(Carrollton/westgeorgiatech.edu) — Citing low student participation and difficulty finding comparable opponents, among other factors, West Georgia Technical College announced today it will be ending its athletics programs June 30.
“We have been looking at athletics for most of this calendar year,” WGTC President Dr. Scott Rule said. “Many of our sister colleges around the state have eliminated their programs, and this has put additional pressure on our teams to find opponents.
Any time you travel long distances to play, there is cost both in fuel and lodging, but also in lower student participation.”
West Georgia Technical College first fielded a men’s basketball team in 2008. Over time, women’s basketball, men’s baseball and women’s fast-pitch softball were added to round out the College’s program.
The College is a member of the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Junior College Athletic Association.
Rule said out of a Fall Semester 2018 enrollment of 7,187 the College has 82 players across four sports. Home games for basketball are played at Oak Mountain Academy in Carrollton. Baseball and softball play at Central High School.
Rule said attendance for games is low, likely due to the focused, career-minded nature of technical college students.
“Many of our students are busy with jobs, homes and families,” he said. “We don’t have on-campus athletics facilities or residence halls, so students don’t even associate the College with athletics. What we do have are robust and relevant academic and technical programs that prepare students for careers where there is growth and where there is demand for their skills,” Rule said.
“We are going to focus on these mission-critical areas where our communities count on us to make a difference.”
Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Tonya Whitlock said the College will work with student athletes as they decide whether to finish their studies at West Georgia Tech or transfer to other programs.
“One reason we are announcing this now, before winter break, is to allow students to discuss this with their families and others and decide how they want to proceed,” Whitlock said. “We’ll play the remainder of our basketball season and the spring seasons for our baseball and softball teams will continue as planned, but students need to have plans in place following that.”
Rule said West Georgia Tech’s mission is workforce development.
“We know that athletics provides many benefits, but it is essential that we prioritize our mission—workforce development—and we arrange our organization and our budget and everything else we do to support workforce development,” he said.
Rule said players have been informed and each has been offered individual help in transferring or staying.
“It is our hope that every one of our student athletes decides to finish his or her education at West Georgia Tech,” Rule said. “But if they decide they want to continue an athletic career at another institution, we will do what we can to ease that transition.”
West Georgia Technical College, with campuses in Carroll, Coweta, Douglas, Haralson and Troup counties and class sites in Heard and Meriwether counties, offers more than 120 associate degree, diploma and technical certificate programs of study.
A unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, West Georgia Tech is one of the largest of the state’s 22 technical colleges. For more information, please visit westgatech.edu.
They are full of it. These girls work hard and the parents donate food and drinks to earn the girls money. The games are full. At least for softball and all players are there. The girls do fund raisers and parents pay for bat bags shoes etc… So find something else to blame it on Mr. Rule. You haven’t been watching anything.
These coaches and girls deserve better then this. At least let them finish their 2nd yr out then cancel. And dont recruit anymore.
You are just wrong.
I feel it is necessary to correct a few things in this article. I haven’t been able to get a clear definition of “low student participation.” I was quoted there are 92 student athletes out of 9,000 students at WGTC. They offer softball, basketball and baseball. To my knowledge, there are a certain number of players required for each of these teams. These numbers appear accurate for the number of sports offered at WGTC. I also want to note that each of these enrolled students pays a $40 athletic fee, which covers the operational aspects of these sports.
I can personally vouch that there is no issue in the past three years with finding opponents. They may have to play a few hours away, but again there doesn’t appear to be a cost issue. Just to make others aware, WGTC softball played neighboring Division 2 UWG this Fall and lost 9-8. That’s right. UWG HAD to beat little ole WGTC. It could have gone either way. That fact wasn’t published anywhere, but it is evidence of years of hard work and dedication of head coach, Monica Mills.
This article states “attendance is low” for games. Obviously Dr. Rule has never attended a softball game! The reason for “low attendance” is “due to the focused, career minded nature of technical college students”??? It has been my personal experience as a parent and former teacher of students that the majority of students attending WGTC do so as an affordable means to obtain core curriculum prior to transferring to a four year institution.
This article reflects that the announcement of the closing of the athletic programs has been done in a timely manner. I beg to differ. Why would coaches have been out recruiting for Fall at their own personal expense of time and money if the plan was to close the program? These kids will likely not be able to play sports at the next level now because it’s too late. It would also be fair to the current Freshmen to be allowed to play until June 2020 THEN end the program.
Apparently there is little true understanding if WGTC can make the statement: if athletes “want to continue their athletic career at another institution.” There are many factors, financial, academic, geographical, etc that influence whether or not a student can participate in college athletics.
I was told that Dr. Rule had 100% backing of his board on this decision. I’m really surprised that one of those members, who always supports local athletics, would go along with this decision.
My last thought on this subject is the fact that there was a high probability that a WGTC softball stadium would be built, complete with stadium seating, locker rooms, indoor facility and maintenance all for the same amount of “rent” paid to Central High for just using their facility. If that’s not growth, then I don’t understand the term.
As a public school teacher for 30 years, a parent and a cheerleader for ALL “underdogs”, it is my opinion that this decision will negatively impact 82-92 local students for generations to come. It is also evident that politics is the real issue here. It’s sad.
They are full of it. These girls work hard and the parents donate food and drinks to earn the girls money. The games are full. At least for softball and all players are there. The girls do fund raisers and parents pay for bat bags shoes etc… So find something else to blame it on Mr. Rule. You haven’t been watching anything.
These coaches and girls deserve better then this. At least let them finish their 2nd yr out then cancel. And dont recruit anymore.
You are just wrong.
I feel it is necessary to correct a few things in this article. I haven’t been able to get a clear definition of “low student participation.” I was quoted there are 92 student athletes out of 9,000 students at WGTC. They offer softball, basketball and baseball. To my knowledge, there are a certain number of players required for each of these teams. These numbers appear accurate for the number of sports offered at WGTC. I also want to note that each of these enrolled students pays a $40 athletic fee, which covers the operational aspects of these sports.
I can personally vouch that there is no issue in the past three years with finding opponents. They may have to play a few hours away, but again there doesn’t appear to be a cost issue. Just to make others aware, WGTC softball played neighboring Division 2 UWG this Fall and lost 9-8. That’s right. UWG HAD to beat little ole WGTC. It could have gone either way. That fact wasn’t published anywhere, but it is evidence of years of hard work and dedication of head coach, Monica Mills.
This article states “attendance is low” for games. Obviously Dr. Rule has never attended a softball game! The reason for “low attendance” is “due to the focused, career minded nature of technical college students”??? It has been my personal experience as a parent and former teacher of students that the majority of students attending WGTC do so as an affordable means to obtain core curriculum prior to transferring to a four year institution.
This article reflects that the announcement of the closing of the athletic programs has been done in a timely manner. I beg to differ. Why would coaches have been out recruiting for Fall at their own personal expense of time and money if the plan was to close the program? These kids will likely not be able to play sports at the next level now because it’s too late. It would also be fair to the current Freshmen to be allowed to play until June 2020 THEN end the program.
Apparently there is little true understanding if WGTC can make the statement: if athletes “want to continue their athletic career at another institution.” There are many factors, financial, academic, geographical, etc that influence whether or not a student can participate in college athletics.
I was told that Dr. Rule had 100% backing of his board on this decision. I’m really surprised that one of those members, who always supports local athletics, would go along with this decision.
My last thought on this subject is the fact that there was a high probability that a WGTC softball stadium would be built, complete with stadium seating, locker rooms, indoor facility and maintenance all for the same amount of “rent” paid to Central High for just using their facility. If that’s not growth, then I don’t understand the term.
As a public school teacher for 30 years, a parent and a cheerleader for ALL “underdogs”, it is my opinion that this decision will negatively impact 82-92 local students for generations to come. It is also evident that politics is the real issue here. It’s sad.