UAA’s Division I athletics, including men’s hockey and women’s gymnastics are on the chopping block along with men’s and women’s skiing with the University of Alaska Anchorage announcing on Wednesday, August 19th the re-configuring of UAA Athletics in order to preserve the overall athletics program’s long-term viability.
According to a release from UAA…
In light of declining budgets, UAA Chancellor Cathy Sandeen and Director of Athletics Greg Myford made the difficult decision to eliminate four programs from the UAA sports roster: men’s hockey, women’s gymnastics, men’s skiing and women’s skiing. The changes will go into effect for the 2021-22 season and are expected to save approximately $2.5 million per year. Sandeen will seek University of Alaska Board of Regents’ approval for the proposed reconfiguration during the Sept. 10-11, 2020, meeting.
“The decision to cut any UAA program, academic or athletic, is devastating. Since fiscal year 2014, state funding for UAA declined by $34 million, forcing leadership to make difficult decisions about which programs and services the university can sustain long term,” Sandeen said. “That includes our sports programs. My heart goes out to our student-athletes and coaching staffs affected by this situation. This comes at a difficult time as they are already facing much uncertainty surrounding this year’s season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am proud of the incredible resilience they have shown.”
Wednesday’s athletics announcement comes more than a full year in advance of these changes going into effect to allow impacted students, coaching staffs and their families time to plan for the future. UAA Athletics will assist student-athletes with scholarship information, academic advising, counseling options and navigating the transfer process.
Athletic Notes:
UAA Hockey in 2019-20 made their first appearance in the WCHA Playoffs since 2014 and finished the season 4-25-7. UAA is dealing with major changes to their conference-WCHA.
UAA Gymnastics broke school records for both overall average and national qualifying score on uneven bars. The Seawolves landed four gymnasts on the All-MPSF Team, despite seeing their conference championship meet canceled due to COVID-19.
UAA Skiing:
Four Seawolves earning NCAA All-American honors and UAA was the only team to have all three men place in the top-10.
Sigurd Roenning , Espen Persen, JC Schoonmaker and Anna Darnell earned All-American honors.
Schoonmaker represented UAA on the international stage twice, with his first World Cup appearance in Germany and as a member of Team USA at the World Junior Championships. He finished second in the 10-kilometer classic race at the US National Championships.
The public will have an opportunity to weigh-in on the university’s decision during a virtual town hall meeting on Aug. 26 and Board of Regents public testimony on Aug. 31.
Information about both events is available at uaa.alaska.edu/calendars/public.
Feedback may also be sent to [email protected].
