DIII Schreiner University Likely To Add Women’s Swimming Program Alongside Football

In a presentation last month on Schreiner University’s long-term plans, Schreiner president Charlie McCormick said that the school was prepared to add a football and women’s swimming program, according to the Kerr County Lead. And while the approval of a women’s swim team has not been made official, Schreiner University officials allowed former NFL player and Schreiner alum Charles Johnson to formally announce yesterday the addition of Schreiner’s football team that would begin competition in the fall of 2025.

Schreiner is an NCAA Division III school located in Kerrville, Texas that competes in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). Other schools in the SCAC that sponsor swimming and diving include Trinity University, Colorado College, Southwestern University, McMurry University, Ozarks University, Austin College, Centenary University, and the University of Saint Thomas (TX). St. Thomas is also a new addition to the SCAC, with the school having announced in July 2022 that they would add a swimming and diving program for the 2023-24 season.

McCormick said that Schreiner would consider partnering with the city of Kerrville to renovate the school’s “Olympic pool complex”. The pool renovation, as well as a football stadium and a track and field complex that are also planned additions, would cost around $30 million in spending.  Currently, Schreiner has one pool on campus—an outdoor pool called the Edington pool.

In a survey conducted by Schreiner on what sports they should bring to campus, the school’s students voted for football as the number one choice and swimming as number two, while the faculty voted for swimming as number one and football as number two. McCormick believes that adding football will result in a 40% increase in student and staff numbers, and would be a way for “some young men to find their way to college and to complete college”. In addition, football would be part of a larger effort to make Kerrville more of a “college town”.

Schreiner has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,017 students as of fall 2021, although the school’s graduation rate is 48%.