A new bill recently passed in the West Virginia Senate could be what’s needed to save the Marshall University women’s swimming & diving program.
News broke in mid-February that the school was cutting the team at the end of the 2025-26 season due to “financial reasons,” team members were told. A few days later, Marshall made it official, announcing it was adding a women’s STUNT program in place of the swim & dive team.
“This is a structural decision about sustainability and alignment in a rapidly changing NCAA environment,” University President Brad Smith said.
However, less than a month before Marshall cut its swim & dive team, Senate Bill 502, known as the “Women’s Collegiate Sports Protection Act,” was introduced in the West Virginia Senate, and on Tuesday, it was passed with a unanimous vote (not including one absentee).
The bill would allow public Division I universities in West Virginia, such as Marshall, to establish women’s athletic endowment funds—the principal of which cannot be expended, only earnings—to help give programs long-term financial stability.
“The bill would provide permanent funding and incentives to protect women’s college sports at public NCAA Division I colleges in West Virginia,” the Senate wrote in a brief description.
“It would offer endowments, state matching funds for savings, and tax credits for private donations while ensuring compliance with Title IX.”
Directly From The Bill – Legislative Findings and Purpose:
“The Legislature finds that women’s collegiate Olympic sports provide significant educational, athletic, and leadership opportunities for students of this state; that such programs face increasing financial instability due to shifting athletic funding priorities and external market pressures; that operational efficiency within public institutions of higher education should be encouraged and rewarded; and that permanent endowment funding provides protection against program elimination, budget volatility, and inequities arising from fluctuations in athletic funding.
The purpose of this article is to protect and sustain women’s collegiate Olympic sports programs through permanent endowment funding; to reward verified institutional efficiencies; and to ensure full compliance with federal Title IX requirements.
A group of Marshall alumni sent a letter to the West Virginia House and Education Committee on Tuesday, calling on them to support SB 502’s advancement through the House while clarifying that the bill’s intent “includes restoring lost women’s programs.”
FULL LETTER:
Dear Members of the West Virginia House Education and Finance Committees,
We write to you as proud alumni of Marshall University and strong supporters of women’s collegiate athletics in West Virginia.
With SB 502 having passed the Senate, we respectfully urge you to support its advancement through the House and ensure its implementation meaningfully strengthens women’s sports across our state.
SB 502 represents a significant commitment by West Virginia to protect and sustain women’s collegiate athletic opportunities. At the same time, Marshall University recently eliminated its Women’s Swimming & Diving program, removing substantial participation opportunities for female student-athletes and impacting long-term roster stability.
We believe these two developments must be considered together.
If West Virginia is investing in protecting women’s collegiate sports, reinstating Marshall Women’s Swimming & Diving is the clearest way to demonstrate that commitment.
Prior to the program’s elimination, many alumni were not formally engaged in a structured fundraising effort to sustain the team. Since then, it has become evident that meaningful private fundraising support is possible. With the funding mechanisms outlined in SB 502—particularly if structured to allow state partnership or matching support—reinstatement becomes financially realistic rather than theoretical.
We respectfully ask the House to:
- Advance SB 502 with strong support
- Clarify that the intent of the bill includes restoring lost women’s sports programs
- Consider whether institutions eliminating women’s programs should receive funding without demonstrating reinstatement pathways
- Encourage a state–university partnership model that leverages private alumni fundraising
- Support the creation of a restricted reinstatement fund for eliminated women’s programs
Marshall Women’s Swimming & Diving represents opportunity, leadership development, and meaningful participation for female student-athletes in our state. SB 502 provides a framework to align policy with action.
We stand ready as alumni to partner in a responsible and sustainable solution.
Thank you for your time, service, and thoughtful consideration.
Although there are no guarantees for Marshall, if the bill passes the House, “reinstatement becomes financially plausible — not theoretical,” the MUSD Instagram page said in its most recent post:
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SB 502 was introduced in the House on Thursday.
So they couldn’t set up an endowment before? I guess I am confused. This doesn’t say that the state will support it, just that it can.
We haven’t been given a chance to create an endowment or fundraise since the announcement of the cutting of the program. Basically being told it was “impossible”. We are hoping now that this will motivate Marshall Athletics to at least give us the opportunity as it includes tax incentives and state matching funds.
No offense to the state of West Virginia but OMG, West Virginia is leading the security of Olympic Sports in this day and age of total political dysfunction and lack of anything productive out of Congress. Who woulda thunk? Well done.