GEORGETOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — Athletes at Georgetown College are outraged after the school suddenly announced they are cutting several sports programs to save money. Coaches and players said they never knew their programs were in trouble. Now administrators aren’t responding to their concerns.
Thursday, June 2, the school officially announced in a Facebook post that they were no longer funding competitions for Men and Women’s Golf and Junior Varsity Soccer or the Archery team to quote “save on institutional costs.”
“To lose freshman year to COVID was one thing you know you can accept that over time. It affected everybody. But to lose it to this has been devastating,” said Men’s Golf member Jake Damron.
He said administrators kept him and his teammates waiting on a zoom call for over 20 minutes before their coaches decided to deliver the bad news.”He said ‘I’m just going, to be honest with you. Our program is being cut’,” said Damron. Conor Taylor, who coached both Men and Women’s Golf, said he was never notified that either team was in financial trouble.
“We did not go over budget, and we are actually a pretty self-sustaining program. We host two major tournaments that pay for 25 percent of our own budget right off the bat,” said Taylor.
Taylor said administrators also never told him they were considering cutting the programs, and they might’ve been able to fundraise the rest of the money if given more notice.
An online petition to save the programs has already garnered over one thousand signatures. Damron and Taylor said they hope the public outcry will convince administrators to change their minds. “Every wrong can be righted, and I think it is a possibility to return the golf programs,” said Taylor. The school said that all scholarships will still be honored for incoming freshmen and current players.
