University of Miami (FL) Drops Men’s Swimming and Diving, Men’s Crew

Coral Gables, FL- The Miami Hurricanes, who have produced 15 Olympic divers including four-time gold medalist Greg Louganis, are dropping their men’s swimming and diving and crew programs to comply with Title IX gender-equity laws.

The school also plans to add a women’s volleyball team within the next two years, athletic director Paul Dee said.

The two programs will be dropped after this season, but school officials want the teams to continue at the club level in hopes of bringing them back as varsity sports in the future. Dee said Miami was left with no choice but to cut the programs to comply with Title IX, the federal law that requires schools to give men and women equal athletic opportunities.

One element of Title IX requires schools to have athletic participation similar to the male/female ratio of the student body. When Miami started implementing its Title IX compliance plan four years ago, the school’s undergraduate population was 55 percent men and 45 percent women. By adding women’s soccer and crew teams and capping walk-ons in football and baseball, Miami managed a 56-44 split this year. But the female student population has soared to 54 percent, leaving Miami still 10 percent shy of compliance.

“We still weren’t able to make it all the way,” Dee said.

The moves will leave the Hurricanes with seven men’s sports – one more than the minimum for Division I certification – and 10 women’s sports, including the addition of volleyball.

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