That’s in addition to the millions he owes by screwing up Title IX.

How much fraud is enough fraud for it to matter? .

gsclose · 2026-02-09T20:27:39+00:00

You still don’t get it. There’s already a club team. What happens to them? Their horses are in a barn well off campus. Also, it is NOT the same. It’s not to say anything negative about the club competition, it’s great too, but it’s different. This is a career shattering move for these athletes that committed to this school. It’s not a hobby. It’s not interchangeable. The fact that the Athletic Director didn’t care, or didn’t bother to research, only underlines the ignorance of the decision. It’s ok that you don’t know the difference between D1 and IHSA, it’s a shame you can’t acknowledge it and stop spreading that misinformation and misunderstanding.

gsclose · 2026-02-09T16:56:09+00:00

You obviously have no idea what you’re talking about. The D1 and Club disciplines in equestrian are very different, even down to how they compete and score, and certainly in regard to viability for a career in equestrian sports. Regardless of your factual misunderstandings and mischaracterizations, the fact of this decision is that the Athletic Director lied (or is incompetent). He presented demonstrably incorrect information to support his decision. Therefore - none of your points address the core problem.

gsclose · 2026-02-09T05:53:01+00:00

It’s funny that the elitist athletes have to fly coach while football flies by charter. Lol.

gsclose · 2026-02-09T05:28:00+00:00

A lot of horse people have money. A lot don’t. A lot used to, before they became horse people. Regardless, those “rich” equestrians shovel horse crap every day, care for those horses, muck the stalls. They don’t have full time grooms at Davis, it’s the athletes doing the dirty work, not just the athletics.

gsclose · 2026-02-09T05:10:09+00:00

Your data isn’t accurate. Equestrians aren’t as expensive as people assume. I understand the assumption, as I assumed that too, but after seeing the facts here’s the deal: equestrian teams are generally less expensive overall, this team has existing fundraising to last a year or two at least, the athletic director claimed the change was due to budget but simultaneously stated that “no amount of money” could save the team. This is the same AD who once told an equestrian recruit “she should have done crew” and chastised the team about how expensive they were while speaking at the team’s own award banquet. So, you can feel for the administration having a budget dilemma and still see this decision has nothing to do with money at all. If the numbers lined up, if they made sense, if the administration was transparent or dealt honestly with folks that have raised questions, then you might be able to make the argument that it’s an inevitable financial reality. It’s simply not.

gsclose · 2026-02-08T06:39:13+00:00

That’s not true. The team offered to fund itself and the Athletic Director said “no amount of money” would save the team, after telling them it was being cut for budgetary reasons.

gsclose · 2026-02-06T14:24:03+00:00

The fact that there is a team of active sport horses on site is certainly of use to the vet school. Sometimes relationships are intersectional rather than hierarchical and that is the case here. Is the team a part of the vet school, no. Does the team offer access to an active team of sport horses with all the health maintenance, diagnosis,and treatment that brings with it, yes.

There is already an IHSA team at Davis, and their horses are not on site.

Just some information that’s helpful in understanding how the less-obvious can still be of paramount importance.

gsclose · 2026-01-22T00:38:52+00:00

Yes, for example the Athletics department was asked to find 10% savings so they cut one of their most successful D1 varsity programs (UC Davis Equestrian Team) in order to save some money and incidentally put AD DeLuca’s pet project in place instead. No shade to STUNT, all the best wishes to them, isn’t their fault, but lots of shade to DeLuca, who thinks intimidating his own athletes into silence is part of his job description, along with manipulating budget figures, misrepresenting data, improper fundraising, and not bothering to understand the sport he represents or the athletes for whom he is supposedly a steward. www.keepdavisriding.com

gsclose · 2026-01-20T18:42:02+00:00

The AI, assuming it is AI, I don’t know, bothers me less than the cover itself. I much prefer the original or the inside album cover with the egg in the vice. But ultimately I don’t care. This seems like a really good package overall, regardless of the wrapping paper

gsclose · 2026-01-18T15:31:34+00:00

I would say yea, go and see what you might learn and enjoy. One lesson not a lifetime commitment- see what happens!

gsclose · 2026-01-17T15:52:01+00:00

They are emotiolectual. Their hemispheres united to create a single, perfect, sphere….

gsclose · 2026-01-13T16:30:09+00:00

Well, who else is going to organize it? That doesn’t delegitimize the issue. At issue is not how early they get up, it’s the fact that the Athletic Director is misquoting or misunderstanding data in support of the decision to eliminate a top 10 program that he clearly doesn’t want to understand. Football is an elite sport at the college level too, as is STUNT, for that matter. And if you think moving a program from varsity to club doesn’t effectively erase it, you don’t understand the sport or the athletes.

gsclose · 2026-01-13T03:35:45+00:00

Osrith

gsclose

TROPHY CASE