Too many people have been hurt by ASU dropping sports in the past two decades for the topic to be casually batted around.
Wrestling and men’s swimming still haven’t recovered after being dropped, then rescued by booster donations in 2008. Men’s tennis was lost in that round of cuts, leaving the women’s team to go it alone.
“It’s a shame we don’t have the men,” ASU women’s tennis coach Sheila McInerney said. “The camaraderie was fantastic, and we always supported each other well. You like to have your counterparts there. Once you lose it, it’s hard to get it back.”
It’s no coincidence that 16 schools show up in both the men’s and women’s tennis Top 25. The best players want to go where there are programs for both genders.
ASU dropped men’s gymnastics, archery and badminton in 1993, giving up on the Olympic publicity value of those sports to save a paltry amount of money. It was a short-sighted decision that, combined with other factors, also hurt women’s gymnastics, which has reached nationals in just eight of the past 21 years.
Also in 1993, ASU underwent a Title IX compliance review by the Office of Civil Rights. That led to the addition of women’s soccer in 1996 followed by women’s water polo in 2002. Women’s rowing also was planned but later shelved due to costs.
ASU added women’s sand volleyball this school year, bringing its total number of sports to 22 — 13 for women — when diving is counted separate from swimming. Anderson, ASU’s new Vice President for Athletics, is talking boldly about additions even though the department must raise $225 million to rebuild Sun Devil Stadium and has other capital projects in the works.
Title IX, a 1972 federal law, as applied to athletics requires equitable opportunities to participate in sports for women and men. Compliance is measured by a comparison of entire men’s and women’s programs at a school.
For ASU to add a men’s sport and remain in Title IX compliance given its roughly 50-50 proportion between male and female undergraduate students, it almost certainly would need to add another women’s sport. That means finding money in an annual operating budget that ASU athletics is attempting to grow from $65 million to $100 million.
Women’s rowing, despite the expense required to build a boathouse and for shells, makes the greatest impact Title IX-wise because of its large roster size (from 30 all the way up to Washington’s 80). Plus, there already are seven Pac-12 women’s rowing teams and, of course, Tempe Town Lake is there for the using.
On the men’s side, ASU has successful hockey and rugby club teams, but to add anything but soccer first would be a disservice to a state with 194 high school teams and only one varsity Division I program at Grand Canyon. There are thousands of boys playing AYSO and club soccer throughout Arizona who are being hugely under served beyond the junior-college level.
ASU built a quality soccer stadium for its women’s team that also can accommodate men’s matches in the fall. Five Pac-12 schools already have men’s teams, with San Diego State also included in the conference. Four made the 48-team NCAA Tournament with Washington and California advancing to the quarterfinals.
ASU has the right ingredients to be successful in men’s soccer. If Anderson and ASU President Michael Crow are serious about adding sports, the state’s soccer community should do all it can to mount an effective lobby and not let a precious opportunity slip away.