By Ryan Wilson, Editor
SPRINGFIELD – Lincoln Land’s soccer program is facing elimination.
The Lincoln Land Community College Board of Trustees will discuss and possibly vote to cut the program at the Feb. 25 board meeting.
The college said cutting the sport would “better align” college athletics with Title IX and offer “significant cost savings.”
LLCC now has 60 men and 47 women athletes. Title IX is a federal law passed in 1972 requiring colleges to offer equal athletic opportunities for men and women.
“That, combined with an annual large attrition of players and a constant need to rebuild the team roster are the reasons we are asking the board to look more closely at the sport,” says the agenda for Feb. 25’s board meetings.
LLCC spent $133,515 on soccer last year, according to a 2014 report on LincolnLandLoggers.com. That is the third lowest of any sport.
The college spent $10,990 on soccer game-day expenses last year, the lowest of any sport. That cost includes lodging, meals, transportation, uniforms, equipment and referees.
Lincoln Land Community College has had soccer since the late 1970s, the State Journal-Register reported. Lincoln Land has not cut a sport since 1992, when men’s golf, tennis, cross country, track and women’s tennis were dropped.
LLCC now has six sports: men’s basketball, baseball and soccer, and women’s softball, volleyball and basketball.
This is the second time in the last three years that the soccer team has been in jeopardy, according to the SJ-R.
Lincoln Land’s board of trustees had the same discussion in January 2013, after Lesley Frederick, vice president of student services, brought a memorandum questioning soccer to the board’s attention.
Lynn Whalen, Lincoln Land’s executive director of public relations and marketing, said in 2013 that the soccer players would have kept their scholarships, if the sport had been cut.
The college fell under public pressure and decided not to cut the sport.
T.J. Marble, then the soccer team’s head coach, left after pressure from Fredericks and Athletic Director Ron Riggle.
“We now find soccer to be in a position which allows us consideration of cost reduction,” said the agenda for the board meeting on Feb. 25.
Lincoln Land’s soccer team went 7-12 this season. The Loggers won only one of their last 10 games of the season.
They were 15-4 in 2013, when they were ranked 19th in the NJCAA Division 1.
The board meeting on Feb. 25 starts at 5:15 in the R.H. Stephens Room (Menard Hall). It is open to the public.
Ryan Wilson can be reached at [email protected] or (217) 786-2311.
