The Alcorn State women’s soccer season is over amid a circumstance in which there were not enough players to field a team combined with revelations of Title IX violations against the program.
In a report by the Clarion-Ledger, more than a dozen current and former players alleged mistreatment within the program, including claims the school failed to provide the athletes equipment and proper and experienced training staff or facility to care for them.
The players also claimed in a letter obtained by the newspaper and sent to Alcorn State’s Title IX director that the facilities lacked running hot water for the team and that bats and snakes were present in the showers and locker room.
Alcorn State spokesperson Maxine Greenleaf indicated that the school conducted an investigation into the claims on Sept. 13 and developed a plan to address the issues outlined in the letter, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
Alcorn State, which has won 39 games since its establishment in 2003, only officially had nine players on its roster, according to Greenleaf. Former Salem University and Albany State coach Ken Kabiru, hired in July, was coaching the team after then-head coach Jenna Wallace and assistant Brett Sarsfield both resigned following the 2023 season.
“Our previous interim head coach left the university, and we had a short period of time to recruit additional players after the new soccer coach arrived,” Greenleaf said in an email to the Clarion Ledger.
The SWAC said it is aware of what has transpired with Alcorn State women’s soccer and fined the school an undisclosed amount.
“The Southwestern Athletic Conference has been formally notified that Alcorn State University will cancel the 2024 Women’s Soccer season,” the SWAC said in a statement. “Alcorn State University has been sanctioned in accordance with the SWAC Constitution, Bylaws and Sports Regulations. We look forward to the return of Alcorn State Lady Braves Soccer as one of 10 participating member institutions in the sport of women’s soccer within the Southwestern Athletic Conference.”
Greenleaf said athletic scholarships for the players who remain on the are still being honored.
