As part of the Board of Regents meeting on April 6, Eastern Kentucky approved the university budget advisory committee’s recommendations including the addition of a women’s beach volleyball program to the athletics department.
As part of the addition, the proposal including cutting the men’s and women’s tennis teams and reducing personnel in the department, slicing more than $2 million in spending.
All told, the budget advisory committee recommended more than 153 personnel cuts campus-wide, the closure of the university’s Danville campus and mode modifications.
Eastern Kentucky has supported a women’s volleyball program since 1966 and made two NCAA Tournament appearances (1984, 2004) and won seven Ohio Valley Conference regular season titles (the last a co-championship in 2005) and nine OVC Tournament titles (last in 2004).
In 2017, the Colonels went 13-19 in 2017, including a 10-6 mark in OVC play. EKU wrapped up the season in the OVC semifinals, falling in four-sets to No. 1 seed Austin Peay.
This is the most recent collegiate announcement of an athletics department cutting sports to add beach volleyball. the University of Idaho originally stated it would be eliminating swimming, golf and women’s soccer and adding beach volleyball and women’s triathlon for Title IX compliance.
Since the initial announcement, the university has been granted a waiver that will keep gives them more time to address its budget deficit without making the cuts.
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