July 12, 2025
Due to the university’s financial struggles, the hockey program will now begin during the 2026-2027 academic year.
Tennessee State University’s historic hockey program–the first ice hockey program at any HBCU–was dealt a minor setback on July 10 when the university officially announced that amid its financial struggles caused by Tennessee’s chronic underfunding of the university, the program would begin during the 2026-2027 academic year.
According to The Nashville Banner, the State of Tennessee has underfunded Tennessee State University by $544 million over the past five decades, but despite these institutional shortfalls, staff members committed themselves to fundraising while attempting to recruit players, building out a schedule for the team and the many other logistical concerns that come with building a program from scratch.
Kevin Westgarth, the National Hockey League’s VP of Hockey Development and Strategic Collaboration, touted the resilience of Tennessee State University in a press release and appeared confident that the program would rebound from this setback.
“Deferring the inaugural season of TSU Tigers hockey to 2026-27 is the right step to build a foundation worthy of the university,” Westgarth said. “We have faith in President Tucker’s vision and look forward to adding new names to the TSU Athletics history alongside legends like Olympic gold medalist Wilma Rudolph and NBA champion Dick Barnett. Hopefully, we’ll see an ex-Tiger raise the Stanley Cup one day, not too far in the future.”
After Tennessee State University announced its intention to start a Division I hockey program at the institution in June 2023, the NHL and Tennessee’s NHL franchise, the Nashville Predators, quickly backed the effort, utilizing the NHL’s Industry Growth Fund to help fund and provide resources to the fledgling program.
However, the university’s continuing financial issues have caused a domino effect, and it was determined that the hockey program needed to raise $5 million in budgetary funding independent of the university to cover its first two seasons.
In the press release, Tennessee State University’s interim president, Dwayne Tucker, said that both the Nashville Predators and the NHL agreed that it was best for the university to delay the launch of the program in order to raise the necessary funds for competition.
“Working closely with the NHL and the Predators, we agree that an additional year will provide the program with the time and resources it needs to launch at full strength and with long-term financial success in mind,” Tucker said.
Since his hiring in April 2024, the hockey program’s head coach, Duanté Abercrombie has led the fundraising effort, which will now shift to a model focused on community engagement, initiatives to create more donations, as well as efforts geared at the development of the hockey program itself in order to keep the fire that was lit at the outset of the program’s inception burning.
Bill Wickett, the Predators chief marketing officer, indicated in his own statement in the press release that the team wants to help “make the Division I hockey dream a reality at Tennessee State.”
He continued, “We applaud university leadership, led by Interim President Tucker, for its desire to ensure that when the Tigers step on the ice for the first time, they are doing it for a long time, and we pledge to walk hand-in-hand with that leadership in making it happen.”
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