Sonoma County

Sonoma State student-athletes, coaches band together to save athletic programs

0:00
0:00 / 2:03
NBC Universal, Inc.
Student-athletes and coaches at Sonoma State University are banding together to try to save the school’s athletic programs. Ginger Conejero Saab reports.

Student-athletes and coaches at Sonoma State University are banding together to try to save the school's athletic programs.

The collective has filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education and is considering filing a lawsuit on Monday claiming civil rights violations.

"I broke down. It's just super emotional," Marcus Ziemer, the men's head soccer coach. "You don't know how hard I worked for this program, and then to just find out from a student that I'm done. It was pretty heart-wrenching."

Sonoma State student-athletes, coaches band together to save athletic programs
Student-athletes and coaches at Sonoma State University are banding together to try to save the school's athletic programs. Thom Jensen reports.

Sonoma State University announced Wednesday that its Division II athletics programs are being discontinued, several academic departments and majors are being eliminated, and dozens of faculty members are being laid off to address a nearly $24 million budget deficit.

Ziemer, who grew up in Rohnert Park, has been coaching and playing at Sonoma State since the 1980s, three years as a Seawolves player and 36 as a coach.

He's joined in support of a grassroots group called "Save Seawolves Athletics", blaming administrators for mismanaging the university and causing its financial hardships.

In addition to shutting its athletic programs, the university will not renew contracts for 46 faculty members for the 2025-26 school year, and several other lecturers, management, and staff positions are also being eliminated.

"We were a thriving university with 9,500 students and a waiting list," Ziemer said. "We were a beta campus. Our requirements were equal with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Pamona. We had a waiting list in the dorms."

The university said cutting all 12 of its athletics programs would save more than $2 million annually. However, Ziemer said it began suffering financially and losing students after the university pulled all of its athletic directors out of Southern California and began slashing programs.

Coaches and student-athletes said they felt like pawns after the institution emailed the announcement on Wednesday, two days after students paid tuition and other fees.

"I see this news on the phone through an email, and it's just like a bomb is dropped on you," said Aaron Ragen, a basketball player at the university.

Students have also said the university's decision has left them in limbo.

"We're all emotional, crying," said Seawolves soccer player Taylor Hodges. "What are we going to do? Obviously, when you hear something like that, your head is going to go to the worst possible thing ever."

Like other Seawolves athletes, Hodges and Ragen are exploring their options at other universities through the transfer portal.

The pair were also among the student-athletes who met with administrators after the campus announcement.

"We asked questions over and over again, because their answers either changed or they like deflected, and we felt like we weren't being heard," Hodges said.

Student-athletes, including Hodges, said they will likely file a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court as early as Monday.

"Minority students have been disproportionately affected by this cut, so that's the basis for that, and that will be moving forward," Ziemer said.

Lawyers for the student-athletes will try to get the court to stop the cuts immediately, claiming that open meeting and transparency laws were violated.

On Wednesday, university officials said student-athletes who choose to remain at Sonoma State will remain eligible to receive scholarships as long as they meet the current terms of their scholarship.

Sonoma State University did not immediately respond to NBC Bay Area's request for comment on Sunday.

Contact Us