ADVERTISEMENT

UPDATE: Minnesota Eliminates 4 Men's Programs & 0 Women's Programs (because of Title IX). 41 Female Roster Cuts across Several Teams also made

Franisdaman

HR King
Nov 3, 2012
82,267
104,261
113
Heaven, Iowa
At the completion of their 2020-21 competition season, the following programs will be cut:

*men's indoor track and field
*men's outdoor track and field
*men's gymnastics
* men's tennis

Should health and safety precautions allow, these teams will have the opportunity to compete during the 2020-21 season.




Why did 4 Men's Programs & 0 Women's Programs have to Go?


According to the following story, reducing the number of U of Minnesota male athletes by 58 will help the department’s ratio better match that of the undergraduate population, which is 54% female.

The Story:

Title IX issues make cutting four Gopher men's sports necessary
Title IX matters complicate the issue because 54% of undergrads are women.

By Megan Ryan
Minneapolis Star Tribune
SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 — 6:33PM

The Gophers didn’t make the decision to cut three sports in the heat of the COVID-19 moment.

That ax has been swinging above their heads for years.

Athletic director Mark Coyle faced questions from the university’s Board of Regents on Friday about his call to eliminate men’s tennis, men’s gymnastics and men’s track and field (indoor and outdoor). Coyle said when he announced the cuts Thursday they stemmed from a combination of financial difficulties and Title IX issues.

But Regent Mike Kenyanya asked Coyle if the Title IX compliance worries were overdue, with the coronavirus pandemic as the “the tipping point.”

“Without question, COVID has sped up this conversation,” Coyle said, adding his department had been evaluating its sports offerings for a few years before the pandemic.

The Gophers stand to lose $75 million in revenue without fall sports after the Big Ten canceled them a month ago. Cutting the three men’s sports after the 2020-21 season will save the department only $2 million in fiscal year 2022 and an annual savings of $2.7 million once all the athletes with scholarships in those sports have graduated.

But reducing the number of male athletes by 58 will help the department’s ratio better match that of the undergraduate population, which is 54% female.

Coyle said the coaches within the department worked hard in recent years to keep up with campus’ increasing female enrollment through roster tinkering. But some of the women’s teams were growing larger than the national average.

As for the suggestion of creating an endowment to save teams from the chopping block, athletic department CFO Rhonda McFarland estimated each sport would need a $60 million endowment to become sustainable.

“You’re talking significant, significant amounts of money, millions upon millions of dollars, that would have to be raised immediately,” Coyle said, “so we could use that interest to support those programs.”

Regent Thomas Anderson asked why the Gophers weren’t adding women’s teams to balance the Title IX numbers. Coyle, though, didn’t really see that as an option. He said adding a women’s team would cost millions to start up for scholarships, coaches, athletic medicine staff, strength and condition personnel and more. And that’s still not enough.

“Adding just one women’s sports would not solve the issue,” Coyle said. “We would have to add more than one women’s teams to keep the [Title IX] numbers in balance, given the difference.”

Coaches, athletes and alum of those three soon-to-be-cut Gophers programs have been vocal about their disapproval, starting online petitions and asking Twitter followers to contact the Board of Regents before the October meeting where the regents likely will vote to make Coyle’s recommendations official. But both the regents and Coyle seemed resigned.

Because even if some third party did come through with multimillions, the department still wouldn’t have the cash to remedy the Title IX concerns.

“When we arrived here four years ago, we had these parallel tracks with respect to the financial reality of what we’re dealing with and then also the Title IX component,” Coyle said. “As we review our programs from a Title IX perspective, these are difficult choices we have to make to remain in compliance.”

ows_ac0b7d27-4ff0-482c-801f-7b6ec31c23d1.jpg

U graduate John Roethlisberger was an Olympic gymnast in 1996 in Atlanta and finished seventh in the all-around, among the many highlights of a program that will be disbanded.

 
Last edited:
At the completion of their 2020-21 competition season, the following programs will be cut:

*men's indoor track and field
*men's outdoor track and field
*men's gymnastics
* men's tennis

Should health and safety precautions allow, these teams will have the opportunity to compete during the 2020-21 season.


Very sad.
 
Also really sad that all the money flowing in from football and these universities can't build an "emergency fund" to survive ONE year without cutting programs.
it appears that most (if not all) universities spend what they bring in, where there is no rainy day fund.

where a lot of the money has gone:

* Coaches salaries have sky rocketed
* Spending on facilities has become an arms race, with everyone trying to out do each other
 
Where it Title 9?? Equality for the sexes would imply an equal number womens schollys be terminated, right????

Most likely they were already out of compliance so this probably gets them closer to compliance. I think it would be harder to actually find a school that is in total compliance than one who is not. Title IX is a fed rule and they have so many other issues to be worried about they are not really monitoring I as long as there is not alot of complaints. I do also think that alot of schools are using Covid as an excuse to cut sports to fix their horrible management of finances, and then it being majority of mens teams being cut it makes them look better in terms of compliance. At end of day, it is BS and really is very shortsighted in choosing to cut sports
 
Big schools absolutely are in compliance with title 9 and absolutely are monitoring it....I'd they don't someone less friendly is and will sue them.

The problem is they forget that title 9 doesn't mention gender and yet it is really only used when women aren't being treated equally. Or at least not being treated equally as some perceive.

Men in those programs should file a lawsuit under title 9. I guarantee it would have already happened if 4 women's programs had been cut and no men's programs.
 
If the sport does not pay for it self who cares.

This is a terrible standard. There are zero high school sports that pay for themselves. Nine of the small colleges or really anyone outside the power 5 have sports including football that pays for itself.

This only is a problem with the wealthy schools.

As I tell my kids rich people still go bankrupt. It isn't an issue of income but rather spending.
 
Big schools absolutely are in compliance with title 9 and absolutely are monitoring it....I'd they don't someone less friendly is and will sue them.

The problem is they forget that title 9 doesn't mention gender and yet it is really only used when women aren't being treated equally. Or at least not being treated equally as some perceive.

Men in those programs should file a lawsuit under title 9. I guarantee it would have already happened if 4 women's programs had been cut and no men's programs.

That has been tried and gone nowhere. The universities would easily win a suit brought by players of men's sports as they are still giving equal opportunity to men based on the scholarship distribution.
 
it appears that most (if not all) universities spend what they bring in, where there is no rainy day fund.

where a lot of the money has gone:

* Coaches salaries have sky rocketed
* Spending on facilities has become an arms race, with everyone trying to out do each other

This has been discussed before. Schools do share some of the blame for the current situation. A few things can all be true at once:

  • The spending definitely got out of hand as times were good from the TV money. Salaries for coaches (even non-revenue sports) go up significantly, plus all the spending on facilities, support staff, nutrition, etc.
  • Politically, the athletic departments would not have been permitted to create a big war chest of cash. If Iowa had set aside $500 million or even $200 million for a rainy day, there would have been immense pressure to give that money back to the university or to spend it on paying down the debt for things like the north end zone renovation. Athletic departments are provincial just like any other organization, so they plow the money back into things they want to spend it on, like facilities, support staff, etc.
  • These athletic departments do operate as non-profit organizations, so there is an incentive to put the money they take in back into their organization and the people they serve.
  • I don't know that anyone would realistically anticipate a scenario where revenue potentially goes to zero. Not just reduced, but to zero. Now, if football and men's basketball are able to be played without fans, some of the TV revenue comes in. But they are still missing out on all the revenue from football and men's basketball tickets. Plus the additional cost of all the testing that is going on with COVID.

    It will be interesting to see what if any behavior changes once COVID is gone. There will be a lot of talk about not letting spending go out of control again. But as soon as one school in a conference plows a bunch of money into new facilities or adds 15 new support staff people to get an edge in football, the pressure mounts for others to follow suit to not get left behind.
 
Big schools absolutely are in compliance with title 9 and absolutely are monitoring it....I'd they don't someone less friendly is and will sue them.

The problem is they forget that title 9 doesn't mention gender and yet it is really only used when women aren't being treated equally. Or at least not being treated equally as some perceive.

Men in those programs should file a lawsuit under title 9. I guarantee it would have already happened if 4 women's programs had been cut and no men's programs.

I think that there are different ways to comply with Title 9. As I read it, having scholarships between men's and women's programs that are proportional to the male/female student population is one way to comply. There are significantly more women enrolled at the University of Minnesota than there are men, so I think there can be more women's scholarships than men's scholarships and not cause a Title 9 issue. Just my guess.
 
I think that there are different ways to comply with Title 9. As I read it, having scholarships between men's and women's programs that are proportional to the male/female student population is one way to comply. There are significantly more women enrolled at the University of Minnesota than there are men, so I think there can be more women's scholarships than men's scholarships and not cause a Title 9 issue. Just my guess.

I don't think so. Otherwise there would have been more men's scholarships allowed. It is only recently that women became the majority

Women being the majority actually works against them in this scenario because title 9 is about equality of opportunity.
 
it appears that most (if not all) universities spend what they bring in, where there is no rainy day fund.

where a lot of the money has gone:

* Coaches salaries have sky rocketed
* Spending on facilities has become an arms race, with everyone trying to out do each other
When you take money from taxpayers, taxpayer don't care want for you to just stash it away. TV money for most, just means they use less taxpayer funding
 
I don't think so. Otherwise there would have been more men's scholarships allowed. It is only recently that women became the majority

Women being the majority actually works against them in this scenario because title 9 is about equality of opportunity.

With caps on scholarships per sport, I do not think that's the case.

Quick search: Tennis (4.5), Gymnastics (6.3), Track (12.6).
 
Also really sad that all the money flowing in from football and these universities can't build an "emergency fund" to survive ONE year without cutting programs.
Yeah the universities should not be held blameless for becoming so dependent upon football revenue to support every remaining sport in their programs.

That's the real sham in all of this, because it definitely WAS NOT always like this.........just sayin.
 
With caps on scholarships per sport, I do not think that's the case.

Quick search: Tennis (4.5), Gymnastics (6.3), Track (12.6).

You could be right but the purpose is not specifically sports for title 9. Women have more scholarships than men in every sport to balance out football. For them to eliminate around 24 scholarships on the men's side without a balance on the women's side is a head scratcher. For example there are 18 scholarships allowed for track for women and only 12.6 for men. It was already imbalanced within that sport in favor of women to help balance out football.
 
You could be right but the purpose is not specifically sports for title 9. Women have more scholarships than men in every sport to balance out football. For them to eliminate around 24 scholarships on the men's side without a balance on the women's side is a head scratcher. For example there are 18 scholarships allowed for track for women and only 12.6 for men. It was already imbalanced within that sport in favor of women to help balance out football.

If written in today's environment, using "underrepresented" would allow better balance between the gendered sports. The balance in cases would shift to more opportunities for male scholarships to align with the women's side.
 
Also really sad that all the money flowing in from football and these universities can't build an "emergency fund" to survive ONE year without cutting programs.
This seems to be the new American business model- spend it as fast as you make it. Whatever happened to the old "save it for a rainy day" model?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hawkfan_08
I don't know how accurate it is, but I've heard that if they save up a big pile of money to survive something like this, they'd open themselves up to the claim that they are a for-profit business. In order to stay on the side of non-profit amateur athletics, they have to spend everything they bring in. Which, when a once in a century event like this happens, could sink them.
 
I think that there are different ways to comply with Title 9. As I read it, having scholarships between men's and women's programs that are proportional to the male/female student population is one way to comply. There are significantly more women enrolled at the University of Minnesota than there are men, so I think there can be more women's scholarships than men's scholarships and not cause a Title 9 issue. Just my guess.
Men need to sue under Title 9 grounds for equal representation in the overall student body. How do these schools get away with admitting way more men than women?

My school is VERY guilty of this . South Dakota is skewed to the point it is damn near 65% female to 35% male. Lotta women on campus isn't always a bad thing though...
 
  • Like
Reactions: MplsHawk
Men need to sue under Title 9 grounds for equal representation in the overall student body. How do these schools get away with admitting way more men than women?

My school is VERY guilty of this . South Dakota is skewed to the point it is damn near 65% female to 35% male. Lotta women on campus isn't always a bad thing though...
Especially if one swings that way.
 
Where it Title 9?? Equality for the sexes would imply an equal number womens schollys be terminated, right????

I guess Title IX is a lot more complicated than we realized. According to the following story, reducing the number of U of Minnesota male athletes by 58 will help the department’s ratio better match that of the undergraduate population, which is 54% female.

The Story:

Title IX issues make cutting four Gopher men's sports necessary
Title IX matters complicate the issue because 54% of undergrads are women.

By Megan Ryan
Minneapolis Star Tribune
SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 — 6:33PM

The Gophers didn’t make the decision to cut three sports in the heat of the COVID-19 moment.

That ax has been swinging above their heads for years.

Athletic director Mark Coyle faced questions from the university’s Board of Regents on Friday about his call to eliminate men’s tennis, men’s gymnastics and men’s track and field (indoor and outdoor). Coyle said when he announced the cuts Thursday they stemmed from a combination of financial difficulties and Title IX issues.

But Regent Mike Kenyanya asked Coyle if the Title IX compliance worries were overdue, with the coronavirus pandemic as the “the tipping point.”

“Without question, COVID has sped up this conversation,” Coyle said, adding his department had been evaluating its sports offerings for a few years before the pandemic.

The Gophers stand to lose $75 million in revenue without fall sports after the Big Ten canceled them a month ago. Cutting the three men’s sports after the 2020-21 season will save the department only $2 million in fiscal year 2022 and an annual savings of $2.7 million once all the athletes with scholarships in those sports have graduated.

But reducing the number of male athletes by 58 will help the department’s ratio better match that of the undergraduate population, which is 54% female.

Coyle said the coaches within the department worked hard in recent years to keep up with campus’ increasing female enrollment through roster tinkering. But some of the women’s teams were growing larger than the national average.

As for the suggestion of creating an endowment to save teams from the chopping block, athletic department CFO Rhonda McFarland estimated each sport would need a $60 million endowment to become sustainable.

“You’re talking significant, significant amounts of money, millions upon millions of dollars, that would have to be raised immediately,” Coyle said, “so we could use that interest to support those programs.”

Regent Thomas Anderson asked why the Gophers weren’t adding women’s teams to balance the Title IX numbers. Coyle, though, didn’t really see that as an option. He said adding a women’s team would cost millions to start up for scholarships, coaches, athletic medicine staff, strength and condition personnel and more. And that’s still not enough.

“Adding just one women’s sports would not solve the issue,” Coyle said. “We would have to add more than one women’s teams to keep the [Title IX] numbers in balance, given the difference.”

Coaches, athletes and alum of those three soon-to-be-cut Gophers programs have been vocal about their disapproval, starting online petitions and asking Twitter followers to contact the Board of Regents before the October meeting where the regents likely will vote to make Coyle’s recommendations official. But both the regents and Coyle seemed resigned.

Because even if some third party did come through with multimillions, the department still wouldn’t have the cash to remedy the Title IX concerns.

“When we arrived here four years ago, we had these parallel tracks with respect to the financial reality of what we’re dealing with and then also the Title IX component,” Coyle said. “As we review our programs from a Title IX perspective, these are difficult choices we have to make to remain in compliance.”

ows_ac0b7d27-4ff0-482c-801f-7b6ec31c23d1.jpg

U graduate John Roethlisberger was an Olympic gymnast in 1996 in Atlanta and finished seventh in the all-around, among the many highlights of a program that will be disbanded.

 
Last edited:
I don't know how accurate it is, but I've heard that if they save up a big pile of money to survive something like this, they'd open themselves up to the claim that they are a for-profit business. In order to stay on the side of non-profit amateur athletics, they have to spend everything they bring in. Which, when a once in a century event like this happens, could sink them.

That makes sense, but also sucks that the rules encourage schools (football teams) to basically burn money.
 
And yet they don't detail the title nine concerns.

If the ratio needs to match the ratio in the undergraduate population then the goals posts have been moved now that women are the majority.

They have also set themselves up for issues outside of athletics with this statement. Are there for example academic scholarships or tutoring just for women? I guarantee there are and I also guarantee there is nothing like that for men.
 
Time to just drop "men's" and "women's" programs. Just have one basketball program and equal opportunity to men, women, trans, whoever. if you're good enough to make the team so be it. That is true equality right?..............Why do football scholarships all count against the men's program. There have been instances of women playing D1 football on the "men's" team.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jo12208
Gophers planning to cut 41 women athletes in addition to pending men's cuts
In addition to terminating three men's teams, the Gophers athletics department also plans smaller rosters for eight women's and two men's teams, according to data obtained by the Star Tribune.

By Rachel Blount
Minneapolis Star Tribune
OCTOBER 2, 2020 — 11:27AM

For the past three weeks, Tate Sweeney has been part of the effort to save three men’s sports at the University of Minnesota. Once she took a closer look at the plan to eliminate them, the Gophers women’s cross-country captain realized the downsizing wouldn’t end there.

A quick calculation showed Sweeney women’s rosters would have to be trimmed, too.

This week, a Gophers official confirmed to the Star Tribune that the U plans to have 98 fewer athletes on its nonrevenue teams next school year. That means 41 previously unreported women’s athlete cuts, in addition to 57 men cut by the elimination of men’s track and field, tennis and gymnastics.

“We’re not going to let it go down without a fight,” Sweeney said. “It feels like we’re objects rather than people.”

Beyond terminating those three men’s programs, pending Board of Regents approval, the Gophers project smaller rosters for eight women’s and two men’s teams, according to data obtained by the Star Tribune from the athletic department. Six men’s teams and one women’s team are predicted to add to their rosters.

Sweeney’s women’s cross-country team, for example, is projected to have 20 athletes next fall, down from 34. The Gophers women’s rowing team will lose 15 athletes, according to the projections.

The Star Tribune has been requesting an interview with athletic director Mark Coyle for this story since Monday, but he has not been available for comment. He announced the men’s sports cuts Sept. 10, citing financial and Title IX concerns.

The U is projecting major revenue losses because of the coronavirus pandemic, and it is looking to save money in many ways. The school also needed to bring the gender balance of Gophers athletes into alignment with the student body. The current undergraduate enrollment is 54% women and 46% men.

But dropping the men’s programs put the ratio at 59% women and 41% men, forcing the U to shrink women’s rosters to get to the proper ratio.

The early September announcement of the sports cuts noted “roster adjustments in women’s programs” would be required, without specifying how many. Sweeney, a redshirt junior from Edina, said the athletic department has not informed her and her teammates about the reduction.

“No one has told that to us,” she said Wednesday. “We’ve been in meetings. We have said, ‘With Title IX, and you cutting these men, it makes it so women have to get cut.’ … They’ve told us it’s not going to happen and that we are OK.”

According to an athletic department spokesman, the athletic administration communicated with the head coaches of impacted women’s sports about the cuts. What that communication included, and whether that communication reached student-athletes, was unclear. Coyle was not made available to clarify.

Title IX compliance calculations use the number of roster spots as opposed to the actual number of student-athletes, so one athlete can account for three roster spots if, for example, they compete in cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track. The Gophers women’s indoor and outdoor track rosters are also slated to shrink next school year, by 18 spots apiece.

“I don’t think they’re willing to put in the effort to tell us the real facts,” Sweeney said. “I don’t think they want us to fight it. But the thing is, we’re Gopher athletes, and we’re passionate. And we fight for each other.”

Next steps

The Regents are expected to discuss the men’s program cuts at their next meeting Oct. 8-9. While supporters and athletes work to save the sports, Regent Michael Hsu said the cuts are being made too hastily.

“I really don’t understand what they’re trying to do,” Hsu said. “I think it’s premature. I would like to see us preserve all of our sports until such time as we get back to a normal environment, and then decide what we’re going to do.”

Retired women’s cross-country coach Gary Wilson lamented the loss of opportunities for both men and women. The total number of roster spots for Gophers athletes has shrunk steadily over the past three years, falling from 948 in 2017-18 to a projected 638 in 2021-22.

“We don’t have budget problems, we have priority problems,” Wilson said. “The Olympic sports have deep roots in this community. If this isn’t reversed, there are going to be repercussions money-wise and PR-wise for years.

“A lot of people love the U and want it to succeed, but not on the backs of the Olympic sports. There’s a way to fix this. Cutting sports isn’t the way to do it.”

The U currently sponsors 25 sports, fourth most in the Big Ten, on a $123 million athletic budget that ranks eighth in the conference. In their announcement of the men’s sports cuts, Coyle and U President Joan Gabel said that number was not sustainable, despite record fundraising and reductions in operating expenses in recent years. Coyle warned in May of needing to consider many options, including cutting sports, regarding a potential $75 million pandemic-produced loss. “Everything is on the table,” the athletic director said.

In September, Coyle said cutting men’s gymnastics, tennis and track and field would save an estimated $2.7 million per year once all scholarship athletes have graduated. When Coyle was asked in a news conference about that relatively small savings, he pointed to Title IX concerns.

“Over the past few years, the female undergraduate population on our campus has increased 2 to 3 percent,” Coyle said. “So when we make these adjustments and announcements … we will now mirror campus with respect to having approximately 54 [percent] of our student-athletes being female, and 46 percent of our student-athletes being male.”

But as women’s enrollment has grown, the U has reduced women’s sports rosters. In 2018, the U.S. Office for Civil Rights found the U in compliance with Title IX’s proportionality requirements. At the time, female enrollment was 51.96%, while the proportion of women athletes was 50.49%.

Since then, the number of women’s roster spots has fallen from 466 to 415, reducing their proportion to 50% of athletes. Women’s enrollment has risen to 53.62%.

‘Whole different challenge’

Wilson recalled a time when the Gophers added roster spots rather than cutting them to comply with Title IX. In 2004, when then-AD Joel Maturi was considering eliminating sports, Wilson increased his cross-country roster by 30 to raise the proportion of women athletes to the proper level.

“It cost a few thousand dollars,” Wilson said. “Some of those women went on to become All-Americans, like Gabe [Anderson] Grunewald.”

Current women’s cross-country coach Sarah Hopkins — who was part of Wilson’s team at that time — has made a similar proposal. In a letter to the Regents, Hopkins said she could “easily add 10-15 women to my roster … There are certainly creative ways to do it that add a minuscule amount to my budget.”

Maturi said Coyle, though, is facing “a whole different challenge” than he did. Rising coaches’ salaries, increased staffing and debt service on new facilities have ballooned the budget. He pointed out Iowa and Stanford have eliminated sports since the pandemic began.

“I think it’s disappointing and sad in a lot of ways,” said Maturi, who retired in 2012. “I’m hoping [cutting sports] doesn’t have to be part of the continuing solution here. But Mark has expressed there is anywhere from a $40 million to $75 million immediate deficit in finances. That’s unprecedented.”

Sweeney, the cross-country captain, is part of a legion of supporters who have attended rallies, signed petitions and flooded the Regents with e-mails and letters. She said she is willing to sacrifice some things, such as training-table meals, to save opportunities for others. She also worries there could be more cuts ahead.

“We’re looking at it and saying, ‘What can we do?’ ” Sweeney said. “It’s hard to think the athletic department might not be doing the same, and looking through every single option.

“We’re here because we love this university, and we want to represent it to the best of our abilities. But is that university putting the same effort back into us?”

 
Can someone clear up something for me? Is a roster spot equal to one scholarship? The article above talked about adding a bunch of roster spots, and I wondered if, like in softball, they hand out partial scholarships to several gals and it counts as the number of players vs the number of scholarships.
 
Can someone clear up something for me? Is a roster spot equal to one scholarship? The article above talked about adding a bunch of roster spots, and I wondered if, like in softball, they hand out partial scholarships to several gals and it counts as the number of players vs the number of scholarships.

Is a roster spot equal to one scholarship? I don't think so because they are talking about the total # of men cut (who are most likely on a partial scholarship) & the total # of women cut so that the percentage women athletes vs that of men athletes is in line with the student population.

Where is seems to get tricky is you could have one girl taking a roster spot on cross country and taking a roster spot on track & field. That would count as 2 roster spots. It's crazy accounting, imo, to get in compliance w/ Title IX.

A female in softball would most likely only play softball so that would be one roster spot for every athlete trimmed from the softball team roster.

It is interesting that they are taking away roster spots from some sports and adding roster spots to other sports where the net is a 41 roster spot reduction across all female sports.
 
Solution:
Drop all women’s sports because NOBODY cares. Start a women’s mud wrestling team. Everybody is happy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jo12208
Solution:
Drop all women’s sports because NOBODY cares. Start a women’s mud wrestling team. Everybody is happy.

Sports do not exist in high school and college for the benefit of the fans. They exist for the participants. Equality of opportunity exists to provide for each student athlete to be afforded the same chance to participate and the same opportunity to earn a scholarship. It means your son and your daughter are guaranteed the same rights.
 
They should simply offer each sport with both a men's and women's team. Offer women's football and this entire problem is solved. Or do the right thing and set football scholarships off to the side and recognize that it isn't a missed opportunity if women won't go out for the football team.
 
ADVERTISEMENT