The decision to discontinue the women’s tennis program at ULM was announced on June 17, 2025. This announcement left much of the student body in confusion and shock. With this, everyone is wondering what the next steps are for ULM athletics and how ULM will fit into the NCAA. Athletic directors based the decision on numerous factors going into managing an NCAA program. Increased operational and infrastructure costs drove up the budget for the athletics department. 

“Discontinuing a sport is never an easy decision, nor one that we take lightly,” ULM Director of Athletics John Hartwell said in a mass email. “We know this is tough for our student-athletes and our coaches, who have poured so much into our tennis program. We deeply appreciate the dedication, effort and passion shown by our student-athletes and coaching staff in the women’s tennis program over the years… We are committed to being competitive in all of our sports while also operating in a fiscally responsible manner.” 

The minimum number of Division I FBS sports a university needs to sponsor is 16 NCAA teams. With the women’s tennis program being discontinued, ULM sponsors the minimum of 16 NCAA teams. The decision to put an end to the women’s tennis program will allow the ULM athletics department to balance its budget more effectively and alleviate some of the stress that comes with managing NCAA programs. 

Thankfully for the women’s tennis student athletes, their hard work is not going unnoticed. All women’s tennis student athletes who wish to return to ULM are going to have their scholarships honored until they have completed their undergraduate coursework. As these student athletes graduate, however, the scholarship funds will be distributed throughout the other ULM women’s athletics teams. 

While most are going to miss the women’s tennis program, I believe the ULM athletics department had everyone’s best interest in mind when making this tough decision.