The evolution of womens sports at TCU

The squeak of sneakers against a hardwood court, the clack of cleats in a march to the field, the piercing shot of a rifle, the sharp clap of a starting whistle, and the echo of cheers rolling through the air between field, courts and ranges.

During any given week at TCU, women’s athletics feel less like individual teams and more like a rising tide. Championship banners hang, and the air buzzes with the promise of something bigger than a single season.

Last fall, women’s soccer won the Big 12 regular-season title and rifle is rising to No. 1 nationally. The TCU women's basketball team has advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year and the Beach volleyball team won the national championship.

The equestrian team remains at the top of the national conversation. The young TCU Triathlon team took third place at the NCAA Championship race. TCU Volleyball earned 20 regular-season wins two years in a row, heading into the Division I Volleyball Championship. Women in purple are lifting trophies, breaking barriers and rewriting the school’s athletic identity.

But the growing success of TCU women's sports didn’t happen overnight.

Title IX, passed in 1972 under President Nixon, helped transform women’s athletics. Almost no one anticipated the sweeping impact Title IX would have. Still, in 37 words, Title IX set in motion a transformation in women’s sports, according to the Richard Nixon Foundation website.

Barbara Franklin was appointed by President Nixon to recruit women for high-level government positions (Photo courtesy of the Richard Nixon Foundation Library)

Barbara Franklin was appointed by President Nixon to recruit women for high-level government positions (Photo courtesy of the Richard Nixon Foundation Library)

Before Title IX, women’s opportunities in college athletics were limited, underfunded, and often ignored. But this civil rights law, which bans sex-based discrimination at any school receiving federal funding, forced universities to rethink everything: scholarships, facilities, roster spots and entire programs. It gave female athletes the chance to compete, to train and to be heard.

President Richard Nixon's meeting with women appointed to top-level administration positions in the White House Cabinet Room in 1972 (Photo courtesy of the Richard Nixon Foundation Library)

President Richard Nixon's meeting with women appointed to top-level administration positions in the White House Cabinet Room in 1972 (Photo courtesy of the Richard Nixon Foundation Library)

Title IX didn’t just open doors for female athletes; it kicked them wide open. Today, the number of women competing in college sports is roughly eight times higher than it was in 1972, according to the Richard Nixon Foundation website. Now, TCU has about 295 female athletes across 13 teams.

President Richard Nixon (Photo courtesy of the Richard Nixon Foundation Library)

The team that started it all

The foundation of women’s athletics at TCU was built decades ago. The rifle team set the stage, alongside women's tennis. TCU rifle emerged in the months immediately following the passage of Title IX. The rifle team first appeared on campus as a varsity club team. At the center of it all was Colonel Sue Ann Sandusky.

“Col. Sue Ann Sandusky was a three-time All-American for TCU rifle from 1972-74… a back-to-back national women’s air rifle champion… the national women’s standard rifle prone champion in 1975, 1978 and 1980… earned two gold medals at world shooting championships and served on the U.S. Olympic Committee,” according to the TCU Frog Club website.

Sandusky didn’t just set records; she defined what excellence for women's athletics at TCU could look like.

In 2017, 45 years after her final season as a Horned Frog, she was inducted into TCU’s Hall of Fame, a recognition of a legacy that helped shape an entire era of women’s sports on campus. After graduating, Sandusky was recruited to the U.S. Army when military branches were only beginning to open their ranks to women. She continued her competitive career with the USAR International Shooting Team from 1975 to 1982, extending her influence from collegiate pioneer to national representative.

The NCAA recognized rifle as a varsity sport nearly two decades later, in 1991.

Rifle remains one of the most unique athletic programs in the NCAA. It is a fully co-ed sport in which men and women compete directly against one another. Of the 28 collegiate rifle teams across the country, only five, including TCU, are made up of all women.

As of the end of fall 2025, all five female teams are ranked in the CRCA Top 10, with TCU ranking No. 3.

TCU Rifle team photographed in Fort Worth, Texas on August 25, 2017. (Photo by/Sharon Ellman)

Col. Sue Ann Sandusky, class of 1974, was a three-time member to the Collegiate All-American Rifle Team during her TCU career. (Photo Credit: TCU Lettermen’s Association)

TCU Rifle with the 2019 NCAA National Championship Trophy (TCU360)

When Head Coach Karen Monez arrived at TCU in 2004, she inherited a program that was still finding its footing.

“When I started, I had four walk-ons, and to meet the Title IX obligations, they asked that first year that I had 25 on the roster,” said Head Coach Karen Monez, who added “...I put flyers up around campus that said join the team, and that was my first year here… and then it just began to evolve.”

Under her leadership, TCU rifle has captured four NCAA national championships. Their breakthrough came in the 2010 season, when the Horned Frogs rewrote the record books and claimed their first NCAA varsity title. They became the first all-women’s team in history to win a national title in a co-ed sport. Four national titles later, with the most recent in 2024, the Horned Frogs have established themselves as one of the most dominant forces in collegiate rifle and the winningest team at TCU.

“I think knowing that we are recognized as a top-tier program, and we’re attracting student athletes, and that’s something that 20 years ago, wasn’t even a possibility,” Coach Monez said, “...those trophies that we have there in the hall of fame, I’m proud of those trophies, and that the girls have accomplished all that they have, it all comes back to that.”

TCU rifle Head Coach Karen Monez with the 2010 NCAA National Championship trophy (Photo courtesy of TCU Athletics)

Kris Gutierrez, midfielder and forward for TCU men’s soccer from 1997-1999 (Photo courtesy of Kris Gutierrez)

Texas Christian University forward Cameron Patton fights for possession of the ball at the Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 29, 2024. The TCU Horned Frogs beat the Central Michigan Chippewas 3-0. (TCU 360/ Shane Manson)

TCU women's soccer...

Kris Gutierrez, midfielder and forward for TCU men’s soccer from 1997-1999 (Photo courtesy of Kris Gutierrez)

is intertwined with Title IX.

Texas Christian University forward Cameron Patton fights for possession of the ball at the Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 29, 2024. The TCU Horned Frogs beat the Central Michigan Chippewas 3-0. (TCU 360/ Shane Manson)

One had to fall for the other to rise

In 1986, David Rubinson, then-head coach of the men’s soccer team, established TCU’s first women’s soccer team. He coached both teams. While the women’s team flourished, the men’s program faltered.

As women’s sports gained institutional backing and expectations for compliance under Title IX increased, the men’s program found itself vulnerable. Following the 2002 season, the men’s team was dissolved to club status, clearing space within TCU Athletics to invest fully in the rapidly growing women’s side.

The loss still stings for some of the players.

“What is really unfortunate now is that our program is just an afterthought. The current athletic department couldn't care less about our stats or achievements… It’s sad,” said Kris Gutierrez, midfielder and forward for TCU men’s soccer from 1997-1999, who added, “…we put in a lot of hard work to represent our school as best we could.”

Still, Gutierrez doesn’t resent the women’s program.

“I’m super proud of the women’s program, in large part because they represent everything we didn’t have… They’ve done a phenomenal job growing the program and winning at a very high level,” he said. “Am I jealous our men’s program didn’t have that success… sure, but God had way bigger plans for me, and I’m grateful He gave me the gift of kicking a ball to open the initial doors that got me where I am today.”

David Rubinson, head coach of TCU men's and women's soccer teams in 1986 (Photo courtesy of TCU Athletics)

Kris Gutierrez, midfielder and forward for TCU men’s soccer from 1997-1999 (Photo courtesy of Kris Gutierrez)

Kris Gutierrez professional headshot (Photo courtesy of Kris Gutierrez)

TCU vs Santa Clara soccer at the Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Complex in Fort Worth, Texas on August 25, 2022 (Photo courtesy of GoFrogs.com)

Today, TCU women’s soccer stands as one of the university’s most successful teams. The 2025 Horned Frogs closed their season as Big 12 champions and advanced to the College Cup semifinalists for the first time in TCU's history.

TCU women's soccer's send off to Kansas for the College Cup (Photo courtesy of TCU Athletics)

The TCU women's soccer team celebrates their victory over West Virginia to clinch their first-ever Big 12 Championship. (Jack Wallace/Staff Photographer)

TCU women's basketball takes home Big 12 championship title on March 2, 2025. (TCU360/Photo courtesy of gofrogs.com)

But soccer is not the only program rewriting expectations.

The TCU women's soccer team celebrates their victory over West Virginia to clinch their first-ever Big 12 Championship. (Jack Wallace/Staff Photographer)

Across campus, the women's basketball team has been rising just as quickly.

TCU women's basketball takes home Big 12 championship title on March 2, 2025. (TCU360/Photo courtesy of gofrogs.com)

Using change to grow

Under Head Coach Mark Campbell, Fort Worth has become a top destination for some of the most talented athletes in the country and around the world. Seasoned graduate transfers have left behind the programs they once called home, international players cross oceans, and even U.S. Olympians have put on the purple and white jersey.

With each addition to this Horned Frog team, the spotlight on TCU women’s basketball shines a little bit brighter.

Across athletics, the ground has been shifting under everyone’s feet, and no change has jolted the nation quite like the transfer portal. What once was a slow offseason shuffle of roster adjustments has exploded into a 30-day storm. Coaches scramble, rosters flip and players must make life-altering decisions in a matter of weeks. The updated NCAA transfer portal is not only fast, but it's also unpredictable, and has completely redefined what it means to build and rebuild a team in college athletics.

According to the NCAA website, “The Transfer Portal was created as a compliance tool to systematically manage the transfer process from start to finish, add more transparency to the process among schools and empower student-athletes to make known their desire to consider other programs.”

Yet, the biggest impact is not found in the rulebook; it’s in the voices of the women athletes who have stepped into it.

TCU forward Marta Suárez (7) and TCU guard Taliyah Parker (right) embrace after the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament Sunday, March 22, 2026, Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Jessica Tobias)

TCU guard Olivia Miles dribbles the ball towards the basket at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 9, 2025. (TCU360/Tyler Chan)

In this March 12, 2020, file photo, the national office of the NCAA in Indianapolis is shown. The NCAA Board of Directors is expected to greenlight one of the biggest changes in the history of college athletics when it clears the way for athletes to start earning money based on their fame and celebrity without fear of endangering their eligibility or putting their school in jeopardy of violating amateurism rules that have stood for decades. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

Hailey Van Lith won her first Olympic medal after beating France in 3x3 basketball (Photo courtesy of TCU Athletics)

TCU guard Donovyn Hunter gets ready to put the TCU sticker onto the bracket at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Mar. 22, 2026. The TCU Horned Frogs beat the Washington Huskies 62-59 in overtime. (TCU360/Tyler Chan)

TCU head coach Mark Campbell gives an interview at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri Mar. 9, 2025. The TCU Horned Frogs beat the Baylor Bears 64-59. (TCU360/ Tyler Chan)

“It’s becoming the standard…a lot of these schools are football schools, men’s basketball schools… so it’s cool to be here [TCU] where it’s not just women’s basketball, its volleyball, soccer: all these different sports that women are in that are on the rise,” said Taylor Bigby, senior guard. “It’s just a blessing to see because years ago this wasn’t a thing, so to be a part of it, I mean, I guess its our job to keep pushing that forward, even when we’re done with school.”

TCU guard Donovyn Hunter gets ready to put the TCU sticker onto the bracket at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Mar. 22, 2026. The TCU Horned Frogs beat the Washington Huskies 62-59 in overtime. (TCU360/Tyler Chan)

These women athletes aren’t just standing on the foundation of Title IX’s legacy; they’re at the forefront of a generation that is driving the next chapter of growth.

This moment.

This era of trophies, headlines, and packed stands.

Is not just the product of Title IX, or one season of success led by a superstar player. It is the result of decades of determination. Of women who compete without scholarships, coaches who recruit by taping flyers to dining hall walls, and athletes who trained in the shadows of programs with brighter lights.

Fifty years ago, Title IX cracked open a door, but today, TCU’s women athletes have kicked it wide open.

It’s the story of athletes, coaches and programs whose success could no longer be ignored. The rise of TCU’s women’s athletics is bigger than the banners hanging on the wall, but it’s a culmination of what came before and what is yet to come. The next generation of Horned Frogs won’t just inherit the legacy left by these women athletes, but the standard of greatness. One built by women who have proven that when given the opportunity, history can be transformed.