Early this August,  Illinois Valley Community College announced that the 2023-2024 women’s basketball season had been canceled. Since then, word spread about what all went into making this decision.

The head Women’s Basketball coach resigned in late May this year. The IVCC Community’s Relations writes, “The timing of the coach’s resignation left the college with the inability to fill the roster for the season.” Moving forward, Cory Tomasson (IVCC Athletic Director) speaks on the resignation saying, “This entire hiring of a new coach is a process.” The position for a new head coach will be posted in November this year.

For next year, the goal is to get a new head coach on board between January and August. There was also a scarce amount of committed players for the upcoming season. Arguably, Tomasson says, “that was the factor.” There were two returning players as well as two fresh highschool graduates with signed letters of intent to join the team. Of those committed players, one is recovering from an ACL surgery, and another revoked their letter of intent.

Recruiters even began searching out of district, but it wasn’t an option financially. Ultimately, Tomasson says, “It wasn’t that we didn’t have a coach in any way, shape, or form. It has nothing to do with gender. It just wasn’t gonna work out for us to put a program together that wasn’t fair to the players.”

Despite the disappointment from potential game attendees, the committed players are invited to play next year. “They’re not missing out on college athletics,” Tomasson says, “Hopefully they have great memories.”

In light of the situation, the plan for next year’s season is very promising. “It gives us a chance to adequately prepare a complete team to compete at a college level,” Tomasson says. Planning for next year’s season of Women’s Basketball has already begun and will be put in motion early next year.