ULM drops women’s tennis amid athletic department financial constraints

MONROE, La. (AP) — The women’s tennis program at Louisiana-Monroe has been disbanded because of financial constraints at the university’s athletic department.

Athletic director John Hartwell announced this week that the decision stemmed from “increased operational and infrastructure costs” and will help ULM athletics “to continue progress towards balancing its budget” while maintaining an NCAA-required minimum of 16 Division I sports.

Under the recently approved NCAA antitrust settlement, scholarship caps will be replaced by roster limits and schools will be able to fund every roster spot with a scholarship. Hartwell said as women’s tennis players graduate or transfer, scholarship funds that had been dedicated to them will be redirected to other remaining women’s sports teams.

ULM spokesman Martin Radosevic the administration also “worked with a Title IX consultant to ensure we maintained Title IX compliance during this process.”

Title IX prohibits discrimination based on gender. For practical purposes, it requires universities to fund athletic scholarships in a way that is proportionate to the number of men and women participating on their varsity sports teams.

While the number of women’s athletic scholarships funded by ULM won’t change, its athletic department will save on other expenses that had gone toward the tennis program — from coaches’ salaries to travel, equipment and facility costs.

Radosevic said the athletic department expects savings of about $250,000.

“Discontinuing a sport is never an easy decision, nor one that we take lightly,” Hartwell said. “We know this is tough for our student-athletes and our coaches, who have poured so much into our tennis program.”

Hartwell said ULM will honor the scholarships of those who want to complete their degrees without transferring elsewhere. He said his administration also will help those tennis players who want to continue to compete to pursue opportunities at other schools.

“We will prioritize as smooth a transition as possible for our student-athletes,” Hartwell said.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis