U. of North Dakota cuts women’s hockey, swimming/diving

Earlier this year, UND President Mark Kennedy announced that the athletics department would need to reduce its 2017-18 budget by more than $1.3 million. The university discontinued its baseball and men’s golf programs a year ago.

The university will honor athletic scholarships for discontinued sports at their present equivalencies for returning student-athletes. Specific details have been provided to the student-athletes regarding their future aid.

UND Athletics Director Brian Faison met with the affected coaches, staff and student-athletes on Wednesday afternoon. CJOB.com reported that many of the student-athletes learned about the cuts through media reports before hearing word from the school.

From CJOB:

“They were angry, shocked, disappointed, completely frustrated. It’s certainly understandable. You don’t have an answer to what you’ve taken away from them. It’s such a family, and we’ve really ripped a family apart. That’s a really hard dynamic to address, and frankly, you probably can’t.”

Former players have been ripping the school on social media, as the news comes just after USA Hockey agreed to pay female players more money, seemingly indicating a desire to grow the women’s game. The irony isn’t lost on Faison.

“That’s a concern, obviously. More critical for collegiate hockey, you’ve gone from 35 to 34 schools. That’s not a good thing and we know that. We had to what we needed to do for UND but at the same time we had some sense about the impact it was going to have. Certainly the irony is there, no question.”

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