The state of Texas, affectionately known as football country, has north of 28 million residents, and is home to 5 different Local Swimming Committees (LSCs) of USA Swimming – matched only by California. The 28,000+ year-round athlete members in the state of Texas is again only surpassed by California.
And still, the state is home to only 8 NCAA Division I women’s swimming & diving programs, and just 5 men’s programs. That ranks 8th and 9th, respectively, among all states in the country. The state ranks even worse (16th and 15th, respectively) when all 3 of the NCAA’s divisions are taken into account.
But that number could be getting a boost in the near future, thanks this time to an assist from football, according to a feasibility study released earlier this week by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).
The study, conducted by College Sports Solutions, was a first step in the school’s exploration of adding an NCAA Division I football program (and, doing so at the FBS, or 1A, level).
While the report overwhelmingly supported the idea of adding a football program, it noted possible Title IX pitfalls. The school’s student body for the year studied in the report was 56.6% female, but their athlete opportunities were only 48.6% female – out of line with Title IX’s “substantially proportionate” opportunities requirement. Adding an FBS footballteam would push that to 64% male and 36% female, the study projects, meaning that the school would need to cut men’s sports or adds women’s sports.
Specifically, the study suggests the addition of softball, beach volleyball, and swimming and diving to offset the football addition.
According to a report by the Brownsville Herald on the topic, the study, commissioned in 2016, is dated August 2017. A delay on moving forward with the football program has been caused by the university’s focus on the UTRGV School of Medicine, which had its accredidation placed on probation in December of 2016 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
Two other schools in the University of Texas system, UT Permian Basin and the University of Texas at Austin, already have women’s swimming programs. UTRGV was founded in 2013 when the system merged UT Brownsville and UT Pan American, and officially began operation in 2015. The school has an indoor 8-lane, 25-yard pool on campus that ranges from 3 feet to 12 feet in depth.
According to the Rio Grande Guardian, the mayor of neighboring Pharr, Texas, Ambrosio Hernandez, announced that the school will buuild a new aquatic center in the city, which will be a collaboration with the PSJA School District and will also be used for sports medicine and rehabilitative surgery. The school is also planning to develop a medical clinic campus in Pharr.
The report first appeared in the Monitor. The Brownsville Hearld is a sister paper that just ran the same story. Here is the original. https://www.themonitor.com/sports/utrgv_vaqueros/article_2aa53d18-9aba-11e8-9d46-1ba23372cff8.html
In my opinion they’d be better off adding one at UT-San Antonio where they could potentially utilize the Northside Aquatic Complex that the US team used for camp just prior to Rio in 2016. Should also consider adding at least a women’s team at Sam Houston State in Huntsville and Texas State in San Marcos, and adding a men’s team to the already existing women’s team at UH. The UH pool is a gorgeous indoor 50m facility that is hardly ever used.
Agree. More interest from student athletes for the campuses you mentioned. UTSA is a great campus ripe for growth and the Northside Aquatic complex is fabulous. Does Texas State even have a pool?
Just a little insert on the plans..
PHARR, RGV – In his 2018 State of the City Address on Thursday, Pharr Mayor Ambrosio Hernandez announced UT-Rio Grande Valley will soon have a presence in the city.
UTRGV is to build an aquatic center in Pharr, Hernandez said.
“Through the collaboration, the PSJA School District and our families will have the opportunity to use the indoor aquatic center for practice time and the hosting of competitive school swim meets throughout the year,” Hernandez said.
“Imagine that, our very own state-of-the-art facility here at home with significant additions in the area of sports medicine and rehabilitative services.”
They also had this going on in 2010. http://www.yourvalleyvoice.com/news/article_b6ded293-a32d-5a37-9ce3-17475c1c33df.html
Just a little insert from the RGV Guardian;
PHARR, RGV – In his 2018 State of the City Address on Thursday, Pharr Mayor Ambrosio Hernandez announced UT-Rio Grande Valley will soon have a presence in the city.
UTRGV is to build an aquatic center in Pharr, Hernandez said.
“Through the collaboration, the PSJA School District and our families will have the opportunity to use the indoor aquatic center for practice time and the hosting of competitive school swim meets throughout the year,” Hernandez said.
“Imagine that, our very own state-of-the-art facility here at home with significant additions in the area of sports medicine and rehabilitative services.”
They tried this in 2010 under when it was UTPA
http://www.yourvalleyvoice.com/news/article_b6ded293-a32d-5a37-9ce3-17475c1c33df.html
Good find Swim Dad – will add that to the article!
I’m sure everyone would love for teams to be added at those places…but this is not an “either or” situation. If UTRGV needs one to become Title IX compliant, they’ll get one – those other schools you mentioned are already compliant, so probably aren’t adding them any time soon. Among them, though, I could see UTSA broadly expanding its collegiate athletics program, given that it’s a huge school that’s only going to get bigger, and probably they’ll have a good profitable football program in the near future.
That Northside Aquatic Center, in my opinion, is going to turn into a financial pit. In spite of its latitude, it’s usually below 50 degrees in San Antonio in the mornings in December,… Read more »
Would you see any other mid-major Division I, Division II or Division III Texas Institutions adding swimming in the future, or any other UT System Schools other than UTSA? If no, which ones might you think make the most sense for an institution of those sizes to perhaps start a new program?
Incarnate Word recently moved from Div 2 to 1 and seem to be doing well. North Texas has a women’s only Div-1 team, but could really use a nicer facility. Trinity has a solid Div 3 program and is refurbishing their indoor facility. Southwestern has a Div 3 program. The problem with a lot of the UT and Texas A&M school is that, besides their main campuses in Austin and College station, most are considered commuter schools. SMU is poised to do well since they just built a nice new indoor facility. TCU is really a weird situation with just an indoor 6 lane pool considering their other athletic facilities. Surprised Texas Tech doesn’t have a team. And Baylor not… Read more »
I want to say a few years back Baylor cemented over their indoor pool to build a football practic facility…
Yet another reason I’m not a fan. If you’re going to do that, at least be good in football.