UT Martin athletics announced on Thursday, Sept. 19 that the tennis program will be discontinued after the 2022-2023 season.
The discontinuance will change each player’s entire academic and athletic career. They all have a decision to make.
Ashley Bynum, Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations, has dealt with the repercussions after the decision and gives intel on what happens next for the players and their options.
Do they stop playing and continue as a student at UT Martin?
“One of their options would be to play their final season competing for UT Martin and continue as a student until they graduate. However, it would be difficult for the players that are on scholarship, as if they are not graduating in May, they would then have to pay for their education thereafter. The institution will honor all the players scholarships until the end of May.”
Do they enter the transfer portal and choose to not compete in the 2022-2023 season or compete and transfer after?
“The transfer portal, created in October of 2018 by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), is an online database where athletes can put their name to tell colleges that they are transferring. The transfer portal shifts the power to the student-athlete.”
Bynum continues on and goes into detail about how this particular situation will play out, “Now would not normally be a time that they could permissibly enter the transfer portal, however there is an exception if there is a head coach departure, which in this situation we do have a head coach departing, so there is a 30 day window that student athletes can enter the portal.”
Further, given that tennis is a winter sport, they have a fall segment and a spring segment, which means that the NCAA does not allow you to compete for multiple institutions in the same academic year. “So, if the players were to participate at UT Martin this fall, then they do not have the opportunity to participate elsewhere in the spring,” Bynum explains.
“After the announcement was made, obviously the girls had a decision to make. Do they want to play their last season at UT Martin and then move on? Do they want to look for somewhere else to go right now? Or do they want to look for somewhere in the fall and preserve this season so that they have those years to play elsewhere?” said Bynum.
Bynum has been meeting with the players periodically since the decision was made so that they can make the most informed decision possible.
The transfer portal has more rules, though.
Bynum goes into detail about how to work around the rules of the transfer portal. “Tennis players cannot receive athletic aid and compete for another school in the same academic year. Most of the tennis players are international and all of the tennis players are scholarship athletes, so technically by rule they are not allowed to transfer mid-year and play elsewhere.” However the rule can be challenged. Bynum says that you can submit an interpretive request to the NCAA where you lay out a factual scenario and ask them what would the outcome be if we were to file a waiver in this situation. Bynum submitted the factual scenario to the NCAA and asked if it were possible for these student athletes to get a waiver and play immediately in the spring based on the circumstances. The NCAA approved and said that they could compete immediately, which is great news for these athletes.
So what option are the tennis players going to pick?
All of the tennis players except for one have entered the transfer portal. One player has two semesters left of college and will finish her degree here.
We wish the girls luck on their journey!
