By Kinohi Manning
When people think about Title IX, thoughts of equality for men and women may be conjured.
However, others may simply understand Title IX as the end of wrestling or the beginning of softball.
Many, in fact, blame one upon the other.
“It was hard to be blamed,” said softball player Liz Smith. “I just came here to play. It seemed like a lot of people tried to pin the blame on us.”
In 1997 the BYU athletic roster listed two more men”s sports than women”s.
Title IX compliance required equality — either add two more women”s teams or delete two men”s teams.
The deletion of men”s gymnastics and wrestling teams coincided with the softball team”s creation.
Men”s gymnastics and wrestling programs are dwindling, said associate athletic director Duff Tittle.
Unable to both add softball and keep the disappearing teams on the budget, the athletic department was forced to take money budgeted for the men”s gymnastic and wrestling to create the softball team, Tittle said.
The need for equality does not exist simply in the number of teams; the number of scholarships also defines equality.
“We have 53 percent of women on campus, so that means 53 percent of that participation should be women. We”re currently right now at 44 percent,” said women”s athletic director Elaine Michaelis in a Sep. 7, 1999 Daily Universe article. “Per scholarship we have less funding for the women than the men.”
Athletic scholarships are called “grant-in-aids,” and to insure title IX compliance, the NCAA mandates the number of grant-in-aids men”s and women”s teams have for athletes, said eligibility clerk Kimberley Denney.
NCAA rules then divide grant-in-aid sports into two categories.
One is a full grant — coaches must award one per athlete.
Women”s basketball, gymnastics, tennis and volleyball all require athletes to receive full grants.
“Even if one of the players is a BYU dependent, we cannot use the leftover money to give to another person,” Denney said.
After grant-in-aid money is distributed to full ride scholarship athletes the surplus goes back to the athletic department, Denney said.
In men”s sports, NCAA regulations require football and basketball to award full grants, 85 for football and 13 for basketball.
The other grant-in-aid is an equivalency grant.
Sports under this category can choose to divide the grant-in-aid money among the team.
For example, men”s golf has 4.5 grants to divide among 9 players, said men”s golf coach, Bruce Brockbank.
Not all coaches like the NCAA system of full ride and equivalency grants.
Each sport has a different number of grants assigned.
The number varies not only between sports, but also between men”s and women”s teams.
Smaller sports don”t have as many grants assigned to their sports as larger sports.
For instance, women”s track is given 11 grants, while the team consists of 30 women Denney said.
“I understand what they”re trying to do,” Brockbank said. “I think they could accomplish what they were trying to accomplish if they were to loosen up on the minor sports.”
“If all the golf programs had 6.5, it would give you a little more room to work,” Brockbank said, “You can”t be as aggressive with 4.5. You need to be able to offer scholarships to get those blue chip athletes.”
The diving team also noted the difficulty in recruiting nationally ranked athletes when several schools present full grant offers to the athletes.
“They”ll often go with the best offer,” diving coach Keith Russell said. “You try to get the best athletes you can to accomplish the goal and mission of BYU on the amount you have.”
Even on a limited budget, the BYU swimming and diving team managed to accomplish its goal and mission, bringing home the Mountain West Conference title this past weekend.
The size of the grant athletes receive is left to the coaches” discretion.
“Some get a 95 percent grant, some 33 percent, some 50 percent,” said head women”s track coach, Craig Poole, referring to the women”s track team equivalency grants.
The track team decides how the equivalency grants are divided by setting performance standards, Poole said.
For diving, athletes are recommended on whether or not they make it to nationals, said Russell.
“Overall it”s a better deal; it”s accepted by the athletes,” Russell said, referring to both good and bad Title IX implementation has brought.
