INDEPTH: USU on the road to having women’s basketball team
What does Utah State University, the Citadel and Virginia Military Institute have in common?
They are the only three schools which sponsor Division I men’s basketball programs but don’t have a women’s program.
However, if one were to take a closer look at the three schools, the similarity would stop there. Both the Citadel and VMI were established with strong military roots. The two schools are predominantly male, thus delimiting its ability to establish a women’s program.
“We have been told around the country, ‘You don’t have women’s basketball, are you kidding me? What planet are you from?'” Athletics director Rance Pugmire said.
So, why doesn’t USU have a women’s basketball program?
USU did have a women’s basketball team at one point. The program was established in the early 1970s and was abolished after the 1986-1987 season, said Doug Hoffman, assistant athletics media relations director.
At that time, USU was a member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA). The league has since changed its name to the Big West Conference, due to the conference’s addition of schools outside the Pacific coast. USU’s women’s program was uprooted when the university made campus-wide cuts, Hoffman said.
When asked why it was cut, Chalyce Stevens, head coach of the USU women’s club team, said the program was experiencing several problems. She said she talked to Marlyn Harmer, head coach at Snow College – who was a former player for the Aggies – and she told Stevens the program started to go downhill and eradicating the program at the time was probably necessary.
However, Harmer told Stevens she never anticipated the program being defunct as long as it has been, Stevens said.
Everything is about to change.
One of Pugmire’s main objectives when he was hired as Athletics director was to reinstate women’s basketball as a Division I sport at USU. The objective will become a reality when the Athletics department is able to come up with the necessary funding, Pugmire said. As of right now, he said the goal is to have the sport reinstated for the 2003-2004 season.
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “In this day and age, in this conservative state, for us not to have women’s basketball to me is just [unacceptable].”
Bringing women’s basketball back to USU is also a priority of President Kermit L. Hall, said James MacMahon, vice president for Advancement.
“I think the president is very positively-oriented toward having a women’s basketball team and so am I,” MacMahon said. “Not just because it would help us to get into a conference, but also because women’s basketball is an important sport nationally.”
This is music to Stevens’ ears, who was also in shock when she first found out the Aggies didn’t have a Division I program, she said.
“I was very excited because it just floored me that we didn’t have a program,” she said. “It just appalls everybody because we are one of three schools in the nation without women’s basketball.”
Reinstating the sport will also serve a far greater purpose, MacMahon said. Establishing the sport will foster women’s advancement at USU, he said, which is something President Hall feels strongly about.
“Anytime we do something to increase the participation of young women who are students here, that’s a positive,” MacMahon said.
Not only will the re-addition of women’s basketball fulfill one of Pugmire’s primary objectives, it will also help satisfy new Division I institutional requirements the NCAA announced and instituted last year, Pugmire said.
Among the stipulations are 16 Division I sports and 200 grants and aid provided by each university. Presently, USU offers 15 Division I athletic programs and between 170 to 175 grants and aid, Pugmire said.
“Women’s basketball will help us go a long way to meeting two of those requirements,” he said.
Starting a new athletics program is not an easy matter, though. In the Big West, the average expense for women’s basketball is $500,00 per year for each school, Pugmire said. Because of the desire to be competitive with the other schools, he said the Aggies will need the same budget.
“It’s very expensive to add a sport,” he said. “It just isn’t a matter of uniforms, travel and coaches, but support staff, sports information people, trainers [and] guarantees to bring teams to Logan [to play the Aggies].”
As a result, Pugmire said women’s basketball is the only current club-level sport Athletics has seriously considered elevating to the Division I level.
Now that the addition of women’s basketball is imminent, Pugmire is now undergoing the painstaking process of securing the funding which will make the program competitive.
To raise money, Pugmire will try and contact former USU players in hopes of obtaining financial assistance and will turn to businesses for private contributions. Also, some of the revenue from football and men’s basketball will be set aside for the program, he said.
“We’re trying to identify and locate some corporations and foundations that may have some interest in helping us get this up and running,” Pugmire said. “We’re trying to turn over every rock we can.
“It’s a complicated, expensive process, but it’s one that needs to happen,” he said.
Stevens said she would also like to contribute to the cause. A former player for Snow College and Weber State University, Stevens has established ties with legendary University of Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. Stevens said she plans on asking Summitt for suggestions on how to raise money for the program.
In order for the program to establish a strong foundation, Stevens said it is imperative the university hire a coach who has the ability to draw fans. Stevens said she heard former Utah Starzz coach Denise Taylor and current BYU-Idaho coach Lori Woodland have shown some interest in coaching the Aggies.
“I think one of the big things as far as drawing people to the program is the hiring of a coach with some kind of a name such as Denise Taylor,” Stevens said.
Pugmire’s desire to build a program has nothing to do with Title IX – the rule implemented by the NCAA in 1972 to promote equality for women collegiate athletes. The addition of women’s soccer in 1996 met the conditions of Title IX, he said.
“We’re not doing it because we have to do it,” he said. “We’re not doing it for equity reasons. We’re doing it because we want to and it’s the right thing to do.”
Not only is it the right thing to do, Pugmire said, but it is one of the four premier collegiate sports in the country, the other sports being men’s basketball, women’s volleyball and football.
“Women play the game extremely well, so I think it’s something that will really excite our fans,” MacMahon said. “It’s potentially a sport that will pay for itself.”
With the transition to a university-sponsored Division I sport, one thing is for certain: The club program will be eliminated.
Stevens said, “The program will completely dissolve and it will be picked up from ground zero.”
This is a fate Stevens recognizes and accepts.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere qualified with the recruiting, all of the rules and the scholarships and all that stuff you need some experience with,” she said. “But I would like to step into some kind of assistant position, knowing the area, knowing the school like I do.”