VMI to study addition of another women’s sport

VMI athletic director Donny White announced plans for the formation of a committee to study the addition of a new NCAA women’s sport to begin play in the 2011-2012 academic year. 

When it takes the field, the sport would be the seventh women’s athletic program sponsored by VMI, which competes on the Division I level. The addition of the sport would bring the Institute in full compliance with NCAA standards which require seven men’s and seven women’s sports for membership in the Division I ranks.

VMI, which will field six women’s sports in 2009-10, had been granted since 1997 a series of waivers by the NCAA to conduct its Division I intercollegiate athletic program with fewer than the required women’s seven sports.

The committee will present its recommendation on sport selection to VMI Superintendent General J.H. Binford Peay III. A decision on sport selection will be made after carefully evaluating competitive, recruiting, facilities, and revenue-related issues and their impact on the Institute and its educational mission while fulfilling NCAA guidelines.

“We are happy to begin the process of starting another women’s sport at VMI. Our task is to compare women’s sports that are classified as NCAA “team sports” and select the best one for VMI,” said White. “Our women’s programs have made significant progress in competing on the Division 1 level. Our soccer team finished second in the Big South Conference last year while cross-country and track continued to show marked improvement. We are confident that the seventh women’s sport will fit in well, be competitive, and meet the athletic interest and abilities of VMI women. This committee will meet beginning in September with the goal of presenting a recommendation to the superintendent early in 2010.”

VMI, which fielded its first women’s athletic program a month after females were first enrolled in August 1997, sponsored sports in soccer, cross country, indoor track, outdoor track, and swimming during the recent 2008-09 academic year. Rifle, which had competed as a coed team, will field a separate women’s team beginning in 2009-2010 bringing the current total of women’s sports to six.

Following the committee findings and a selection of a seventh sport, a coach will be hired no later than July 2010 to direct the program and begin the recruiting process to field a team for play the following academic year.