Title IX Women's Sports
UNT women's sports are growing and succeeding, both on and off the field. Honoring a commitmsent to Title IX, the 1972 law requiring opportunities for female athletes in proportion to male athletes in federally assisted education programs, UNT efforts have catapulted them as one of the nation's leaders.
After purchasing an additional 19 acres in 2002, UNT built new state-of-the-art facilities for women's tennis, softball, golf, volleyball, soccer, swimming and diving.
"The increase and upgrades in facilities and budgets allows us to provide more opportunities for women," Cinnamon Sheffield, associate athletic director for student services, says.
Beyond full scholarship funding, the teams now accommodate walk-ons and provide specialized academic support and additional coaching staff.
In 2007, UNT ranked first in the nation and received a grade of "A" on the Gender Equity Scorecard, a Penn State at York study measuring a university's commitment to women's athletics with criteria such as participation, scholarships, coaches' salaries, recruitment budget and operating expenses.
UNT was one of only 11 schools in the country, and the only program in the South, to receive an "A."
Today, the NCAA-sanctioned sports at UNT for women are basketball, softball, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, cross country and volleyball.
The resulting pay-offs are both athletic and academic. The Mean Green soccer team competed in the Sun Belt Conference championship game for the ninth straight year, and the volleyball team claimed the SBC Western Division crown in 2006.
The women's soccer team also earned a public recognition award from the NCAA in spring 2007 for finishing in the top 10 percent of the association's Academic Progress Report for all women's soccer programs in the nation.
"Come to Mean Green Village and see how the women's sports have benefited from UNT's commitment," Sheffield says.
