Men's Volleyball and Soccer Get the Shaft Due to Title lX

UC Irvine just won the 2009 NCAA Div. 1 Men's' Volleyball National Championship by Defeating Southern Cal 3 games to 2. Congratulations to the Ant Eaters of Irvine. It's too bad, however, that they are among only a hand full of Men's VB Varsity programs when just about every college in the country with an intercollegiate athletic program has a Women's Varsity program.

Why is it that there are so many Women's College Volleyball programs and so very few Men's programs. Yes, many other colleges and universities have Men's "Club" programs. The University of Georgia is one of them. Most of the premiere Div. 1 Men's VB programs, of course, are in California, where Volleyball is most popular. However, there are some universities in the Midwest that have Men's Varsity Volleyball programs. By Varsity, I mean that the university funds the program. If it's student funded, then it's considered "Club." Ohio St., Penn St., Indiana/Purdue/Ft. Wayne (IPFW) and Ball St. have excellent Men's VB programs. Why are there not more?

The main reason that I hear for this is that infamous Congressional ruling made on June 23, 1972 called Title 9. It goes like this: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." OK, fine. I have absolutely no problem with Women having equal access to college athletics, but why should that snuff out "Minor Men's Sports", such as Volleyball and Soccer?

I know we're talking about Volleyball here. As I've mentioned before, just about all major universities and many small colleges have club volleyball teams. Some of these club teams are capable of holding their own and even beating some of the Men's Varsity programs, but they won't get a chance to do that because so much of a school's athletic funds have to go to the Women's programs.

Title 9 is even affecting some Women's sports programs such as Cross Country. A few years ago, James Madison University cancelled their Men's and Women's Cross Country programs because they claimed that the legislation of Title 9 forced them to do so. In an ESPN episode called "Outside The Lines", hosted by Bob Lee. Then NCAA President Miles Brand said in so many words that these universities who are cutting some of their intercollegiate athletic sports are using Title 9 as an excuse and that the real reason is that they are not managing their funds in a way which would allow them to keep these sports.

Mr. Brand may be right, but I'm not sure. As I mentioned at the top of this article, only a hand full of universities have Men's Varsity Volleyball programs. Also, every Big llX school except Kansas St. has a Women's Varsity Soccer program and no school in the Big llX has a Men's program. Many men would like to have a chance to win a "true" National Championship in both Volleyball and Soccer.

I say the heck with Title 9. Hello Title X! I would author Title X like this: "All American institutions of higher learning are free to fund equally both Men's and Women's Athletic programs and should not be compelled by Title 9 to over fund Women's sports while under funding Men's." Well, I didn't write it in Government Language, but you get my drift. We need more Men's Volleyball and Soccer programs in Div. 1. One other reason why there needs to be more Men's VB programs is so Volleyball Teams like Hawaii, who finished the season 9-18, won't be ranked #15 in the nation like they were in this year's AVCA Poll. Also, someone tell me why Div. lll Carthage University's Men's VB team was ranked #12 in the nation with a record of 8-25? I rest my case.