One of the most common questions when discussing athletics at UCCS is, “Why don’t we have a football team?”
The absence of football, along with other sports, is one of the questions that UCCS Athletic Director Nathan Gibson has to answer frequently. As it turns out, there is a lot that goes into establishing programs at a collegiate level.
There are many factors to consider when bringing a new sport to a college campus; everything from surveying student interest, to finding funding to following NCAA regulations. It is not as easy as giving people equipment and telling them to go play.
Before getting to work on creating a program, Gibson and his staff do their research, measuring student interest for what sports would best fit the campus. “We’ve been intentional about speaking to our students, hearing from student government and student representatives and student groups,” said Gibson.
The presence of club sports on campus can also be a meaningful step in bringing a sport to the NCAA level. Strong participation at the club level was a big influence in bringing women’s soccer to UCCS, according to Gibson. “There was a line at the door asking why we don’t have a varsity NCAA program. So those types of things make it pretty obvious that we might need a sport,” he said.
If a sport has enough popularity behind it, the next step is finding a way to fund it. According to Gibson, a budget is created to locate where funds come from. In general, about half of the funding comes from student fees, and the other half comes from campus funds.
That is why it is important for Gibson to measure student interest, as a new sport more often than not means a fee increase. Fortunately for students, Gibson and the athletic department try to keep that fee at a reasonable range for students. “It’s one of the lower fees in Division II and in our conference. We’ve been intentional about making sure that our student fee isn’t high and that it’s not a burden for our students,” he said.
When it comes to stadiums and facilities, fundraisers and taking on debt as a school are often involved. With Gibson and his staff wanting to provide adequate facilities for their teams, they have to be sure that there is enough interest in a sport to make the debt worth it. “Obviously we have to fund it, and we want to fund it at a high level so we can be good at it,” he said.
Once a program has enough momentum behind it, a coach is hired, and players are recruited to build a roster that is capable of competing at a certain level.
The NCAA closely looks at how a program is being built and ensures that a school can be competitive and take care of its students. One of the regulations schools have to follow closely is Title IX, which is a law requiring schools to provide equal opportunities and benefits to both men and women in athletics.
Another factor that can impact a potential sports program is the presence in the region. UCCS plays in the RMAC conference, and when considering bringing in a new sports program, the athletic department looks at the presence of that sport in other schools in the conference.
Without popularity in the conference or region, schools have to schedule games in other regions, which can take a toll on both the athletes and staff. “The amount of missed class time that those students would have, the amount of money it would cost — it just doesn’t seem reasonable at this point,” he said.
This is a problem that has prevented the establishment of men’s lacrosse, as only three teams in the RMAC have a team and they find themselves traveling to Georgia for conference games.
While that news could be discouraging for fans of those sports, there is no shortage of strong UCCS programs to root for, as the Mountain Lions have been making a splash across all sports this fall.
But for those yearning for a new sport, the rise in popularity of women’s flag football has garnered the attention of Gibson and other directors across the RMAC. While nothing is set in stone, women’s flag football could be coming to a campus near you!
The UCCS baseball field. Photo courtesy of the UCCS Photography Database.