The
OSU Volleyball Club team asked me to come back and coach them again this year. And since my 'move' back to Stillwater, I've been helping them out two nights a week. We're trying to help the club program grow and participate at a national level. And it's extra special here at Oklahoma State since they are one of only two (Vanderbilt) D1 schools (out of 332) in the nation that do not have a women's volleyball program! (Latest
Division 1 RPI rankings) Of course we are not close to adding an NCAA women's program in Stillwater any time soon (unless someone has connections with Boone Pickens?? ...and really? the Cowgirl Equestrian team needs 63 girls? I'll talk more about that later...), but the club program is a respectable entity which has existed for 25+ years. On the men's side it has produced some great beach volleyball players such as Jake Gibb (Utah) and
Phil Dalhausser. And after winning three straight national club volleyball titles in the mid-1980's, the BYU men's volleyball club was added to the athletic program and became an NCAA team. They have since won 3 NCAA national titles ('99, '01, '04). Although there exists close to a thousand NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA women's volleyball teams, the women's volleyball club program around the nation also continues to grow. The OSU girls joined the SIVA conference this year, participating in tournaments in Texas. They placed 3rd in their first tournament at UNT! You can check out more info on the
OState Volleyball blog.
A little more ranting, then I'll stop. I know the NCAA only allows 15 scholarships to be given for the equestrian team so the number of team members may be irrevelant. But lets compare OSU's athletic program to one very similar:
Texas A&M. Both schools have an equestrian program and if we continue to check teams against each other, they match almost one-to-one. One difference is A&M has a men's swim team, while OSU has men's wrestling. Those basically cancel each other. And what we are left with is Texas A&M still has enough room to provide for a women's swim team and volleyball program! And if we compare another school which has an equestrian team (
Georgia) we see the exact same thing, plus Georgia is able to field a women's gymnastics team. Now I'm not an expert on NCAA rules nor do I know how the OSU athletics department divides up its' scholarships, but it seems to me they are missing out by not having a women's volleyball team. Plus the Big 12 conference is only 11 without them :`( ..So what's the problem?
----> $Money$ (Plain and simple, just not enough resources to add a new sport)
