The College of Alameda announced that its athletics department will be shutting down at the end of Spring 2026, citing a struggle to meet Title IX requirements.
According to SF Gate, the College of Alameda, located in Alameda Calif., is a member of the Peralta Community College District and the California Community College Athletic Association. The Cougars offered two varsity sports: men’s basketball and women’s volleyball, but in recent years the school has struggled to field a women’s volleyball team.
The women’s volleyball team did not compete this season or last season due to a lack of student-athletes. The men’s basketball team has competed consistently and wrapped up its season in late February.
“Over the past few years, we’ve been unable to maintain a women’s sports team at COA,” a spokesperson wrote through email. “Without women’s sports, we cannot continue to offer men’s sports. Opportunities for student-athletes remain available at our sister colleges in Oakland: Laney College and Merritt College.”
For the College of Alameda men’s head basketball coach, Gary Payton, this shut down is a familiar pattern. Payton previously coached at Lincoln University where funding was in such dire conditions that the school stopped paying him and his assistants, and Payton began funding the program out of his own pocket to keep it alive. He was hired by College of Alameda two seasons ago.
