When the University of Arkansas athletic director told men’s tennis coach Jay Udwadia and women’s tennis coach Tucker Clary that their programs were being dropped, Udwadia thought it was some kind of joke.
After all, Arkansas is in the SEC – an athletic conference that distributed of $1.03 billion to its member schools for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“My initial reaction was, ‘That’s funny. April fools, right?’” Udwadia said in a phone interview with Front Office Sports. “[AD Hunter Yurachek] was like, “No, I’m sorry, that’s what it is.’ And so Tucker and I were really shocked.”
Arkansas is far from alone when it comes to major colleges dropping sports. In February, Iowa State gymnasts arrived at the team’s on-campus practice facility expecting to practice, only to learn that the athletic department had canceled their season.
Shortly after Arkansas announced it was dropping men’s and women’s tennis, the University of St. Louis and the University of North Dakota announced they would do the same. Illinois State also announced it was dropping its men’s tennis program. More than 20 NCAA tennis teams have been cut this season, with almost a dozen in Division I.
Other schools, such as Purdue Fort Wayne, Cleveland State, and Washington State, have cut or consolidated sports programs, including baseball, softball, wrestling, golf, and track and field. Over 1,000 athletes have reportedly been affected nationwide by the dropping of sports programs at their colleges.
Why are major colleges cutting sports programs?
According to Udwadia, Arkansas said it had to reallocate the $2.5 million in operating expenses for both tennis programs throughout the athletic department because of the $2.8 billion NCAA settlement.
The Associated Press reports that tennis ranked among the most expensive sports per player at two of the schools that canceled the program this year: North Dakota and Gardner-Webb. At Illinois State, the cost per men’s tennis player was $10,224, more than football or baseball.
Reports also indicated that the University of Arkansas spent $41,772 per male tennis player and $41,582 per female tennis player in operating expenses in 2025. On the flip side, while the school spent a combined $2.35 million on the two teams in the 2025 fiscal year, the men’s team generated $3,202 in revenue, while the women brought in just $82.