It was announced on April 15 that Central Washington University was discontinuing both men’s and women’s varsity rugby programs.
Freshman Liana Wayman, a Federal Way High School graduate, was just leaving a meeting with all her teammates, coaches and even the men’s team that afternoon.
“It’s been a mix of emotions,” Wayman said. “It’s been frustrating, disheartening but also opportunities have come of it too. Being here has been a blessing, but the way that they (Central athletic administrators) approached us with this situation has just been disrespectful.”
A meeting that was made optional for players, and unknown to coaches, rocked the world of 70-75 individuals in Ellensburg. When Athletic Director Dennis Francois ended the meeting on that fateful April day, a whole rush of emotions took over Wayman.
“To expect us to stay is absurd. We didn’t come here for the school itself. We came for the program that was offered to us. There are so many opportunities we could have taken, but we chose it because of the program and the morals and foundations that it had,” she said.
Francois described the decision was difficult.
“It was an incredibly hard decision that impacts the lives of these young student athletes,” he said.
Central has become a rugby mecca of sorts in the state of Washington. On most college campuses, rugby is a club sport, without official varsity designation. But at Central, it has become one of the most renowned sports on campus since it was given varsity status in 2014-15.
Francois was the acting athletic director when rugby was granted varsity level status and made one thing clear when that decision was made.
“We agreed to add men’s and women’s rugby as long as it didn’t impact our current programs and current teams. We had been able to operate under those guides for quite some time, but when the decision needed to be made in terms of significant reductions, it was a tough decision,” Francois said.
The cuts are coming as Central Washington is facing an admissions deficit. In 2019, the school was projecting to have 12,000 students on campus, according to Francois. Currently there are around 9,000 students on the campus in Ellensburg. Because of the lack of enrollment since the pandemic, there just isn’t enough money to fund the rugby program.
In fall 2019, the student fee allocation was about $1.475 million, but post-pandemic, “we are inching just over a million at around $1.04 million. That hit us around $450,000 in terms of decreased funding in terms of a revenue source,” Francois said.
High level players
Central is no stranger to high level rugby players. Current captain of the women’s team Jessica Postle was being looked at for the Canadian national team, and just this year, Calvin Luilamaga was a first-round pick in the Major League Rugby draft. These players have developed a culture of community and excellence that is going to be wiped aside.
“We have so many players that come out of these programs. USA National team players, All-Americans and international players. We produced amazing players that represent the school and the fact that the school couldn’t even acknowledge us hurts the most,” Wayman said. “The way they went about it was extremely unprofessional, disrespectful and felt like they were overall dismissive of us as women, athletes, a team and a sport overall.”
Francois had been getting emails since the announcement critiquing his decision along with the university that they cut the only Division I program at the school
“I’ve never said we are a club sport. I do want people to understand that we are not an NCAA Division I rugby program. We are rated under USA Rugby D1A and D1A Elite,” Francois said.
During the meeting, it was brought up to the group of athletes and coaches that other programs that were not being cut were having a lot of success on the field.
“They were talking about how great the other programs were doing and how they are more important. We don’t want to hear that. We want to understand why you’re doing this to us,” Wayman said.
Rugby at Central Washington University
The school had to make a hard decision and rugby was the sport that had to go. Rugby plays teams all over the country in California, Texas and St. Louis. Before the pandemic, the cost to drive to SeaTac was $1,800, according to Francois. This past season it was $3,500 just to get to the airport.
“Meals, hotels all the different things we provide our student-athletes are going up. Inflation had hit us hard since the pandemic as well, so we were running a pretty significant overage in terms of what we were truly funded for,” Francois said
Central’s reason for the timing was “we did not want to impact either program’s current competition season. We did, however, want to announce the decision now in order to allow affected student-athletes and staff as much time as possible to pursue other opportunities,” the school said on its website.
“We can’t continue to function like we are because we just don’t have the resources and we can’t continue as a university and administration to supplement athletics at the rate it was at,” Francois said.
It wasn’t just athletics that was impacted either. Two to three vice president roles were expected to be eliminated as well as a couple of dean positions. Additionally the pool will close as a result of the budget deficit as well.
As a freshman, Wayman will have her scholarship throughout the next academic year, but she remains at a crossroads. She has already taken out a loan for school with a scholarship, but now her academics might come into question.
Based on her current classes, she might not be able to get full transfer credit to another university to continue her education — and she isn’t guaranteed another scholarship.
But if she stays at Central, she loses out on a year of rugby — a year of practice, development, film study and everything that comes with being a college athlete. Essentially, ending her rugby career.
Wayman said the school had been expecting to cut rugby since the fall of 2024 and waited until April to announce the discontinuing of the program. To the dismay of many athletes, most schools have closed enrollment and possibly recruiting for the next season of athletics putting Central students in a bind.
“With eight weeks left in the school year, most universities have already closed admission deadlines, are already closed for the summer. You literally left us with little to no options,” Wayman said.
Around 70-75 players and four coaches were ultimately impacted by this decision.
In terms of school support, the rugby program was the most notable in attendance and in action in and around Ellensburg. Every team knew, when they stepped on the field or court, that the rugby team would show up.
“It’s so unfortunate that we get treated like this. We’ve been so inclusive with every other program. We’ve been nothing but supportive to everybody else, The Ellensburg community has spoken up for us. Other sports programs have too. It’s good to hear that, but also it doesn’t change the fact that our lives have completely changed,” Wayman said.
Wayman has a couple of prospects of places she can continue her rugby career. She has entered the transfer portal and with the help of her coach Matthew Ramirez, she now has to sift through and find the right choice.
“It has been difficult, but I have had a few positive opportunities. But it’s really about that some admissions are closed and possibly having to start spring quarter of next year. I can’t even go on visits because some of these schools are already done with finals,” Wayman said.
