I guess I missed the news late last year that UT is adding beach volleyball as their newest sport this season. If you've watched any summer olympics lately, beach volleyball is one of the most popular viewership draws with NCAA viewership exploding as well. Unlike other sports, a significant amount of viewership skews younger. Beyond the obvious, it's still not hard to see what makes the sport popular. Fast paced, easy to follow, fewer athletes to learn without uniforms that obscure their appearance and reactions. If you were a Tech student would you rather go to a small beach stadium with music and atmosphere or an indoor match in a cavernous 90% empty USA?
With Title 9 structured the way that it is, it makes sense to add a watchable women's program. It's something that could allow us to bring in a men's soccer team or add more funding to other men's sports. The NCAA sport is still relatively young, but I would rather be an early adopter than late to the party. Tech would be a great place to start a program with all of the volleyball talent coming out of Texas. Apparently having an outdoor team is also attractive to the top indoor recruits.
The easiest thing to do is spend other people's money, and I know there are other programs on campus wanting their facilities and budget looked at, but this feels like a future-focused move and one I would like to see made.
With Title 9 structured the way that it is, it makes sense to add a watchable women's program. It's something that could allow us to bring in a men's soccer team or add more funding to other men's sports. The NCAA sport is still relatively young, but I would rather be an early adopter than late to the party. Tech would be a great place to start a program with all of the volleyball talent coming out of Texas. Apparently having an outdoor team is also attractive to the top indoor recruits.
The easiest thing to do is spend other people's money, and I know there are other programs on campus wanting their facilities and budget looked at, but this feels like a future-focused move and one I would like to see made.
