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Athletics Departments cutting programs
Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:10 am
Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:10 am
From their athletic department website:
Arkansas Athletics Discontinuing Men’s And Women’s Tennis Programs
The University of Arkansas will discontinue its men’s and women’s tennis programs at the conclusion of the 2026 spring season.
Arkansas Athletics Discontinuing Men’s And Women’s Tennis Programs
The University of Arkansas will discontinue its men’s and women’s tennis programs at the conclusion of the 2026 spring season.
This post was edited on 5/6/26 at 8:45 am
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Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:12 am to Alabama_Fan
Others will follow suit. Golf would make more sense financially, but it is more of a marquee sport than tennis I assume. A lot of tennis players in college are from Europe.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:18 am to Alabama_Fan
Agree with discontinuing programs that cost too much. They could still have tennis or other sports, just not in the capacity its is a program that needs a massive budget. Alabama would be wise to consider what they need to cut. I know many will disagree but all I care about is the 3 major men's sports. If football, basketball, and baseball are going without in some way, something else needs to go...........Especially since we'll have to be buying out Deboer's contract soon when he is fired.
This post was edited on 4/25/26 at 1:54 pm
Posted on 4/25/26 at 11:41 am to Shocco
And so it begins. The consequences of unfettered NIL. This is just the canary in the coal mine. It will get a lot worse for non-revenue sports, especially sports that have both a women’s and a men’s team. Cut both to remain in compliance with Title IX and save more money at the same time. I suspect swimming to be on the chopping block at a lot of schools soon. Both sexes have a team, pool maintenance is an expensive endeavor, technical swimsuits are expensive (women’s run $500-600 each) and it’s just a money hole.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 12:56 pm to phil4bama
With Walmart, Tyson and JB Hunt headquartered in Arkansas, there is no excuse for funding. Fire whoever is in charge.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 1:37 pm to Bamafig
maybe their funding is ear marked for the 3 major men's sports. Duh
Posted on 4/25/26 at 2:05 pm to mrbroker
Then maybe they should be sold on the importance of other sports
Posted on 4/25/26 at 5:09 pm to Bamafig
quote:
Then maybe they should be sold on the importance of other sports
Pretty hard to sell if they are losing buckets of money with every passing hour.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 5:12 pm to GoodTalkRuss
Tennis is just the beginning.
Wheelchair basketball is next.
Wheelchair basketball is next.
This post was edited on 4/25/26 at 5:13 pm
Posted on 4/26/26 at 7:59 am to Alabama_Fan
Saw where Baylor is so strapped for cash in their athletic department that they are flirting with dropping football. Kansas while not dropping football is also severely broke and is going to take some drastic actions. My guess is they too will drop some sports.
Posted on 4/27/26 at 4:27 pm to phil4bama
quote:
Cut both to remain in compliance with Title IX
Unless I’m mis-remembering, Men’s tennis only gets 4.5 scholarships for the whole team but the women’s teams all have 8 full schollys (in order to balance out the total # of schollys).
Purely a question, but in order to keep in line with Title IX, don’t schools have to have a proportionate number of scholarship funding between men and women’s sports?
I thought thats why every SEC school has a womens varsity soccer team, but there are only 2 varsity men’s programs (UK and S.Carolina).
If Arkansas is cutting both men’s and women’s tennis, will they have to cut 3.5 scholarships from some other men’s program?
This post was edited on 4/27/26 at 4:36 pm
Posted on 4/29/26 at 9:16 am to Alabama_Fan
Being in conference like the SEC really hurts non-revenue sports. We really need to consider adopting a hybrid conference model for some of these smaller sports to reduce costs and keep them viable.
There's no reason a sport like tennis couldn't drop out of the SEC and form something like a regional tennis or small sports only conference made up of schools that make sense geographically.
An 8 team tennis conference made up of Alabama, Auburn, Troy, UAB, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Ole Miss and South Alabama makes total sense and would need no flying and complex logistics to support.
It won't happen, but it's time to start thinking non-linear about how to keep some of these smaller sports viable.
There's no reason a sport like tennis couldn't drop out of the SEC and form something like a regional tennis or small sports only conference made up of schools that make sense geographically.
An 8 team tennis conference made up of Alabama, Auburn, Troy, UAB, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Ole Miss and South Alabama makes total sense and would need no flying and complex logistics to support.
It won't happen, but it's time to start thinking non-linear about how to keep some of these smaller sports viable.
Posted on 5/6/26 at 9:26 am to RolltidePA
Updated the thread title as there’s no need for a new one every time this happens. Wichita State is discontinuing their golf men’s and women’s programs:
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Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:37 pm to Shocco
quote:
Alabama would be wise to consider what they need to cut
Lol, Alabama is so in the black more than 99% of other programs. We more than have the luxury of supporting the teams we have, in fact, I think sports like Soccer, Gymnastics are in need of facility upgrades, with Volleyball and Tennis next in line.
Posted on 5/7/26 at 4:03 pm to Lordofwrath88
NIL results says otherwise.
Posted on 5/8/26 at 10:21 am to Bamafig
quote:
Walmart,
The current owners of Wal Mart or what's left of the Walton family that has any say-so in Wal Mart has stated they will gladly continue to give to the school from an academic level but they are not going to just dump endless money into the football program. So, there's nothing the AD or the President at Arkansas can do.
Posted on 5/8/26 at 11:26 am to NWLA_Bama
Alabama lost its billionaire who probably likes sports ball considering his daddy. Law school dean and Stu Bell did a piss poor job of managing Culverhouse, Jr. and it likely cost us a sugar daddy to throw down frick you money at one player we absolutely need.
Posted on 5/8/26 at 11:48 am to Diego Ricardo
quote:
Alabama lost its billionaire who probably likes sports ball considering his daddy. Law school dean and Stu Bell did a piss poor job of managing Culverhouse, Jr.
No Culverhouse Jr. thought he could run the law school curriculum and hiring just because he donated money. That's not how it works and that is not how it SHOULD work. I'm proud of UA for telling him to booger off.
Posted on 5/8/26 at 11:52 am to Shocco
quote:
Especially since we'll have to be buying out Deboer's contract soon when he is fired.
Posted on 5/8/26 at 12:25 pm to cdur86
quote:
No Culverhouse Jr. thought he could run the law school curriculum and hiring just because he donated money. That's not how it works and that is not how it SHOULD work. I'm proud of UA for telling him to booger off.
I’m sorry but every school worth a damn has a personality like that in their donor pool. The real prestigious ones have multiple. The failure was with our administration not coddling him. The whole reason a president exists at a modern university is to manage that bullshite.
Ours did a poor job of managing him into a good spot where academic side is firewalled as much as possible. I agree he was a horses arse but there are seemingly two types of elites in the US:
WASPy old money types like the Bushes who know how to never make demands and get what they want.
New money types like the Trumps that bully and lawfare their way into getting what they want.
Culverhouses are closer to the Trump side of the spectrum than eastern seaboard WASPy types. Our guys didn’t manage that relationship and here we are.
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