Student athletes are sent into a panic after Loyola Marymount University’s announcement to discontinue six teams after the 2023-2024 athletic season.
The decision was announced on Jan. 23, and will affect 118 student athletes, five full-time coaches, and two part-time coaches. The sports being cut are men’s cross country, track and field, and rowing, along with women’s swimming, track and field, and rowing.
On the day of the announcement, In a statement, LMU said that the decision was made in order to “provide the best possible student-athlete experience, adapt to the quickly changing NCAA landscape, and ensure continued equal opportunities and access,” to the athletic programs that will remain.
However, the two unclear questions that remain are: why was this decision made, and what happens to the student athletes that have now lost the opportunity to compete in their sports?
The student athletes want answers. Sharp says that many currently feel like they are not being told the full truth, and that they are not being helped appropriately to deal with this decision.
A decision that was made by LMU’s Athletic Director Craig Pintens, where he cited the new Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) changes as the main reason for this outcome. NIL refers to the rights college athletes have to control and benefit from their name, image, and likeness through marketing and promotional endeavors, which is why there was confusion caused by the legitimacy of this claim. NIL is not a fatal expenditure or a financial liability, it just means that athletes are allowed to profit from institutions outside of the university.
According to Alena Sharp, a sophomore on the women’s swim team, not only were the reasons unclear, but the delivery seemed “negligent and very dismissive to all the student athletes.”
Well, the student athletes are questioning the timing of the decision, as it was announced just days after the tuition refund deadline and after the early decision deadline for most universities. Meaning that it has left both the new early decision arrivals bound to LMU despite their sport being terminated, as they have already agreed to come to LMU for their freshman year at the beginning of the upcoming fall. While also leaving the current athletes with no time to transfer out during this semester.
“Our rights as athletes have been violated,” said Will Lodgers, a junior cross-country and track and field student athlete. “We were abandoned and stranded, and not given a fair warning.”
These numbers were anonymously released on Fizz in February. In an email to The Lion, LMU’s Assistant Athletic Department Lerman confirmed these numbers to be true, as they are taken directly from the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA), through the U.S. Department of Education, which maintains publicly accessible data about universities’ athletics departments.
The table does show that the six sports being cut decrease the school’s total operating athletic expenses by $386,863, from its current total of $4,434,376. This would be a significant drop, but the school has announced that they will continue to honor the scholarships and financial aid for the student athletes affected by the discontinuation of the programs being cut for the rest of their time at LMU. Even though, in reality, some of the student athletes in the aforementioned sports did not receive any scholarships or financial aid.
Sharp said athletes on the women’s swim team reached out to the school for help with having their transfer applications paid for,
“Zero out of the 28 athletes on the women’s swim team are on scholarship,” Sharp said, “and many cannot afford to apply for a transfer.”
Sharp claims that their request was dismissed, leaving them stuck at LMU without being able to continue competing in the sport they have worked so hard for. However, Lerman stated that he has not been made aware of any examples of such situations.
The graphic also shows that the sports with the lowest annual budgets were cut, other than rowing that has the sixth highest budget.
“While optimizing finite resources is always a consideration, this decision was based on a comprehensive analysis involving various factors and not motivated by a lack of financial resources,” Lerman said. “In the long term, cost savings will be concentrated on supporting the remaining programs, positioning LMU Athletics for greater success in the future.”
Five of the six head coaches of the canceled programs are women, along with the majority of their supporting staff. Only 6 percent of men’s NCAA Division I teams are coached by women.
Of the 118 student athletes affected by the cuts, 81 are women.
Throughout this whirlwind of emotions that these student athletes have endured recently, they continue to build a connection and togetherness with each other. It is the only positive that has come out of this situation so far.
“It really is the moments like these that make you realize that these are the guys you are going to be friends with for the rest of your life,” Lodgers stated, “Not even Craig Pintens can break that bond.”
They have received, and continue to receive, support from their fellow students, alumni, and the general public. Students and alumni have been spreading awareness of the topic on their social media feeds, news outlets dedicated to each specific sport have made several posts in support of the student athletes, and the current LMU community has been vocal about their discontent with the decision.
About 200 students protested the school’s decision last month on campus across Sunken Gardens at Regents Terrace, before marching around campus with banners and t-shirts reading “Save LMU Sports”.
Multiple media vans showed up on campus to report on the protest, but were denied access by security, forcing students to step outside the campus to have interviews conducted with the news outlets.
“The amount of support is something special. It’s been incredible,” Lodgers said. “I really do believe that once a Lion, always a Lion.”
Additional reporting by Kylie Dobbs
