North Idaho College cut its men’s and women’s golf teams this week in answer to criticism from its accrediting body over athletics spending. The university called the move a first step to balancing the school’s “unsustainable” athletics budget.

Elimination of the program affects 11 student-athletes who could have returned in the fall of 2025, and saves the college about $600,000, according to a Wednesday news release. There are no plans to eliminate other athletic programs but additional cost-cutting measures are expected next year.

“Golf is a sport that has relatively high costs per student,” said Lloyd Duman, interim provost, adding that golf was the most recent addition to NIC athletics out of all its teams. “This was an extremely difficult decision – it does not reflect on the quality of the program or people involved in any way. It was made so as to affect the least number of student-athletes and employees as possible.”

The decision comes less than three weeks after the college’s newly elected trustees authorized President Nick Swayne to complete a comprehensive review of the athletics program sustainability. 

Students on a variety of sports teams attended the Nov. 21 meeting seeking clarity on the future of their scholarships. One of those students was freshman Charlie Ward, who came to Coeur d’Alene from England to play on NIC’s golf team. 

A delay in signing scholarship paperwork alerted the athletes to a potential problem, Ward said. 

“We were all told as athletes and golfers that if we indicate by Oct. 24 that we want to stay next year then we can,” Ward said, but the paperwork was never finalized and students weren’t told why.

The longer students went without answers, the more concerned they grew, Ward said. At the meeting, trustees said they hoped to honor current commitments to student athletes but their words did little to buoy Ward and other athlete’s hopes. 

On Tuesday evening, all students athletes received an email from Dean of Students Alex Harris and Director of Athletics Shawn Noël announcing the elimination of the golf program. 

“Ultimately my instinct was that’s rather cowardly,” Ward said of the decision to email all athletes the announcement instead of holding a meeting to tell the golf team. 

NIC will continue to pay tuition, fees, and room and board for golf student-athletes who choose to remain enrolled at NIC through the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 semester.

Russell Grove, who coaches both the men’s and women’s teams, posted on Facebook Tuesday evening asking the community to email the board of trustees opposing the decision. 

“This is going to negatively impact a lot of people.  The golf program has run out of a net income for 9 of the last 10 years and has benefited so many people greatly,” Grove wrote. “I’m truly heartbroken and at a loss for words. I think the only hope is for the new board to get involved. They completely blindsided all of the current and future golfers.” 

Grove did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The university said his characterization that the program operates at a neutral cost to the university is inaccurate. 

The college spent about $4 million more on athletics in the current fiscal year than it did in 2023- 2024, NIC said. That increase is due largely to costs associated with moving from the Northwest Athletic Conference to the Scenic West Athletic Conference, a part of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Initially, the NJCAA was cautious to accept NIC due to the college’s show cause sanction with its accreditor, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported.

Following the move, the former board of trustees moved to include full tuition for international and out-of-state students, room, board, books and a flight home, the news release said. Those changes brought the athletic budget from $2.2 million to $6.2 million. 

In late October, a team from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, which accredits NIC, released a report on whether or not the college should remain on a show cause sanction, the last status before losing accreditation, or move to a lesser sanction.

The report said remaining issues included board governance, board behavior and a financial risk because of the increased athletics budget. 

“At its September 27, 2023, meeting, the board authorized NIC to meet NJCAA’s ‘full-fare’ cost of participation, covering tuition, books, housing (including meals), and one round-trip flight home, regardless of residency,” the report reads. “ Estimated at $40,000 per athlete, that commitment would grow NIC’s athletics budget from $2.2 million to $6.2 million, a $4 million increase.” 

That budget increase was a large contributor to the expected $5.2 million budget deficit for the 2025 fiscal year, according to the report.

The financial cost isn’t the only problem with the NJCAA move the report found.

“Faculty and staff have scrambled to provide adequate academic support services and other infrastructure to meet student needs. Particularly for international recruits, needed services include language assistance, legal travel support (visa, passport, basic transportation), personal care needs, weekend and holiday housing/meals, and general community connectedness,” the report reads. “These efforts come with associated costs, none of which are accounted for in the athletics budget or faculty/staff workloads.”

NIC leadership has until January when it presents to the NWCCU in hopes of showing the college has made progress on the issues in the report and retaining accreditation. 

“Yes, restructuring athletics is a part of accreditation. But, it’s also necessary if the college is to have a future,” Duman said. “The college could not continue to operate at the rate it’s been going.” 

The timing of the decision to cut the program, weeks after the traditional scholarship approval, makes it difficult for players to find a school to transfer to if they’d like to continue their collegiate career, Ward said. 

There are five international players on the men’s team, Ward said, and another four on the women’s team. There are no students from Idaho on the men’s team and three Idaho students on the women’s team.

Lev Heaney, 18, said she chose NIC because of the opportunity to golf. 

“I honestly didn’t know what I would do without the game in my life,” Heaney said of her decision to attend NIC. 

Her first year on the team has been full of new friends, competition, and working together. The teams just raised more than $20,000 to fund a golf simulator and other program expenses, she said. 

She planned to play for two years at the college before hopefully transferring to a Division I school. 

Now, Heaney has just weeks to find a spot on another team in some cases with scholarship decisions for next year looming. She is looking to her home state of Montana or potentially another Idaho school but Heaney said she’s unsure if she’ll find a place. 

“It was really blindsiding and it messed up my entire plan for the future,” Heaney said.