A FRONT ROW VIEW: Temple cuts are truly sad

College athletics is not the same as when Penn gymnastics coach Tom Kovic attended Temple in the mid-1970s. It was about opportunity then, and the NCAA's mission to "initiate, stimulate and improve intercollegiate athletics programs for student-athletes" was a reality, not a farce. Over on Broad Street, Kovic's former Owls men's gymnastics squad, along with the women's gymnastics and baseball teams, will in all likelihood receive a death sentence Tuesday. The programs have been victimized by an all-out assault on amateurism, and the dream of a president who pours money into a football program at the expense of Temple's other sports. The reality is obvious to all but the school's president, Peter Liacouras: Temple University is running a $15 million deficit, and the football team will never be in the running for the Big East crown. Instead of killing the dreams of 50 student-athletes, why not give up on the unrealistic dream of having a Division I-A football powerhouse? Two years ago the Owls wooed Clemson defensive coordinator Ron Dickerson to be their head football coach. They wanted the football spotlight. Dickerson called the Owls a "sleeping giant" then. Well, the Owls are still sleeping. How many college football teams are there from Boston to Washington that are thriving? Yes, there is Boston College, which has its own stadium. But that's it. Philadelphia is not State College, nor will it ever be. Temple football visited Franklin Field this season to play Penn State. If Liacouras didn't have delusions of grandeur, he would have had his team playing Penn. Then, Ken Anderson, the Owls' women's gymnastics coach, wouldn't have had to skip practice last night in Pearson Hall. He was manning the phones, trying to drum up more support for the last-ditch effort to save his program. His gymnasts spend part of their day doing flips in exchange for signatures on a petition asking that their program be spared. The ultimate decision regarding the three teams' status in 1995-96 will come in a Tuesday afternoon meeting of the trustees. "Things aren't looking really good in our favor," Anderson said. "I don't like to point the finger at others. It's a department-wide problem. There could be cuts in many different areas and I don't think cutting programs is the way to do this." Adrienne Carter, a sophomore gymnast, has been handing out flyers. She came to Temple with gymnastics in her blood, and said yesterday at practice she would consider transferring to another school with a gymnastics program. "It's always on your mind," she said. "I don't want my gymnastics career just to end. I'm going to have to look for a new place to go if they drop it. All we can do now is hope they change their minds." Adam Rubin is a Wharton senior from Bellmore, N.Y., and sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian.