The College of Alameda announced on Wednesday that its athletics programs will be discontinued at the end of the Spring 2026 season.
“Title IX requires equal access to sports for women and men. Over the past few years, we’ve been unable to maintain a women’s sports team at COA. Without women’s sports, we cannot continue to offer men’s sports,” Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for the Peralta Community College District said in a press release quoted by KTVU News. “Opportunities for student-athletes remain available at our sister colleges in Oakland: Laney College and Merritt College.”
College of Alameda (COA) currently offers only two sports—men’s basketball and women’s volleyball—according to its Athletics webpage and the California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) directory. The basketball team, coached by Hall of Famer Gary Payton, finished their 2025-2026 season at 11-15 (7-9 in conference play), closing it out with a seven-game losing streak that went through February 19, according to an SF Gate report. The women’s volleyball team didn’t play at all for the past two seasons, according to 3C2A records.
Payton—a nine-time All Star, Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA Champion—came to COA for the 2024-2025 season filled with optimism, despite the team’s 7-21 record in the 2023-2024 season.
“We’re going to go around the community, go to different businesses, have meetings with them, and set up lunches,” the NBA legend said at a September 2024 press conference reported by the Alameda Post. As the record shows, however, Payton’s optimism went unfulfilled.
In a post on social media, ESPN senior NBA reporter Marc Spears said that Payton will continue his coaching career in the Big3, the three-on-three basketball league founded by rapper Ice Cube. Meanwhile, Alameda players with eligibility are reportedly looking for new schools.
