St. Edwards Hilltoppers to drop six sports

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com 

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved

AUSTIN, TEXAS (April 15, 2020) In what could be a prefix of things to come from other colleges and universities, St. Edward's University has announced in a prepared press release that the university will be dropping six sports from their athletic department due to financial and budgetary concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sports that will be terminated at the end of the current spring semester include men's and women's tennis, men's and women's golf, and men's soccer. Cheer will be dropped from the athletic department and resigned as a club in the RecWell department.

In the press release, Associate Vice President for Athletics Debbie Taylor stated, 

"As we make this difficult transition, I know that all of our coaches and staff members have our student-athletes as a top priority and will work closely with them to support their needs."

It also stated that all scholarship-eligible student-athletes impacted by this reduction will have their athletic scholarships honored for the duration of their undergraduate enrollment at the university. In addition, all athletes wishing to transfer and compete at another institution will be given their full and immediate release. 

With the reductions, the Hilltoppers will field four men's and six women's programs and one co-ed sport. The remaining men's sports include baseball, basketball, track and field, and cross country. Women's sports that will still be contested include basketball, volleyball, softball, track and field, cross country and soccer. The lone co-ed sport remaining will be esports.