Sports

Judge rules against Stephen F. Austin in Title IX case

A gender discrimination lawsuit against Stephen F. Austin State University could have national implications after U.S. District Judge Michael J. Truncale ordered SFA to reinstate three women’s sports teams Friday, Aug. 1. Six Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) athletes from the women’s bowling and beach volleyball teams filed a class action lawsuit in the […]

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August 2, 2025

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A gender discrimination lawsuit against Stephen F. Austin State University could have national implications after U.S. District Judge Michael J. Truncale ordered SFA to reinstate three women’s sports teams Friday, Aug. 1.

Six Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) athletes from the women’s bowling and beach volleyball teams filed a class action lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas against their school this summer claiming Title IX discrimination after the university announced in May it would be cutting those two programs and men’s and women’s golf effective the end of the 2024-25 academic year. “The decision was based on sustained departmental budget deficits and the anticipated financial impact of upcoming revenue-sharing requirements with Division I athletes” SFA athletics said in a press release.

The plaintiffs sought to keep the school from axing these programs.

SFA argued that the plaintiffs’ case is based “exclusively on a three-part test contained in guidance and interpretation documents,” rather than the Title IX statute itself. Defendant lawyers urged the court to disregard the policy interpretation handed down by the U.S. Department of Education 46 years ago, citing the 2024 Supreme Court ruling Loper-Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. If the court declined, however, defendant lawyers claimed SFA still complies with Title IX under the 1979 guidance.

After two days in court, spanning 17 hours and 14 witnesses, Judge Truncale issued a written ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. SFA has been ordered to reinstate all three women’s teams. Truncale affirmed that the Loper-Bright case cannot be applied to Title IX in what plaintiff attorney John Clune called an “incredibly important” win for gender equity in sports.

“If a court were to find that Loper-Bright meant that the Department of Education was not allowed to rely on policy interpretations of their own regulations, the entire framework for compliance with gender equity in sports would be thrown out the window,” Clune told USA TODAY. “You’d still be required to have gender equity in sports, but what that means and how you decided would no longer exist.

“… Really happy about the ruling, but we’re not surprised by the ruling. If you follow the law, this is what the outcome should be.”

SFA has 30 days to file an appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, according to federal rules of appellate procedure. Spokespersons for the athletic department and university did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Should SFA file an appeal, it would likely seek expedited or emergency treatment of this appeal, as fall classes begin Aug. 25.

What is the three-part test?

Under the Department of Education’s three-part test, a school can be in compliance with the participation aspects of Title IX in any one of the following ways:

The number of male and female athletes is substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments; or
The institution has a history and continuing practice of expanding participation opportunities responsive to the developing interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex; or
The institution is fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.

The plaintiffs in this case argued that SFA violated all three prongs. The plaintiffs filed a report by former chief executive officer of the Women’s Sports Foundation, expert witness Donna Lopiano, Ph.D., to prove such. Using EADA data and annual NCAA participation reports, Lopiano wrote that women made up 62.8% of SFA’s enrollment during the 2023-24 academic year but less than 35% of SFA’s varsity athletes.

SFA cited the 2024 Supreme Court ruling Loper-Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo in an effort to have the three-part test thrown out. The Supreme Court’s decision made in favor of Loper-Bright overturned a 40-year precedent known as “the Chevron doctrine” directing courts to defer to government agency interpretations of “ambiguous” laws. But Judge Truncale wrote in his decision that Loper-Bright is about an agency’s interpretation of a statute, not an agency’s interpretation of its own regulation. He also wrote that Loper-Bright does not overturn any case law that previously interpreted policy. Thus, it does not apply to Title IX’s 1979 policy interpretation.

Breaking down the Title IX lawsuit against Stephen F. Austin State University

Sophia Myers, Kara Kay, Ryann Allison, Elaina Amador, Berklee Andrews and Meagan Ledbetter filed a class action lawsuit on June 30 against Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) after it announced the elimination of women’s beach volleyball, women’s bowling and men’s and women’s golf on May 22. The six plaintiffs, represented by renowned Title IX attorneys Clune and Arthur Bryant, are current athletes on the women’s beach volleyball and bowling teams.

They argued that the university violated Title IX by depriving them of equal opportunity in intercollegiate athletics and sought an emergency preliminary injunction to preserve the three women’s programs “and all other women’s teams at SFA, until this case is resolved.”

“Title IX mandates that schools provide equal participation opportunities for men and women to compete in intercollegiate sports,” the initial complaint read. “Nonetheless, SFA has a long history of depriving female athletes of an equal opportunity to participate. Consistent with that history, SFA opted to further discriminate against women in violation of Title IX by eliminating three successful women’s teams: beach volleyball, bowling, and golf. SFA’s decision undercuts Plaintiffs’ civil rights and, if permitted to move forward, will irreparably harm their academic and athletic careers.”

SFA, represented by Marlayna Marie Ellis and Sheaffer Kristine Fennessey of the attorney general’s office, argued that the plaintiff’s case is based “exclusively on a three-part test contained in guidance and interpretation documents, rather than the statute or 1975 implementing regulation.” Defendant lawyers urged the court to disregard the three-part test but affirmed that SFA is Title IX compliant regardless, citing the test’s first and third prongs.

The first prong requires “the number of male and female athletes is substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments.” The third requires “the institution is fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.” Defendant lawyers claimed there is “no strict rule” defining “substantially proportionate,” and that SFA “effectively accommodates the interest and abilities of women, despite the discontinuation of the women’s beach volleyball, bowling, and golf teams.”

Financial pressure from House settlement not valid defense for cutting women’s sports

SFA opted into the House settlement, where schools are able to pay athletes directly starting this athletic year with a $20.5 million cap per institution. These new financial pressures are why athletic director Michael McBroom said the decision to cut teams was made.

The athletic department reported a $1 million surplus during the 2024 fiscal year, with about $24 million in institutional support out of $28.8 million in total operating revenue. In FY2023, SFA reported a $61,000 deficit, with $19.4 million in institutional support. And in FY2022, SFA reported a $275,000 deficit, with $17.7 million institutional support.

Plaintiffs argued, successfully, that “budgetary constraints are not a legitimate defense to Title IX.”

“The funding of those revenue-sharing payments for football players and men’s basketball absolutely cannot come at the expense of women’s sports,” Clune said. “So this is a huge message to schools across the country. Whatever you have to do to figure out how you’re going to fund your revenue-sharing payments, it’s not going to come at the expense of women’s opportunities to participate in sports. That’s a big deal.”

Reach USA Today Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.

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Lane Kiffin’s daughter Presley flexes USC-gold bikini for beach volleyball tradition

Lane Kiffin’s youngest daughter Presley Kiffin just flexed her official USC Trojans volleyball uniform. Now, she flexed a USC gold bikini for a big Manhattan Beach, California tradition. The Ole Miss Rebels coach’s 18-year-old daughter Presley just graduated high school in Southern California after playing in the powder puff girls football game. Dad even came […]

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Lane Kiffin’s youngest daughter Presley Kiffin just flexed her official USC Trojans volleyball uniform. Now, she flexed a USC gold bikini for a big Manhattan Beach, California tradition.

The Ole Miss Rebels coach’s 18-year-old daughter Presley just graduated high school in Southern California after playing in the powder puff girls football game. Dad even came to graduation in his favorite Ole Miss blazer.

Presley just had a beach hang with mom Layla Kiffin on Fourth of July before the two part ways when she goes to college and the reconciled wife of Lane Kiffin heads to be with dad and Presley’s sister Landry, 20, and Knox, 16, in Oxford Mississippi.

RELATED: Lane Kiffin shares sweet moment with reconciled wife Layla before Ole Miss season

Presley Kiffin and Layla Kiffin / Lane Kiffin/Instagram

On Friday, Presley was mom again for the big annual Charlie Saikley 6-Man Beach Volleyball Tournament in Manhattan beach where it’s quite the scene. Presley and friends hit the “Sixer” in USC gold colored bikinis.

RELATED: USC-bound Lane Kiffin daughter Presley and volleyball co-eds rock pickleball fits

Presley (second from right) / Presley Kiffin/Instagram

Mom Layla posted video of her playing as well.

Layla Kiffin/Instagram

Presley will soon be trading in the sand for the hardwood as a Trojans freshman volleyball player in the class of 2025.

There are now two Kiffins to root for in college athletics.

Presley Kiffin (left) and USC teammates / Layla Kiffin/Instagram

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Rosters Announced For USA Water Polo Futures Cadet & Youth Training Trips

Story Links Irvine, CA – August 1 – A host of rosters have been announced for current and upcoming USA Water Polo Futures training trips for athletes at the Youth and Cadet level. Congratulations to all the athletes and coaching staff selected. Futures Youth Boys – Athens, Greece Adam Afar Ryder […]

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Irvine, CA – August 1 – A host of rosters have been announced for current and upcoming USA Water Polo Futures training trips for athletes at the Youth and Cadet level. Congratulations to all the athletes and coaching staff selected.

Futures Youth Boys – Athens, Greece

Adam Afar

Ryder Bjork

Jasper Feldman

Tanner Gorman

Caden Keene

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Mason Tunney

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Lesly Brown

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Futures Cadet Boys – Athens, Greece

Lincoln Bott

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Ren Fujikake

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Austin Miller

William Mills

Walter Mundt

Jack Wieman

Henry Gorsche

Wyatt Warkentin

Mark Stoneham

Baron Ounjian

Mattias Purcell

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James Staresinic

Luke Chandler

Caleb Terzich

Futures Youth Girls – Budapest, Hungary

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Isabella Jurgensen

Margaret Ryan

Natalie Whitfield

Delaney Hook

Mia Fabros

Julia Gustafsson

Quinn Arroyo

Eden Coughran

Kiernan Hogan

Eve Webb

Bethany King

Christina Flynn

Sydney-Anne Kring

Lily Holloway

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Melissa Seidemann

Douglas Eichstaedt

James Collie iii

Lyric Soto

Jacob Melger

Futures Cadet Girls – Budapest, Hungary

Juliana Horton

Gia Jacob

Siena Doble

Natalie Arata

Catherine Bambury

Abigail Billish

Blake Hofley

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Amaya Dresevic

Louise Walls

Eva Johnson

Paige Segesman

Taytum Banda

Teodora Diaconu

Gianna Adams

Joslyn Cox

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Brenda Villa

Gina Castagnola

Christopher Vidale

Alyssa Diacono

Regional Youth Boys – Belgrade, Serbia

Pierce Bateman

Brendan Bogansky

Asher Brunner

Dane Fox

Oliver Geheb

Landon Heuer

Julius Hoxaj

Jack Lindberg

Dylan McManus

Daniel Mirejovsky

Thomas Singleton

Nicholas Zimmerman

Samuel Eastaugh

Robert Norell

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Petar Momolovich

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Regional Cadet Boys – Belgrade, Serbia

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Filip Malezanov

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Tabari Morgan

Atirau Morton

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Joan Prats

Martin Robredo

Cole Sharp

Luke Welton

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Joseph Molina

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Isabella Recker

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Cecilia Elena Caligiuri

Maile Farden

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Nicholas Alexander-Frosig

Farrah Kunkel

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Skylar Flowers

Emily Jensen

Hana Kulasic

Leihiwa McElheny

Margaux Purcell

Harper Rich

Amanda Myott

Samantha Maldonado

Leonna Castro

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Matilda Ogle

Eleanor Kriplen

Kathleen McCarthy

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Kirby Kaptur

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Ukrainian Duo Reaches Quarterfinals at 2025 European Beach Volleyball Championship | Ukraine news

A landmark event took place in the history of Ukrainian beach volleyball: the pair Tetiana Lazarenko and Maryna Hladun reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s European Championship for the first time, defeating the German duo Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann in the round of 16 match. At this tournament, Ukraine was represented by three pairs: […]

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A landmark event took place in the history of Ukrainian beach volleyball: the pair Tetiana Lazarenko and Maryna Hladun reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s European Championship for the first time, defeating the German duo Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann in the round of 16 match.

At this tournament, Ukraine was represented by three pairs: Lazarenko/Hladun, Yeva Serdiuk/Daria Romaniuk, and Valentyna Davydova/Angelina Khmil. After the group stage, two Ukrainian duos advanced to the playoffs – Lazarenko with Hladun and Davydova with Khmil.

In the round of 16, Lazarenko and Hladun were the first to take the court, facing the German athletes Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann, who are ranked 54th in the world. The Ukrainians lost the first set 16-21, despite having an early lead. However, in the second set, they managed to turn the game around, winning 21-19.

In the deciding set, trailing 2-5, the Ukrainians made an impressive comeback and finished the match with a score of 15-10, which allowed them to advance to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Euro 2025.

This result is the best ever for Ukraine in the history of women’s beach volleyball at the European Championships. Previously, the highest achievement was reaching the round of 16, which Lazarenko and Hladun also accomplished in 2024. At the previous championship, the Ukrainians won their group but were eliminated in the first playoff round.

Among men, the best result is the bronze medals won in 2023 by the duo of Serhii Popov and Eduard Reznik.

UPDATED: In the round of 16, the pair Valentyna Davydova/Angelina Khmil also competed, facing the two-time European champions from Latvia, Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova. The first set ended with a loss for the Ukrainians 25-27, they won the second 21-16, but in the deciding set they failed to convert five match points and lost 18-20.

Thus, only one Ukrainian pair – Hladun and Lazarenko – will compete in the quarterfinals of Euro 2025 in beach volleyball. Their opponents will be the Dutch Mila Kenink and Raisa Schoon. The match is scheduled for Friday, August 1, at 16:00 Kyiv time.

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Catch up with Shamrock volleyball, Brice Sheets and Allen Roberson

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) – If you missed today’s interviews with Teri Self, Brice Sheets and Allen Roberson on the Sports Drive, you can watch it all here. Maya Kitchens shares an extended interviews with the Shamrock volleyball team as they prepare for the upcoming season! Maya Kitchens shares an extended interviews with the Shamrock volleyball […]

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AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) – If you missed today’s interviews with Teri Self, Brice Sheets and Allen Roberson on the Sports Drive, you can watch it all here.

Maya Kitchens shares an extended interviews with the Shamrock volleyball team as they prepare for the upcoming season!

Broadcaster Brice Sheets talks with us about excitement for the start of sports this fall, highlights area athletes and more!

60-Minute Drill host Allen Roberson chats with us about his high school football experience with Friday Night Lights, what schools stand out to him and more!

Catch Sports Drive on weekdays at 3 p.m.

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Stephen F Austin ruling could have impact

A 2019 lawsuit filed by former UK students alleging the school violated Title IX by not providing equal opportunities for women to participate in sports is in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. UK student speaks about lawsuit against college for violating Title IX University of Kentucky student Elizabeth Niblock is one of two students […]

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A 2019 lawsuit filed by former UK students alleging the school violated Title IX by not providing equal opportunities for women to participate in sports is in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Six Stephen F. Austin State University athletes filed a lawsuit against the school alleging Title IX discrimination after SFA announced it was axing women’s bowling, beach volleyball and golf.
A 2019 lawsuit filed by former UK students alleging the school violated Title IX by not providing equal opportunities for women to participate in sports is in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
SFA used the same argument UK is using in its appeal and won. While a case decided in Texas doesn’t have any direct impact on a case in the Sixth Circuit, UK could use the ruling to help its case.

A ruling made in the Eastern District of Texas could have an impact on a yearslong Title IX lawsuit against the University of Kentucky.

Six Stephen F. Austin State University athletes from the women’s bowling and beach volleyball teams filed a class-action lawsuit against their school this summer alleging Title IX discrimination after the university announced it would cut those two programs and men’s and women’s golf. “The decision was based on sustained departmental budget deficits and the anticipated financial impact of upcoming revenue-sharing requirements with Division I athletes,” SFA athletics said in a statement. The plaintiffs sought to keep the school from axing these programs.

SFA argued that the plaintiffs’ case was based on a policy interpretation of Title IX handed down by the Department of Education in 1979, better known as the three-part test, rather than the statute itself. Defendant lawyers urged the court to disregard the policy interpretation but also stressed the school was in compliance with Title IX either way. This is the same argument the University of Kentucky is using in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals against former students Ala Hassan and Lisa Niblock.

Judge Michael J. Truncale issued a written ruling Friday evening in favor of the plaintiffs. SFA has been ordered to reinstate all three women’s teams. Truncale affirmed that the Loper Bright case cannot be applied to Title IX in what plaintiff attorney John Clune called an “incredibly important” win for gender equity in sports.

A case decided in the Eastern District of Texas doesn’t have any direct impact on a case in the Sixth Circuit. But Iowa-based attorney Lori Bullock could take Truncale’s ruling and file it as non-binding supplemental authority for the Sixth Circuit to consider when ruling on Kentucky’s cross appeal. A quick appeal of Truncale’s decision to the Fifth Circuit is possible, Clune said, in which case either UK or Bullock could submit the SFA decision for the Sixth Circuit to consider.

In 2019, Hassan and Niblock filed a federal lawsuit alleging the school violated Title IX by not providing equal opportunities for women to participate in varsity sports. Last fall, U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell ruled in the Eastern District of Kentucky that the university was not in violation of the gender-equity law. Bullock filed a notice of appeal to the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February.

Under the Department of Education’s three-part test, a school can be in compliance with the participation aspects of Title IX in any one of the following ways:

— The number of male and female athletes is substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments; or

— The institution has a history and continuing practice of expanding participation opportunities responsive to the developing interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex; or

— The institution is fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.

UK’s legal counsel tried multiple times during the lower court proceedings to have the three-part test thrown out. Lawyers most recently cited a Supreme Court ruling from June between Loper Bright Enterprises and Raimondo, which they also cited in an April briefing. The decision made in favor of Loper Bright overturned a 40-year precedent known as “the Chevron doctrine” directing courts to defer to government agency interpretations of “ambiguous” laws.

However, Truncale ruled that Loper Bright applies to an agency’s interpretation of statute, not its own regulation. He also ruled that Loper Bright does not overturn previous case law that previously interpreted policy. Thus, Loper Bright does not apply to Title IX’s 1979 interpretation.

“It’s a hard ask for the schools to make the finding that SFA was trying to make,” Clune told USA TODAY. “The case law, it seems reasonably clear to us, but you know, you never know what a Court of Appeals is going to do. We’re really happy about the ruling, but we’re not surprised by the ruling. If you follow the law, this is what the outcome should be.”

Reach college sports enterprise reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.

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