Following a recent NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics recommendation to drop the intercollegiate sport of equestrian as an emerging Division I women’s program, K-State Athletics Director John Currie has announced that Kansas State will discontinue its sponsorship fo equestrian at the conclusion of the 2015-16 season.

Currie has also announced that Kansas State will add the school’s first-ever intercollegiate women’s soccer program, allowing the Wildcat athletics program to maintain its sponsorship of 16 varsity sports as required by NCAA bylaw 20.9.6. Currie’s recommendations were approved by K-State Athletics, Inc. Board of Directors and President Kirk Schulz.

In a letter to the equestrian community last month, the Committee on Women’s Athletics detailed its decision on equestrian based on a lack of sponsorship in all three NCAA divisions, including a 10-year period in which the sport failed to reach the 40-program target set by the NCAA as well as the significant costs of maintaining such programs. K-State is just one of 19 Division I equestrian programs in the nation.

“While this was an extremely difficult and complex decision, we are proud of the effort of our equestrian coaches and student-athletes and the first class way they have represented K-State since the program’s inception in 2000,” Currie said. “Unfortunately with equestrian no longer projected to count toward the minimumNCAA requirement of 16 sponsored varsity programs as detailed in NCAA Bylaw 20.9.6, we must move our resources to another sport to continue our ability to operate as a Division I FBS member of the NCAA.

Currie said the school will fully honor the scholarships of its current equestrian student-athletes for the remainder of their eligibility as well as the contract of Head Coach Casie Maxwell, who is currently in the second year of a five-year contract.

“We have worked hard to support our team with a current annual operating budget of $1.2 million and facility expenditures and improvements of $700,000 over the last five years, ” Currie said. “But, the fact is that the sport simply hasn’t grown as was hoped and nearly one of our border state peer institutions, and every Big 12 institution, sponsors soccer. ”

Wildcat intercollegiate soccer will launch in the fall of 2016.