MSU athletics to realign programs

February 12, 2008 02:47 pm

— MOREHEAD, Ky.---Morehead State University Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Brian Hutchinson last week announced that, beginning with the 2008-09 school year, Morehead State will sponsor 16 intercollegiate sports, down from 18 currently.
Women’s golf, already led by Head Coach Stephanie Barker, will field its first competitive team since 1984. The men’s and women’s rifle programs will be consolidated into a mixed team and the institution will no longer sponsor men’s and women’s indoor track and field. Outdoor track and field will remain.
It is the first realignment of intercollegiate sports at MSU since women?s soccer was added in 1998. Hutchinson also announced that MSU will add NCAA women?s bowling and equestrian programs within the next 4-6 years.
“This realignment is the culmination of a well-considered, thoughtful process that began nearly two years ago,” Hutchinson stated. “We were aided by Alden and Associates, a consulting firm which studied our Title IX compliance measures.
“Ultimately, we have to consider how many sports we can sponsor with adequate financial resources, how we manage them within the context of Title IX compliance, and how can we offer the best experience possible for our student-athletes. We feel these steps lead us in that direction.”
Hutchinson added that the plan was endorsed by MSU’s Intercollegiate Athletics Committee and approved by President Wayne D. Andrews.
“This new direction for our athletics program comes at an opportune time when we are engaged in a careful review of all aspects of the institutional budget,” said President Andrews.
“Refocusing resources for improved efficiency and effectiveness in any program is a positive step. In athletics, as well as academics, we want to be best we can afford to be.”