California State University, San Bernardino will eliminate its intercollegiate women’s tennis program beginning in 2010-2011.

CSUSB has implemented a number of dramatic measures to cope with the massive budget cuts, including reduced enrollment, employee furloughs, hiring freezes, higher student fees, significant reductions in operating and facility maintenance budgets, and a variety of other actions.

In addition to the elimination of tennis, Cal State San Bernardino has cut overall athletic scholarships by $45,000 throughout the athletic program in an effort to save nearly $100,000 in 2010-2011.

“The severity of the cuts we’ve absorbed has been staggering, and we’ve been forced to institute an array of approaches to respond to the more than 20 percent reduction,” said Albert Karnig, president of CSUSB. “It’s painful to have to cut one of our intercollegiate sports, especially one in which our student-athletes are such outstanding role models and representatives for our university.

“Our top priorities remain, first, to serve as many students as possible while assuring that they continue to receive a quality education and are able to secure the classes they need to graduate, and, second, to preserve as many jobs as possible for our employees.”

Recently, Cal Poly Pomona dropped its men’s and women’s tennis programs, leaving the California Collegiate Athletic Association with only five conference schools fielding intercollegiate women’s tennis teams. Current CCAA bylaws dictate that there must be at least six member institutions competing in a sport for it to be sponsored by the conference. In addition, conferences with fewer than six teams do not receive an automatic bid to NCAA Division II championship competition. Now, with the elimination of the program at CSUSB, only four of the 12 universities in the CCAA have intercollegiate women’s tennis programs.

“By dropping women’s tennis now, the current players can look for opportunities to play competitively at other institutions as early as next year,” said CSUSB Athletic Director Kevin Hatcher. “Because we are eliminating the sport, all CSUSB women’s tennis players will be eligible to play immediately at another college or university, provided they are accepted and have eligibility remaining and are academically eligible.”

The 2010 women’s tennis team roster included nine student-athletes, of which only one is a senior. All received partial scholarships. Hatcher said the university will honor scholarships for eligible players for next year if they choose to continue their education at Cal State San Bernardino.

The university employs head coach Heather Langley and assistant coach Lawrence Hampton on a part-time basis, and their contracts will not be renewed when they expire at the end of June.

Karnig said the university has no current plans to cut any other intercollegiate sports. With the elimination of the women’s tennis program, CSUSB will have six women’s sports and four men’s sports.

For more information, contact the Coyote Athletic Department at (909) 537-5011 or the CSUSB Office of Public Affairs at (909) 537-5007 and visit http://news.csusb.edu.