A fight to save beach volleyball and Utah athletics' 'disheartening' answer

SALT LAKE CITY — Coming off the best season in program history, Utah's beach volleyball players were called into a mandatory meeting on April 29.

Many went into the meeting thinking it was a conversation about the future, especially with the team's head coach retiring just days before. Maybe there would be a conversation about the hiring process or talk about the values the players wanted to see from a new coach.

Instead, the University of Utah decided to cut the program entirely.

"I'd say it was disheartening," said Maeve Griffin, a graduate senior on the team who was not a part of the meeting since she wasn't a returner for the 2026 season.

Griffin didn't learn of the decision until her teammates informed all the seniors of the meeting's purpose. But she was not alone, members of the support staff — including the team's nutritionist and therapist — were left in the dark, too.

Some incoming recruits also first learned of the change in news articles and social media posts, though Utah contacted each recruit personally minutes after the meeting with the team.

"They're heartbroken, like, absolutely heartbroken," senior Sonja Wessel said. "We all came off such a high, and then in two days, our whole world got flipped upside down; and knowing that our family that we've created is going to be broken apart and we're never going to be together ever again is devastating."

The decision to discontinue the beach volleyball program came after "significant and appropriate amount of thought, consideration and consultation," Utah Athletic Director Mark Harlan said in a statement as part of the announcement to the public.

The university didn't see a path forward for the program, "with little evidence of the sport expanding at this time" at Utah, he added.

"With the sport's growth stunted, and without the home facilities with amenities that allow us to host championship-level events, we are not providing the world-class experience that we seek to provide to our student-athletes," Harlan said.

The athletes, though, felt those reasonings didn't make much sense for a program that has grown since its start as a sanctioned sport at Utah. Even being one of the lowest-funded sports, the athletes felt they could still compete for a national championship.

This last season, Utah recorded its first 21-win season and a spot in the top 25, setting the team up for a potential wild card spot in the tournament.

Utah was doing more with less.

And though former head coach Brenda Whicker, who retired shortly before the news in an unrelated move, advocated for more resources — like asking to up the two scholarships that were distributed between 18 women — all were content with their situation at Utah.

"Keep in mind, we are very content with the facilities," Griffin said. "There's nothing wrong with our facilities. We have a nice locker room, we have courts. We hadn't complained about our facilities. We're beach volleyball, like, we're just happy."

That fact added further doubt to the argument that beach volleyball's growth was "stunted," and that Utah — and teams in the Big 12 by extension — had no future in the sport, Griffin said.

"There clearly is a future in Big 12 volleyball, like TCU just won the national championship for the first time ever," Griffin said. "It's always been UCLA and USC that have gone back and forth, and this is the first time someone else has won it. And so that right there shows growth in beach volleyball, alongside the statistics that this year was the most Division I beach volleyball teams to play in the NCAA ever."

"It's just frustrating," Wessel added. "Removing, cutting our program, we're also impacting the Big 12, as well."

The beach volleyball program brought in just shy of $223,000 in revenue for the 2024 fiscal year, while having an operating expense of $380,000 for a loss of $157,000, according to the latest financial reports.

That loss pales in comparison to the $2.17 million loss in baseball, or the $844,565 loss in golf and $803,658 in lacrosse, to name a few. Outside of football and men's basketball, though, no other program at Utah brings in more than their operating expenses.

Those figures don't take into account an incoming proposed NCAA court settlement that will require athletic departments to pay student athletes if they opt in — a max of $20.5 million for the entire department — this coming year.

In March, Utah announced a $14 million gift that was given to the athletic department to support women's sports. But even as the lowest profile women's sport, in terms of financial impact, Utah didn't see a path forward and decided to no longer invest in beach volleyball.

Seeking answers

Looking to get more answers beyond a quick session with Harlan and Deputy Athletic Director Charmelle Green, the 18-member volleyball team asked for a follow-up meeting to have a conversation about the change.

The athletic department agreed and held a meeting that went about an hour as the two parties addressed the end of the program. That follow-up meeting, though, left the team more frustrated about the decision and by Harlan and Green's response.

"We're a group of 18 girls that just had our entire lives turned upside down," Griffin said. "We're 18 to 22 years old, and we are trying to go about it in the best way that we know how. And then you have two people in a power position that should be pretty well equipped to deal with these kind of situations that walk in and appear like they don't know what they're doing or why they made this rash decision."

"We were coming from a place of just — we just wanted answers," Wessel added. "We came in very calm, very almost, like, emotionless, because we don't want to make things worse. So we're like, we're just going to go in with facts and want answers, and they were just not giving us the time of day."

The two athletes described the meeting as "disrespectful," with Wessel adding that the two athletic leaders were "scoffing at us when we would ask just basic questions."

"I mean, everything that you think could go wrong went wrong," she added, while also noting that neither leader knew any of the athletes' names.

Griffin said there was "some sort of disconnect" in how the department responded to "speaking about the values that they have in the athletic department and the way they actually are treating the student-athletes on the inside."

"I think we kind of called them on that, and that did not go over well," Griffin said. "The more questions we asked, the less answers they had, and the more defensive and deflective they got over things."

Speaking to KSL.com, a spokesperson for the athletics department acknowledged the sensitive nature of the meeting, citing the "difficult decision for the department" to discontinue the sport and the associated feelings from its athletes.

"We fully understand the student-athlete emotions that come with receiving this news. We have continued to have open dialogue with them, including a follow-up meeting that lasted more than an hour, to listen to their concerns and reiterate our commitment to supporting and assisting them through this process. We will continue to support them and do all we can to help."

But for Griffin and Wessel, it was just the final blow to a team who didn't feel like they were supported by the athletics department and didn't see their top athletic leaders much at all. As such, the athletes felt like an afterthought.

"He has not shown up to a single practice, a single game," Wessel said, speaking about Harlan. "We have one home game a year, we don't ask for a lot, and they never have ever supported us in any way."

"We have one home game a year that's on campus, as in, like, a two minute walk from his office, and neither he nor Charmelle even made the time," Griffin added.

A university spokesperson told KSL.com that Harlan was at the team's first match (on Friday) but was "out of town" for the second day.

"Mark was present at a home match on the first day of their one home weekend, but he was out of town on that second day when they recognized their seniors," the spokesperson said. "Sports supervisor Delaney Reilly was the formal representative for athletics."

Despite that, the athletes said they loved being at Utah. They knew there were limited resources when they committed to Utah, but each came because they wanted to play at a school like Utah for the love of the game. Wessel and Griffin said it was the same for every other member of the team.

But a little more support would have gone a long way, Wessel said.

"It's frustrating when (Harlan) makes this business decision that we need to cut our program when he has yet to show up," Wessel said. "And I feel like it was just like an easy write-off for him."

"I transferred into the University of Utah this year for my master's program, and at the new student orientation, Mark Harlan promises each and every single student-athlete the best student-athlete experience in the country; and I can't say I've had that here, like I don't feel like he's had our back or advocated for us in any capacity," Griffin added.

And after that second meeting, hope for a reversal of the school's decision has dwindled and become a reality to the athletes. But they remain optimistic for a change in direction.

Fighting to reinstate the program

Sitting in her hotel room in the Philippines, professional beach volleyball player and University of Utah alum Melissa Powell was frustrated by the news.

Earlier that day — just minutes before her competition, in fact — Powell saw the news that her former school was discontinuing the beach volleyball program.

"I was shocked, like this must be fake," Powell recalled. "I kind of thought it was like a satire thing. And then I was like, of course they'd cut it, they don't even care about the program at all. It's not super shocking that they would take this decision."

Powell had to shake the emotions off before her match, but said the feeling of shock never left her in the days that followed. "I just kind of let the anger kind of fester for a couple days," she admitted.

"It was a mix of emotions — of not super shocked, because they don't really care about the program, but also shocked because they just had their first top-25 year. And for a program with zero money, that's really insane to accomplish," Powell said.

And as someone who has followed her hometown collegiate program — even after following her husband, who played football, to the Houston area — Powell said she remained close to the program. For Powell, it's the place she credits for her professional career.

"I don't want to seem ungrateful, because I am grateful that they had the program," Powell said. "It changed my life, because I would have quit volleyball if they didn't have this program, and I wouldn't be a professional athlete, and I wouldn't have my business without them. So I don't want to come off as like, 'They never gave us anything,' because they did give us a platform for the athletes.

"Even if they don't give us a huge budget, just having a platform to play at such a big school as the University of Utah — it's such an awesome school — is really great."

Regardless of the decision, though, Powell had an offer for the University of Utah that could help the team: If the program could be reinstated, she'd let the team use her new Olympic facilities in Pleasant Grove for free to offset the perceived reasons to cut the team entirely.

They'd have world-class facilities, free coaching and training support, and a place to study while continuing their pursuit of the sport at a Division I school.

"It's going to be a championship level facility, so if I have the means to host their trainings for free and not have the university have to worry at all about paying — if this is a money thing why they're cutting," Powell said. "I don't see why getting a facility for free wouldn't help the cause.

"I know the girls wouldn't mind — cut the program or drive 30 minutes out of the way, right?"

But having off-site facilities not be a part of the campus community, where Utah could host tournaments or championship events, was part of why the athletic department felt the need to discontinue the program, according to Harlan's initial statement.

Still, Powell believes her solution would solve most the problems the university faces in relation to keeping beach volleyball as a sanctioned sport. Upon returning to Utah, Powell formally submitted the offer to Harlan while also publishing it to Instagram, where it has picked up attention from the beach volleyball community.

But outside of the university confirming that the offer was received, Powell said she hasn't heard anything more from the school and that it remains a waiting game.

The university, however, told KSL.com that "we've received a letter and have sent a response."

While still in a sort of limbo, Powell made her case:

"Let me handle this," Powell said, as if speaking to Harlan. "If this has been a headache for you or whatever is happening with this program, I can handle it for you. Like, let me take this off your plate. I would love to keep this dream alive and help these young women get the same experience I got. This is very important to me that women's sports isn't canceled.

"Is what we want really just men's basketball and men's football? Like, is that all we want to see in the collegiate level? Because that is kind of where we're headed if we just look at it as a money perspective here. So I would really, really, really like the opportunity to show you, Mark, my facilities, my vision for this and how I can help.

"I can help give these athletes the championship experience that you're looking for, and I'm offering this completely free, so I would love to talk at least; and if it doesn't work out, at least we had a chance to sit down and chat about it and figure out a way to continue the dreams of these athletes and the recruits coming in."

Hope for tomorrow

With the offer from Powell on the table, the beach volleyball athletes remain optimistic — especially as 5,300 individuals have signed a Change.org petition to help bring attention to the cause — but each recognizes that a reversal of the decision seems unlikely.

They'll continue to fight, though, and work to help all those who put in the work at Utah.

"We have nothing to lose at this point — like we're graduated, we're done with our program, we're moving on to the next chapter of our lives," Wessel said. "It's our duty to fight for these young women who have sacrificed so much for this team, for this university. They've never been in it for money. They've never gone to Utah being like, 'Oh, I'm playing for the money.' Like, they play for the pure love and joy that the sport brings and the sacrifices that they give for the organization."

"I think at the end of the day, the best outcome for us is to be heard and to make sure that we're advocating for the people that we love and for the people that are working hard and are representing the University of Utah," Griffin said.

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