Tuesday, September 19, 2017
University of Akron (UA) President Matthew J. Wilson and Director of Athletics Larry Williams today announced their intention to recommend a novel, community support-backed effort to restore the UA baseball team and add a women's lacrosse team, beginning competition in the 2019-20 academic year. These programs will feature an Ohio-focused student-athlete recruiting strategy, the use of existing university and community facilities, and cost controls. Another key component of this plan is that any athletic scholarships provided to student-athletes for these two sports will come from community financial support – not University funds. The recommendation will be presented to the UA Board of Trustees for consideration at its October 11th Board meeting.
President Wilson said,
"We have heard loud and clear the community's desire to bring baseball back to UA and we have been examining ways to do that in a financially responsible manner. Prospective students have voiced the same desire. We also want to offer an additional avenue for female student-athletes to simultaneously benefit from a quality education at The University of Akron and on-the-field Division-I competition. After much discussion and planning, we believe that we have identified some creative ways to achieve our objectives while focusing on student-athletes from Ohio. Now, we hope that the community will come forward and assist the University in restoring baseball and adding women's lacrosse."
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