Women's Golf Coming to UTA

Some big news came out of the UT Arlington Athletic Department today. When the 2017/18 athletic season begins, UTA will sponsor a new sport for the first time in over 30 years. Women's golf will bring the Mavericks to 15 varsity sports sponsored. On the surface, it may not seem like a big deal; a non-spectator sport with a very low national profile.

The timing was really important here. Once Jay Rees, the prior golf coach, retired it kinda forced their hand. I suspect they were looking at adding this, but maybe not quite yet. The delayed start time reinforces this point. By all accounts, women's golf shouldn't take this long to get up and running. It would if you have a new coach needing to get acclimated to the University.

However, I think there's more to it than just adding a sport.

Underperforming is Wearing Thin

In the previous 69 posts about the UT Arlington sports teams, I have never called for a coach's resignation or suggested that a coach is no longer competent to lead the program. And I never will. It is not my style. I don't believe in that kind of thing. A coach is only a part of a program's success or failure. Mike Krzyzewski couldn't win at a SWAC school, no matter how genius he was in getting Duke the title this year or any other year. Resources (including money), fan support, tradition, facilities, name recognition, etc. all go into the mix. A great coach can be part of a program's turnaround, but that coach can't do it without the other things too.

That said, I will offer critiques or shortcomings that I see. I'll back it up with facts and stats that I see as well as repeated instances of questionable decisions. Right now, that coach is Darin Thomas. Part of this may be frustrations, but why are some Maverick fans getting frustrated? Let's take a look.