Another collegiate beach volleyball program is in the works as Missouri State University announced it will add the sport in place of field hockey as part of an effort to cut athletics department costs.
Reportedly, the swap will save more than $300,000.
The Bears have had a field hockey program since 1966 and women the AIAW Division II champion in 1979. There are currently 79 field hockey programs nationwide.
Beach volleyball, meanwhile, is a growing sport, which was sanctioned as an NCAA women’s sport in 2016. There are currently 65 programs nationwide, including 53 in Division I.
Missouri State is set to field its first team for the spring 2018 season. The school has already begun advertising the head coaching position. On the hardwood, the Bears posted a 26-9 mark in 2016, including the Missouri Volleyball Conference title and an NCAA Tournament first round appearance. The program has managed 17 straight winning seasons, 18 conference championships and 11 NCAA Tournament berths.
“This was an incredibly difficult undertaking,” athletics director Kyle Moats said in the school’s announcement earlier this month. “The work group looked at nearly every possible scenario to reduce expenses without cutting programs. As budgets are being cut across campus, Athletics must do its part. Ultimately this decision was made instead of sacrificing the competitiveness of all other sports.”
Missouri State is also reducing scholarships, cutting programs for each athletics program, restructuring aid for fifth-year student athletes without eligibility and lowering apparel spending among other items to make up the difference in a proposed one million dollar reduction.
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