To all,

After careful consideration, the university has made the very difficult decision to suspend the women's basketball program for the 2024–25 season.
 
The University wants to emphasize that MBU is not eliminating the women's basketball program. It's being suspended for one year due to a shortage of players on the roster and concern for the safety of those players. In the last four recruiting cycles, under three different head coaches, MBU only recruited seven players for the program. Currently, there are seven players and recruits are on the roster -- not enough to endure the physical nature of a five-month basketball season.
 
In an effort to rebuild the program, MBU will begin the search for a new head coach this summer, with the goal to have someone in place this fall to start building back the program.  The new coach's primary responsibility in 2024-25 will be to recruit at least 12 student athletes to fill the roster in time for the 2025–26 season. This is similar to the approach MBU took to rebuild its women's soccer program in 2017.
 
All members of the MBU women's basketball program will retain their current level of eligibility. Recruits will still have 4 years of eligibility; rising sophomores will have 3 years of eligibility; rising juniors will have 2 years of eligibility, etc.
 
Thank you for your understanding and continued support of Mary Baldwin University athletics.
 
Respectfully,
 
Tom Byrnes
Director of Athletics
Mary Baldwin University