University of North Texas Athletics
NT Earns Nation's Second Highest Mark On Equity Study
7/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
DENTON, Texas (7/25/07) The North Texas athletics department ranked second in the nation and received a grade of A’ on the Gender Equity Scorecard - a study released this week by Penn State University-York that measures a university’s commitment to women’s athletics.
The report ranked colleges in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision on opportunities available to women’s athletics, including scholarships, participation, coaching salaries, recruitment budget and operating expenses. The study incorporated 113 colleges which represent the 11 major football playing conferences.
"The University of North Texas has made a commitment to make athletics equitable in every aspect for both it men’s and women’s sports," Director of Athletics Rick Villarreal said. "When we arrived we realized the disparity in the resources that were being allocated for the men’s and women’s programs. This type of national recognition is validation that our plan to erase that disparity is working."
The Mean Green finished second only to the University of Nevada, which finished on top of the study for the second straight year. North Texas is one of only 11 schools in the country, and the only program in the south, to receive a grade of A’ from the scorecard. North Texas was also recognized as the champion of the Sun Belt Conference in which no other schools received the A’ grade.
North Texas’ nine women’s sports are enjoying a period of growth and success, both on and off the field of play. The Mean Green softball, tennis, soccer and volleyball teams all upgraded into new facilities last year. The Mean Green soccer team competed in the Sun Belt Championship game for the seventh straight year, and the volleyball team claimed the SBC Western Division crown in 2006.
