On Thursday, the University of Montevallo interim president Dr. Terry Robinson sent out an email to students revealing that he was recommending the Board of Trustees eliminate a variety of programs including the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs after this season.
Montevallo is an NCAA Division II program in Alabama, and they compete in the Carolinas Conference. This email comes just one week before their Conference Championships are starting on February 18th in Kingsport, Tennessee.
The email, obtained by the Shelby County Reporter, told students that along with swimming and diving, the university is voting on the elimination of men’s and women’s tennis as well as 16 minors and concentrations:
- African-American studies
- Cybersecurity
- Economics
- Entrepreneurship
- Family and consumer sciences education
- Financial sales
- Hospitality and tourism
- Human resources
- Latin American studies
- Management information systems
- Music technology
- Nonprofit studies
- Peace and justice studies
- Philosophy and religion
- Professional writing
- Retail merchandising
The reason for these were part of Montevallo’s effort to cut costs. “Pending approval of these recommendations by the Board of Trustees, the university is well on its way to accounting for $8 million needed to secure its financial position based on our current projections.”
Last year, Montevallo reported an $8 million deficit in their budget, and in May of 2025, they made sweeping program cuts to help account for some of this cost by making sweeping cuts. These cuts included eliminating 24 staff positions, the leadership team taking voluntary pay reductions, the elimination of the cycling team, increasing student tuition for the first time in seven years, and selling 183 acres of land.
The University of Montevallo currently has 16 women’s swimmers on their roster, with one senior, and 18 men’s swimmers with three seniors.
There are three swimmers committed to the Montevallo program for the class of 2026. Jospeh Goulait is committed to the men’s program while Addie Barowsky and Sidney Stromerg are committed to the women’s.
Montevallo is one of two programs to be cut in the last 24 hours with the Marshall University women’s team getting cut on Thursday.
#saveUMSwimandTennis
#saveMontevalloswimanddive
There are actually two senior females on the Montevallo swim team.
Only one listed on the roster :-/
I wonder what the Title IX implications are for this. Unlike Marshall, this is a men’s and women’s team getting cut, so not necessarily making things worse from a proportionality standpoint, but this doesn’t make things better either. Just hard to imagine that schools are feeling okay about chopping women’s athletics in the face of some of the Title IX problems people have had in the past. It does tell you the state of things is pretty bad…
I am not sure that Title IX is a huge concern if your college is facing insolvency.
I get your point, but insolvency doesn’t absolve a school from following the law. The legal response is easy: “then it sounds like you need to cut a men’s team.”
The school also did not cite institutional financial insolvency.
Lawsuits are expensive. Going to court to have to reverse your decision is an expensive way to wind up where you started.
So either they think they’ve found a loophole, they don’t think Arthur Bryant is going to take the case, they’re adding another cheaper women’s team, or there are other cuts coming.
My money is on they’re adding a big cheap women’s sport to show progress on the Title IX issue while cutting costs. May or may not… Read more »
I don’t disagree, but if they are talking about cutting 18 degree programs or minors, they are in big trouble. At the end of the day, colleges are businesses as well, and if a school is losing $8MM per year, they are not long for this world.
Why are these announcements coming now? Is this the best time to do this for the budget cycle? I cannot stand that this news comes before their championships. I hope that everyone who wants to continue competing can find a new program to call home.
I’m unsure either. I emailed the AD of Marshall to ask.
I assume budget issues are announced after Board of Trustee meetings. Individual sports training cycles have nothing to do with it
If I were still a student athlete I would want to know before the championships so I could ensure they are special. I would hate to find out afterwards that ‘last week’ was the end.
There’s never a good time. It at least allows athletes the chance to be prepared when the portal opens in a few weeks