NCAA Division III Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa has eliminated it’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs, along with shooting sports, immediately.
The moves are part of efforts to reduce an institution-wide budget deficit by about $7 million over the last three years. A long-standing budget deficit was at about $12 million in 2024.
“After a careful review of the College’s programs and long-term financial priorities, Simpson’s administration has made the difficult decision to discontinue the men’s and women’s swimming and diving program effective immediately,” interim athletic director Heath Moenck wrote in an email to the swimming & diving teams. “Please know this decision was not made lightly. We recognize your dedication and hard work as members of this team. We understand this announcement may be disappointing to you and other members of the Simpson College community.”
Jason Mulligan was recently named the school’s full-time director of athletics.
Ky Frederick, a rising sophomore, told the student newspaper that earlier this semester, the teams were told there was no risk to the teams being cut, according to the school’s student newspaper, which reported further exchanges between athletes and the administration.
The school’s online rosters list 7 members on the women’s team and 11 on the men’s team, all swimmers. The women’s team listed 13 names a season prior and reported 15 athletes to the federal government.
Both programs finished 5th out of 5 teams at the A-R-C Championships in February 2026.
The team was led by Audrey Bramlett, who won the conference title in the 1650 free and set four school records at the meet.
The men’s team set five school records at that meet.
Simpson College is a small private Methodist-affiliated college with approximately 1,200 full-time undergraduates.
The school reports total assets of $145 million and total liabilities of $41.9 million as of 2024, and has an endowment of around $82 million.
While the school does not report expenses broken out by team, the total athletics department budget in 2024-2025 was $3.3 million, with $2.3 million being for sports besides football and basketball.
The athletics department went viral on Tuesday on X after posting a picture of its women’s softball team getting off a school-branded plane en route to the NCAA Division III Softball National Championship tournament, with many users not realizing the post was AI-generated.
We have landed safely in Raleigh, North Carolina!
Now, on a Charter Bus to our final destination: Salem, Virginia!#RollStorm l #WeBuildChampions pic.twitter.com/xrBxObrEKl— Simpson Softball ⚡️ (@SCStormSoftball) May 26, 2026
Maybe they should’ve gotten rid of the plane instead of the athletic programs
Seems like someone on the Softball team did not think unless they were unaware of other teams being cut.
This is a trend
Not really. D3 is adding more teams than it’s losing.
The challenge for D3 coaches is recruiting. If you keep your roster full you’re fine. If your roster contracts, you risk becoming a target.
This seems like one of the bigger D3 teams that has been cut, several of the others (if I remember correctly) had rosters between 5 and 10.
Do they have a pool on campus or do they rent pool time somewhere?
At d3 tuition driven colleges, the job is recruiting. That’s the only thing that matters. If you have a full roster of kids who can barely do a flip turn, you’re fine. If you have 5 kids but they’re all All-Americans, you’re toast.
Start with bringing in huge numbers, and hopefully they are good swimmers too! You are a recruiter that gets to coach the kids you recruit, not a coach that reluctantly recruits.
Bingo
Yup. I coached D3 for one season until it became abundantly clear that the AD wanted me filling the roster with kids who couldn’t break :30 in a 50 free, and not building an actual competition program.
Now the team is much bigger, slower, and gets worse grades…but, hey, that’s what they wanted!
More teams are being cut than added overall over the past 5 years.
The CSCAA tracks this data. I asked them for it. Here’s what they sent. So dating back to 2021-2022, it’s +1.
I would add aging facilities as the other reason programs at the D3 level are cut. Especially in the Northeast, where many facilities were built in the 60s and 70s, and schools don’t have the money to build new ones.
4 d3 programs this year. Hanover, Olivet (MI), Simpson (IW), & Bluffton
What were their total rosters this year and maybe last year (any with more than 15 athletes)?
I don’t remember reading about Bluffton getting cut, must have been done rather quietly… is there a link?
Hmmmm I couldn’t find one either. They added swimming for 2021-2022.
Maybe they were thinking of the Findlay merger, which I guess would have reduced the number of programs by one, but was ultimately canceled?
It’s no longer listed on their athletics department website. A coach in the conference told me.
https://blufftonbeavers.com/landing/index
Damn. That was quiet. Will dig for more details.
Be ready. Another D3 program in Central Illinois is rumored to quietly do the same.
Oh no, just signed with a team in that area, any hints? School colors?