USD’s complex athletic program decision process
From generating revenue to gender equality, deciding which athletic programs are offered at USD is a complex process.
While student interest, adequate facilities and revenue are important factors in deciding athletic programs, David Herbster the athletic director at USD said Title IX is one of the most vital components in the process.
Title IX
Title IX prohibits discrimination in educational programs based on an individual’s gender. Program expansion, proportionality and accommodation of student interests are the three pillars that guide athletics when considering Title IX.
Herbster said Title IX is instrumental for USD athletics.
“In college athletics we have to maintain compliance with gender equity through Title IX, which plays an important role with sport offerings, number of athletes on each roster and resources provided for our sports programs,” Herbster said. “We have to be in proportion within 3 percent of our student body population for each gender, which is 60 percent female and 40 percent male.”
Herbster said maintaining roster sizes that reflect proportionality can be a tricky process.
“It can be difficult for us to maintain roster sizes that reflect proportionality by having to cap some of our men’s program rosters, while on the other hand making sure we’re keeping up with offering proportionate and adequate athletic programs for our women,” Herbster said.
Finding facilities
With the recent addition of women’s triathlon, finding adequate facilities was key in adding the new athletic program.
“We chose women’s triathlon because you don’t need big equipment, big facilities and new facilities for triathlon because we have a pool through our swimming program, and a track program,” Herbster said. “There is a nice combination in resources with respect to training for women’s triathlon, and we’re very well prepared to absorb the program in with our facilities.”
USD women’s athletic portfolio currently offers every program in the Summit League, while men’s athletic portfolio lacks three sports.
Baseball, soccer and tennis are the three men’s athletic programs USD doesn’t offer. Adequate facility space and budgeting play a big role in lacking those particular men’s sports, Herbster said.
“We don’t have adequate facilities for a baseball team, but partnering with the city of Vermillion is a route we could take,” he said. “We used to have a baseball team, in fact Prentis Park used to be where USD’s baseball team played until the program was cut around 2004 due to budgeting concerns and maintaining proportionality under Title IX.”
Budgeting and revenue
Generating revenue and budgeting play an important role for USD athletics.
“Let’s use men’s tennis as an example, with only a couple home matches a year it’s very difficult for us to even charge admission in that sense,” Herbster said.
Herbster said basketball and football are the main drivers for generating significant revenue in the Midwest and at the Division 1 level.
“The top three sports that generate the most amount of revenue for us in order are football, women’s/men’s basketball and volleyball,” Herbster said.
Herbster said ticket sales, sponsors and donations are important aspects for generating revenue at USD athletics, and sports with less popularity in the area like men’s tennis don’t have as much opportunity to generate revenue like basketball and football do.
Student interest
Student interest is another one of the three pillars that guides USD athletics. Keith Hurly, a junior business management major and a member of Coyote Crazies, said he’d like to see USD add a men’s soccer program.
“I want to see men’s soccer get added, because if there are some great players in the future from South Dakota, they can stay in their home state and not have to go out of state to play soccer like one of my best friends had to do,” Hurly said.
USD is currently in proportion to gender equity under Title IX, but some of the sports students hope to see get added would fail to stay within the proportion of student body population.
Jessica Sandbulte, a senior accounting major and a member of Coyote Crazies, said she wants to see men’s volleyball at USD.
“I would really like to see men’s volleyball get added,” Sandbulte said. “I really enjoy watching men’s volleyball during the Olympics and seeing how athletic some of the players are.”
While Herbster aspires to see USD athletes achieve on the playing field, succeeding in the classroom is something he greatly values.
“I don’t want to add something just to have numbers; if we’re going to add something, I want to win,” Herbster said. “I want them to win and I want them to graduate.”
