UT Martin Pom Squad | Photo / Erika O’Brien
The UT Martin Pom Squad is now the second women’s athletic program to be cut in the last year.
A meeting was held on March 30 with the squad, where they were told that the Pom Squad was being cut from the university. Women’s tennis already had been cut.
The Pom Squad has only been back for three years under head coach Amber Minton after UT Martin senior Emily Pennington sent the cheer coach a letter asking to give the squad a chance when she took the spirit program on in 2020. Dance had been a huge part of Pennington’s life, and she did not want it to end with college. Pennington will be graduating in May but said she is devastated by the news.
“I am heartbroken. We have worked tirelessly for both athletics and UT Martin over the past few years, and to be cut due to funding, when we had no funding to begin with, is disappointing,” Pennington said.
There have been many reasons suggested for cutting the Pom Squad.
Danelle Fabianich, the senior associate athletic director-administration, said that the cheer, dance and stunt coach, Amber Minton, simply did not have enough time for all three programs. Minton was hired as the cheer coach and offered to coach dance as well while on the same salary.
There has also been talk that since the Athletics Office is experiencing budget cuts, this was one they had to cut, although the Pom Squad was self-funded.
The Pom Squad was more than a dance team; to the team members, it was so much more.
“Without it, I wouldn’t have made some of my very best friends. I have grown so much as a dancer and as a person this school year, and I give the Pom Squad a lot of the credit for that,” says Morgan Stubblefield, a freshman Pom Squad member.
“This team has been my saving grace over the past four years. Like many others, dance is my outlet. Being able to share this team with girls who value the importance of dance and also have a passion for UT Martin has been something that is indescribable,” Pennington said.
Neither the Athletics Office nor the university has yet to make a statement about why the program was cut.
