The following opinion piece is a community submission and doesn’t reflect the opinion of TRN Media, which encompasses SweetwaterNOW and The Radio Network.
Last week, Western Wyoming Community College announced the decision to cut the women’s volleyball program citing that the decision was made due to “budget cuts.” When questioned about why the volleyball program was the one chosen to be cut, WWCC senior administrators have been unable to give any concrete, legitimate answers. It was stated that in order to make the other four varsity teams more competitive, Western was unable to sustain the volleyball program. There was no attempt to try to save the program, even for another year so Western could honor the commitment they made to the 12 freshman volleyball athletes to be a part of the volleyball program for two full seasons.
This decision completely blindsided the coaches, athletes, and community. Western failed to notify the coaches and athletes that, with impending budget cuts, that this was even a remote possibility. Had they had been transparent from the beginning, many of the athletes would have chosen to attend elsewhere. The volleyball program was so unaware that this was a possibility that they already had one athlete verbally commit to the program for next year and had made offers to several other athletes as well.
There has been some extremely questionable behavior by Western administrators that has been called into question regarding the real reasons this decision was made. The volleyball team faced obvious discrimination during their entire season, the most prominent example being when the team and coaches were assigned the “prison bus” for their trip to Ephraim, Utah, and on to Yuma, Arizona, from August 20 – August 23. On the way down to Arizona, the air conditioning in the bus was beginning to go out and eventually was lost altogether. The team was forced to make numerous stops at gas stations in which the team members were photographed standing in the drink coolers in order to cool down from the extremely hot bus temperatures. Outside temperatures ranged from 115-120 degrees. Many of the girls even faced heat sickness during the trip. Western is lucky no one ended up in the hospital due to heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Also occurring during that same trip, the bus driver luckily was observant enough to notice that she was about to lose her brakes while on an on-ramp getting ready to merge onto the interstate. She was able to safely pull the bus over on the ramp. Had she not realized the situation when she did, there could have been dire consequences. Western ended up having to send another bus down to pick the girls up in Arizona, and they once again chose not to send one of the big travel buses, but one of the small buses (half the size of the travel buses). The girls were told to leave their nonessential items in the bus in Arizona, and that those items would be shipped back to Rock Springs. Obviously, no one wanted to leave their things on a broken down bus in the middle of Yuma, so everything had to be packed into the small bus Western had sent. A few of the girls’ parents even elected to fly them back instead of trying to cram everyone into the small bus.
When questioned about this incident, Mark Rembacz called it “one negative travel experience.” The volleyball team was only assigned one of the two large travel buses available on two occasions throughout the season. The rest of the time, they were forced to travel on the small bus despite the fact that at one time, there were two athletes with injuries that required the use of wheelchairs that also had to be hauled on every trip. Western also refused the use of a large travel bus on the team’s trip to CSI, which therefore resulted in Coach Soto having to pay $5,000 to rent a LeBus for the trip. Many times throughout the season, the buses were being unused by the women’s soccer team but the volleyball team was still refused their use. Interestingly, the Western women’s basketball team was allowed to fly to their tournament also held in Arizona just last week. If there is such a large deficit in the budget, why are teams being allowed to fly to places well within driving distance?
Other questionable acts by Western administrators include the installation of an esports team announced in July. If there was a possibility that major budget cuts were going to have to be made, why would a brand new program along with thousands of dollars worth of equipment be purchased months before budget cuts were to be made? It should also be pointed out that Western administrators elected to cut the only program with a female head coach. Coach Soto is a strong, black woman who wasn’t a “yes” man and wasn’t afraid to question administrators and expect explanations, and obviously that was a threat and played a major role in why her program was the one chosen to be cut with no warning and no explanation. “Budget cuts” was the excuse. I find it extremely concerning that in the last three and a half years, there have now been two black coaches that have been laid off or fired by Western administrators: the former women’s basketball coach, Mike Swenson, and now the women’s volleyball coach, Fredann Soto.
When the announcement to cut the volleyball program was made to the team and coaches, it lasted all of five minutes. Mark Rembacz delivered the news with no remorse and no explanation. He stated that the girls were not to tell anyone until the college made an official announcement. He also stated that they could visit the Wellbeing & Accessibility Center if they needed to. The girls were told that they were to have no contact with their coaches. Coach Soto, Coach T. (Teresa Flores), and Coach Andi (Sarah Anderson) were the only three people who supported these girls throughout the season, and they were no longer allowed contact with them according to Western administrators. At that point, Coach Soto had her keys taken, was surrounded on all sides, and was escorted off of the property. Supposedly, Western administrators are allowing others who have been terminated and/or laid off to finish out their current contracts, even if they will not be returning. Coach Soto, however, has been denied the opportunity to finish out her contract which ends in June. Yet, another example of the blatant discrimination imposed by Western administrators.
Western administrators have claimed that they are working closely with the affected student-athletes to find them other opportunities to continue playing volleyball, and that could not be further from the truth. The volleyball players have had to seek out Dr. Lu Sweet in order to get the paperwork required to release them from their commitment to play for Western’s volleyball team. Athletic scholarships are still being honored, but why would these girls want to continue their academics at Western when they’ve been treated so poorly and have been denied the reason they attended the school in the first place? Walk-on players were told they didn’t need to meet with Lu at all and were also offered “scholarships” to cover tuition and fees for the upcoming spring semester like that would somehow make up for the detrimental effects of Western’s decision to suddenly cut the beloved program they committed to and worked so hard for. No amount of money can ever make up for what Western has done to these girls and their now-fired coaches. These girls were not supported by Western administrators throughout the season nor when it came to the decision to cut the program, so why on Earth would Western put any effort into helping them continue their volleyball careers? It’s simple, they won’t regardless of what words they write on their press releases. Just ask the women’s volleyball team how helpful Western administrators have been.
Western administrators have also made no attempts to check on the teams’ mental health during this time. And if you know the girls personally, they are not okay. I have serious concerns about how this decision will affect some of the girls long-term. With the state of Wyoming having one of the highest suicide rates in the entire country, you would think administrators would be a heck of a lot more sensitive when making life-changing decisions and offering substantial support during those times to ensure the overall health of their students instead of running away and hiding from the team. And not allowing the team any contact with their coaches has only added fuel to the fire.
The community will take a stand against Western administrators and our voices will be heard. We will never stop fighting for the WWCC volleyball program and fighting against the discriminatory and unethical decisions made by Western administrators. Volleyball is the fastest-growing women’s sport in the entire nation, and this decision will have detrimental and long-lasting effects for years and years to come for hundreds of young girls aspiring to play the sport. Western’s volleyball program has had a positive impact on the community and on the lives of its players and coaches for many, many years. The loss of this program will have detrimental effects on the college itself and its other athletic programs as well. Cutting this program automatically reduces the number of students attending Western and all the costs included with their attendance. And what’s going to stop Western administrators from cutting another program in the future because they dislike the coach? I would be very careful if I had a student that was considering attending one of Western’s remaining athletic programs, you do not want to find yourselves in the same position that 12 girls and their families have found themselves in.
Along with putting effort in on the court, the volleyball team has also maintained a high team GPA throughout the semester. So not only are they excelling on the court, they are excelling in the classroom as well.
On a final note, when Northwest Community College in Powell, Wyoming, is able to sustain eight varsity programs with half the enrollment and ⅓ of the population, there is a serious problem at Western Wyoming Community College. Where is all of the money going? The community needs to keep asking questions until Western officials can be transparent with their decision making process. Community members will be attending the WWCC Board Meeting on November 13, 2025 at 6 p.m. at Western Wyoming Community College. All contacted news organizations are invited to attend as well.
- Dr. Kirk Young, President: 307-382-1602, kyoung@westernwyoming.edu
- Mark Rembacz, Interim Vice President of Student Affairs/Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness: 307-382-1899, mrembacz@westernwyoming.edu
- Dr. Lu Sweet, Athletic Director: 307-382-1740, lsweet@westernwyoming.edu
Devon Slaugh
