Last month, Iowa State suddenly canceled the remainder of its women’s gymnastics season, citing “safety concerns.” Now, it has decided to end the program entirely.
On Tuesday, Iowa State Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard announced that the school would discontinue its women’s gymnastics program and replace it with another sport that provides equal or additional participation opportunities for women.
This decision came less than a month after Iowa State canceled its 2026 season due to what Pollard describes as “unresolvable conflicts” between athletes, members of the coaching staff, and parents.
“Ultimately, the student-athletes felt that the conflicts were so problematic that they didn’t believe they could finish the season,” Pollard said in his announcement. “As a result, our staff had no other viable alternative but to suspend the remainder of the season.”
Pollard pointed out that there has been a pattern of issues with the women’s gymnastics team. He said the team underwent a “complete review” in 2018 because of various issues. In 2023, the university hired a Minnesota-based law firm to do an independent evaluation of the program, leading to sweeping changes that included implementing a new coaching staff.
Unfortunately, Pollard said that similar issues were cropping up again three years later, leading to this decision.
“The student-athlete experience is at the core of what our department takes great pride in,” Pollard said. “Our continued inability by our department to provide our women’s gymnastics team members that same level of experience that the other 17 sports are receiving is disappointing and very concerning. We do not see those types of issues in our 17 other sports.”
As a result, Iowa State is discontinuing its women’s gymnastics program and putting those resources into another women’s sports program that will provide “equal or maybe even more opportunities for female athletes.” Pollard called the move “the right decision for our athletics program and our student athletes.”
Pollard said finances did not play a role in the decision, adding that whatever sport the Cyclones eventually add could be just as expensive, if not more expensive, to field.
The school will honor the scholarships of current or incoming gymnasts who opt to remain at the university, including making sure they will continue to have access to all departmental services available to Iowa State student-athletes. Pollard added that the athletic department will also help any gymnast who chooses to go into the transfer portal and will fight to ensure that they do not lose a year of eligibility for this season.
Members of the coaching staff, including head coach Ashley Miles Greig, will not have their contracts renewed.
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