Brown women's sports teams expanding rosters for Title IX

The Brown Daily Herald PROVIDENCE, R.I. (U-WIRE) -- As Brown waits for the U.S. District Court to act on the Title IX compliance plan it submitted in April, the university's athletic department has encouraged most teams to approach this year as if the plan were already in effect. For some women's teams, that means boosting roster sizes, a move getting mixed reactions among the teams' coaches. The plaintiffs in the Title IX case, Amy Cohen et al. v. Brown University et al, sued Brown a year after the school demoted the women's gymnastics and volleyball and men's golf and water polo teams to club-varsity status, claiming that Brown's athletic program violated Title IX gender-discrimination prohibitions, because, while women made up 49 percent of the student body, they comprised only 39 percent of the its varsity athletes. In March 1995, the U.S. District Court decided in favor of the plaintiffs,and this spring the Supreme Court rejected without comment Brown's request for a hearing of the suit. If the court accepts Brown's proposed compliance plan -- intended to produce a gender ratio in the intercollegiate varsity athletic program "substantially proportionate" to the ratio in the student body -- it will be ordered to carry it out; if the court rejects the plan, the school will have to submit another. Brown's women's ski team is one of the teams that would need to expand its roster under the compliance plan. Although the team finished last season with eight skiers, the plan calls for a roster of at least 15 for the first day of the season. Brown coach Sparky Anderson has not yet found 15 skiers for the coming season, but is still hopeful. "I've got close to my quota, and they all seem to be really good kids," he said. "I've got 11 or 12 [skiers]? I know the kids are all asking around [for new members], and I'm asking around too." If the plan does get approved, Anderson can only step up his advertising efforts and hope for the best, because "ski racing is specific enough where you can't take walk-ons. You need to have someone who's experienced enough." Carrying a 15-member ski team is also difficult because only eight skiers can compete in any one race. "What I've done is create a development team, which is what my extra seven kids are," Anderson said. "Say somebody's injured -- I pull somebody from the development team." Although Anderson has not created an official list of who is on the development team, he said he "think[s] the kids all know." While this season may be tricky for the ski team if the compliance plan is approved, Anderson is confident next year will not be as difficult. "I'm doing a lot more recruiting," he said. On the downside, the added recruiting pressure forces Anderson to "spend less time coaching" -- a problem exacerbated by his growing team. "I have an assistant, but he's part-time," Anderson said. "I'm also the coach of the men's team. Fifteen women and 10 men -- that's a 25-to-1 ratio, and if you include my assistant that's still a 10-to-1 ratio. I don't think it's fair to the kids." In a similar vein, the women's volleyball team has created a junior varsity team to accommodate its larger roster. The compliance plan calls for a roster increase from 12 to 18 players, but coach Diane Short expanded to it 27 players -- 12 for varsity and 15 for J.V. "I tried 18 [players] last year," said Short, "and there's a lot of problems with a big team. There are players who are not playing, not getting attention during practice. Last year I would have just regular practices, and a couple matches for people who didn't play much. But they were almost insulted." This year she thinks the players are happier with the system, especially since many of the J.V. players "don't really want to be in the gym 20 hours week." The J.V. team practices for about four hours each week, separate from varsity practice. The team has one game scheduled so far, with one or two more in the works, and if the compliance plan is accepted Short will set up a full schedule for next season. The women's soccer team -- another team that must expand its roster under the compliance plan -- has also created two teams, an "A" and a "B" squad. The "B" squad will play seven games this season beyond the "A" squad's schedule. Together, the squads have 28 players, two above the plan's required minimum. "It's been great for our team so far," Brown soccer player Amy Broadhead said. "We can do a full self-scrimmage." The rosters of each squad are remaining flexible, so the division did not seem to be creating morale problems, with "everyone all part of the team," according to Broadhead. Women's basketball must also expand its roster, from 14 to 16 players. Bears Coach Jean Burr would say only that "time will tell" how well the expansion works, but she did say that the team is "going to stay at a level to play at Division I," regardless of any new players it must take on. Women's softball coach Deb Carreiro was not told to work with the compliance plan, which calls for her to expand her team from 18 players to 20, though she said she "wouldn't have a problem finding two more" players. "But would they be two players good enough to play on the team?" she asked. "Probably not. And from an athlete's standpoint, why would they want to be on a team if they're never going to play? But if that's what's going to happen, that's what'll happen. The players that are on the team now were all recruited to play. I would tell [the added players] straight out that you can be on the team, but you're not going to play." Carreiro said that she would like to be able to recruit another class before being required to expand the roster, but she added that such an expansion could make recruitment more difficult. "I think if I was in their shoes," she said, "I think I would be hesitant as a high school kid to go to a team that has 20 players. All kids ask that. 'Will I get a chance to play'?" For players on some of the women's teams that would be expanded under the proposed Title IX compliance plan, that may be the toughest question of the year.