ROCK SPRINGS — The end of the long-running women’s volleyball program at Western Wyoming Community College is the tip of a larger iceberg the college faces according to President Kirk Young.

Young addressed the college’s board of trustees and a packed gallery filled by volleyball players and their supporters Thursday night. Young said his three main goals are promoting fiscal responsibility in running the college, as well as ending the college’s reliance on reserve funding in balancing its budget and accomplishing a directive issued by the board before he was hired to complete a new compensation plan that will bring employee wages to a fair market level.

The larger issue for the athletics department is the loss of approximately $250,000 from a mill levy that funds the college’s athletics, its children’s center, and the college pool. Young says that funding reduction comes from changes to property tax collection initiated by the Wyoming Legislature. This comes with another $750,000 the college lost in its general fund because of those property tax changes, which has the college looking at staff reductions. The cost to operate the college’s athletics programs amounts to about $1.93 million annually. When Young and the administration looked at areas to cut back spending in, they opted to seek those savings from the athletics department as the significant cuts needed would severely impact services offered at the pool and children’s center. Recent comments by state legislators calling for further budget cuts for the 2026 budget session, along with a property tax initiative on the November 2026 ballot that would further reduce funding to community colleges, has the administration looking for cost savings throughout the college’s budget. Right now, the goal is finding $4 million in savings.

Young said while Western’s athletics programs don’t generate revenue and operate at a cost for the college, they still provide several benefits. Athletics promote enrollment to the college, while also bringing students into its residence halls. Young said there are families that travel with the teams to watch their competitions as well. Western has 124 student athletes, which makes up 3.5% of the roughly 3,500 students enrolled at the college. 

According to data provided by the college, the annual budget for individual athletic programs ranges from $421,623 for the wrestling program to $271,933 for the volleyball program. The wrestling program is the largest athletic group at Western, having a total roster of 32 athletes. Volleyball had 15 team members this year, with one being ineligible to compete according to Mark Rembacz, the college’s interim vice president of student affairs and vice president of institutional effectiveness. The volleyball program, despite having the smallest team size amongst Western’s athletic programs, has the highest cost per participant. The cost, which takes the number of athletes involved in a program and divides it by the budget allocated for the program, is $18,128.87 per volleyball player. Wrestling has a $13,175.72 cost per student. The second lowest cost per student figure comes from the women’s soccer program, costing $13,256.39 for each of its 23 team members across a budget of $304,897.

Young also said the college could have violated Title 9 regulations if it cut the larger women’s soccer program.

“These are all things we considered when making this decision.” Young said.

Young acknowledged the college’s new e-sports program as it had gotten criticism online. Young said it is a Division 3 program that will not offer scholarships to students. The annual budget for the program is $25,000 and utilizes already existing equipment purchased by the college through grants and other means. The team has 21 members who do not have a travel budget and costs $1,190.47 per participant. Young said the administration is looking at bringing more lower-cost Division 3 activities to the college which do drive enrollment, but don’t offer scholarship opportunities.

“This Was Not a Board Decision.”

Two board trustees voiced disapproval and concern with the college’s handling for the situation. Trustee Stephen Allen was critical of the college’s timing, believing the decisions should have come during the board’s budget discussions earlier this year. Allen also claimed he wasn’t aware of the volleyball program’s dissolution outside of receiving an email about it. Vice Chair Jim Jessen, presiding over the meeting due to the absence of Board Chair Jenissa Meredith, told Allen the board was informed of the situation during an executive session meeting Allen did not attend. Allen also questioned having the news discussed during an executive session, saying the cutting of an athletic program didn’t qualify for an executive session under Wyoming’s Public Meetings Act. 

“This was not a board decision,” Allen said.

Allen questioned if the college could resurrect the program if sufficient funding was found and what a potential timetable would look like. Athletics Director Lu Sweet said discussions about removing Western from Region 9 Volleyball have already taken place and wasn’t sure if it could rescind its departure or how much time the college had to do it.

Concerns Raised About Western’s Treatment of its Head Coach

Trustee Ozzie Knezovich said the board was aware of the funding challenges the college faced, but said they weren’t aware of how much they would impact the college. He also voiced concern regarding allegations of head coach Freedan Soto being walked out of the college “in all but handcuffs” after administrators informed her the program was ending. 

“I’m really concerned about what we heard tonight,” he said.

Knezovich said how the college handles a decision is more important than the decision itself and asked to know the situation around Soto’s dismissal. Young explained a meeting took place between Soto and administrators including Sweet and the college’s Associate Vice President of Human Resources. He said after the meeting, the vice president walked with Soto to her office to help her collect anything she needed and denied claims that were made saying Soto was escorted off the premises by Western’s security or the Rock Springs Police Department. Young told Knezovich further discussion about Soto would need to take place during an executive session.