UND Hall of Famer Tom Wynne reacts to tennis cuts

May 7—GRAND FORKS — Tom Wynne stood at Register Complex last week, wearing a UND hat.

Wynne was coaching the Grand Forks Central girls tennis team at the time, but gave a nod to the college program where he played and spent 35 years as a coach.

UND had just cut its men's and women's program days earlier.

"I was somewhat surprised but not surprised," said Wynne, who retired from UND in 2021. "Tennis is in the crosshairs any time it seems there's an inkling of (budget issues). It's three times that I've been in Grand Forks where it's been, 'We're going to drop tennis.' Two times, they did. One time, we eked out. So, it doesn't ever surprise me."

The cuts came one week after both the men's and women's programs reached the Summit League final.

They're part of a nationwide wave of schools cutting tennis programs to reallocate funds to other sports for revenue-sharing, which is now permissible.

The University of Arkansas, St. Louis University and Illinois State University also cut tennis programs last month.

Illinois State was in the Summit League alongside UND.

With Denver leaving the Summit for the West Coast Conference, Illinois State's cut left the league at four programs — UND, Omaha, Drake and Oral Roberts. Leagues need six members for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

"I talked to (current head coach) Tom Boysen right before and said, 'I'm glad I got out when I did,'" Wynne said. "Tom said, 'I get a little nervous when teams like Arkansas and St. Louis drop their programs.' I said, 'Yeah, that would make me nervous, too.'

"Illinois State probably sealed (UND's) doom. Now, Denver is out and Illinois State is out. Now, they have a way of saying, 'We don't have a conference, we're going to get out.'"

Wynne, who was inducted into the UND Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999, said he was more surprised that UND did not keep its women's program, which has been a staple.

The men's program has come and gone.

Wynne played for the UND men during the 1970s, winning a North Central Conference singles title.

UND cut the men's program in 1990, but brought it back in 2012 when it joined the Big Sky Conference. Men's tennis was a core sport in the Big Sky.

UND moved to the Summit League in 2018, but kept both tennis programs until now.

"Over the past five years, Division-I athletics has experienced more change than the previous 30 years combined," UND athletic director Bill Chaves said in a statement. "This has required us to adapt to a new landscape by reinventing the way we operate our athletic department as well as analyzing the existing resources we have and reallocating those resources moving forward."

UND spent roughly $1 million annually on its tennis programs.

"I don't see those secret meetings about how much money they need for NIL and all this stuff," Wynne said. "But I mockingly said, well, if they get UND tennis money, they better beat NDSU."