ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 15, 1996 TAG: 9611150030
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
VMI MAY HAVE seven sports teams available for females by the next school year.
VMI offers 13 intercollegiate men's sports at the NCAA Division I level. Next year at this time, the school could be offering up to seven for women.
VMI, in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that the school's all-male admissions policy was unconstitutional, has formed a subcommittee to begin formulating a sports program for women. That subcommittee, a 12-member group of coaches, faculty members, Board of Visitors members and cadets and staff, hopes to have as many as seven teams in place by the 1997-98 school year.
Those would be: cross country, indoor and outdoor track, swimming, golf, tennis and riflery. Some VMI officials believe a women's cross country team could compete at the top of the Southern Conference from the beginning.
``If we're going to do it, we're going to do it right,'' said Brig. Gen. Mike Bozeman, VMI's track and cross country coach and the school's former commandant. ``It may be a challenge, but we're going to try to compete in the upper division of the conference.''
Bozeman has reason for thinking that way. Of 197 applications received this fall in VMI's admissions office, seven have come from females. Five of those run cross country at their high schools and two are team captains. Five runners are needed to field a team at the intercollegiate level.
If fewer than five female freshmen want to run cross country, they still may compete for individual honors against other schools' women's teams. The same would be true for the other sports. The Southern Conference, of which VMI is a member, does not sponsor swimming or riflery, so no conference titles are available in those sports.
The conference, however, does have a stake in VMI's program. The Southern Conference constitution requires that a school that offers women's sports field teams in women's basketball, women's volleyball and five other sports. The league's athletic directors passed a bylaw Wednesday that said VMI and The Citadel, which also is forming a women's athletics program, have a five-year grace period before they must field those teams. However, if enrollment and interest cannot support such teams, the issue can be revisited at any time within that five years and an extension may be granted.
``They have done what they're supposed to do,'' said league commissioner Wright Waters. ``They've done a great job of working it out. I certainly think they're moving in the right direction.''
Other conference policies say athletes may compete for individual championship honors if their school does not field a full team. VMI also was told that women may compete with the men's golf and tennis teams, but their scores will not count toward an overall team score.
By having a year to get its program in order, VMI actually could be ahead of the game. For example, the school is nearing completion on women's locker rooms in the Cormack Field House that will be larger than the men's.
VMI's aim is to have the resources available to account for whatever interest their future woman cadets express. Student interest is the factor that will best determine the shape of VMI's athletic program for women. The school also should be within the bounds of Title IX legislation, which demands activities and opportunities be offered in proportion to male-female enrollment. If female enrollment is equal to male enrollment, for example, there should be just as many sports and resources offered to women as men.
Female enrollment at the United States military academies sits at 12 percent after 20 years of coeducation.
``From the get-go, we should be able to meet proportionality,'' Bozeman said.
Because the proposed women's sports compete at the same venues and sometimes alongside the men's, there shouldn't be an immediate athletic budget impact. Money will be spent on housing, scholarships and uniforms, but men and women will travel on the same vans, buses and planes.
The budget will become a bigger concern once team sports begin, because they cost so much more to sponsor. The school will not set deadlines for when it will begin fielding teams in women's basketball, volleyball, soccer, etc.
``Individual sports seem like the natural choice and that's probably where we'll cast our lot,'' Bozeman said. ``What do we need to do for the future? We'll see what the demand is.''
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON Staff. Football remains the marquee sportby CNBat VMI, but there are 12 other sports for men. Women may have as
many as seven next year.