Attitudes towards women’s sports remained mostly unchanged over the years, from the physical merge in 1962 up through more current years.  In the 1980s, the Cento (school’s official newspaper publication) had a few discussions about sports -- primarily around budgeting.  One discussion had the interviewer asking various students about the money allocated for sports at Centre: if it was allocated fairly or not.  Male students often remarked how the male football and basketball teams received almost all of the funding; one men’s tennis team player remarked how the school did not buy their uniforms/sneakers, and they occasionally had to play with dead tennis balls whereas other teams had all their uniform expenses covered.  A female athlete, playing for the field hockey team, remarked how they barely had enough money to pay for state tournament entry fees and were lucky if they were able to stay overnight at away games.  Almost all responses commented on the extreme disparity between sports; within the male-only realm and comparisons to female sports, where one student commented that Centre, “... doesn’t do any recruiting of female athletes.”

    One article in 1981-2 published the exact budgets for Centre’s sports programs.  Men’s football received $33,900 with the next highest being basketball at $12,800.  The rest of the men’s sports programs ranged from $600 to $4,000, with nine sports total.  The top women’s sport was basketball with a $3,500 allocation, and the lowest was track at $1,000, with only five sports total being offered for women.  With this sort of information available it’s clear why many students -- male and female alike -- were frustrated at how the athletics program was operating.

    Many articles ran in a similar vein, commenting on the huge difference in quality of uniforms, playing fields, and basic equipment between the football team and almost any other sport.  Articles were careful to not pin the blame on coaches or the players on the teams, but rather directed their thoughts towards Centre itself and how the budget was handled.  Teams were often given just enough to ‘get by’ rather than thrive.

    Through the 1980s, women’s sports were often in danger, so to speak, of being discontinued or chopped from the budget.  In one case, women had to choose between having either one sport or another as they were told that the budget did not have room for both.  Volleyball, which had been present for quite some time, historically, had faded out at some point, and in March 8, 1984, there were efforts to re-establish a team.  Since the level of interest was uncertain, the club was not allocated the small budget they needed to provide a net that was up to intercollegiate standards, and the team would not be created. Back in the 1960s, one athlete -- Sue Stafford -- was a pioneer for women's tennis at Centre. She earned four varsity letters in men's tennis and was a member of Centre's first women's tennis team. Athletes like her had to constantly vie for their team's existence and activity during these few decades of the physical merge.

    At the same time, some women’s teams were doing very well, competitively.  On October 17, 1980, an article was published about the women soccer players on the (male) team.  The coach (Coach Brown) is quoted as saying, “The men like to see the women excel -- when the women do well in matches, it gets quite a rise from the rest of the team.”  Others are quoted as saying that the co-ed team experience was very worthwhile, and that the coach was very encouraging and the other male athletes on the team were just as welcoming.  While this experience was positive, other women’s teams, such as the basketball team, were disgruntled about having to always get second/lower priority; their schedules were always made around the men’s schedule and a few women filed or told of discriminatory events they faced.

To find out how things have changed or progressed to today Gina Nicoletti-Bellinger was contacted for an interview.  She has had many positions at Centre College since being hired in 1993 as the women's soccer and tennis coach where she oversaw budgeting, scheduling, recruiting, and more.  She founded a soccer camp for girls and has since served many administrative positions in the athletic department.  In 2015 she became the Associate Director of Athletics where she assists the Athletic Director on all departmental issues, decisions, and oversees all other athletic department staff members.  She also trains and mentors new coaches on recruiting, program administration, and NCAA compliance; in addition to that she serves on the Title IX committee.  

When you came to Centre, were you aware of how new and inexperienced the women’s soccer program was? How were you able to successfully turn around a new program in 5 years that was 0-8-1 its first year?