Fisk announces the end of its gymnastics program, the second HBCU program to fold in as many years

Fisk University announced on June 6 that it would discontinue its gymnastics program, the first of its kind at a historically Black college or university (HBCU). The 2026 season will be its last. This is a blow not only for the movement to further HBCU gymnastics, but for the sport itself. Teams must be given the opportunity to grow and flourish if the sport wants to grow and flourish. 

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In its press release, Fisk said that scheduling challenges for the team, following a review of its conference alignment, were the reason for ending the program. 

HBCU gymnastics was a long time in the making but has had a bumpy road since its inception at Fisk in 2022. A group called Brown Girls Do Gymnastics had advocated since its inception in 2015 for HBCUs to start gymnastics teams. Derrin Moore, the founder, is a former gymnast whose career was, she has said (gift link), marred by racist microaggressions from white teammates. She hoped to create a safe space for, as her organization’s name suggests, brown and Black girls to learn the sport and reach its highest levels. A member of Fisk’s board of trustees met with Moore to learn about starting a team after hearing that his great-niece wanted to do college gymnastics, but that her options included primarily majority-white schools. Just a few months after that conversation, Fisk announced its debut team. 

More firsts followed. Corrinne Tarver, the first Black woman to win an NCAA gymnastics all-around title, became Fisk’s first coach; she later became the school’s athletic director as well, and stepped down from the gymnastics coaching role in the middle of the 2025 season. 

Morgan Price made news in the gymnastics world when she decommitted from Arkansas to attend Fisk instead and to become a part of its debut team. She became the first HBCU gymnast to score a perfect 10 (on bars in February) and won back-to-back WCGNIC all-around titles in 2024 and 2025. 

With a year of eligibility remaining, Price will finish her career at Arkansas next season.

Tarver was recently announced as the new gymnastics coach at Southern Connecticut State University. 

One year after Fisk announced its team, Talladega University in Alabama, another HBCU, announced that it, too, would start a gymnastics program. Aja Sims-Fletcher, a former Alabama gymnast, was their head coach. It folded a year later, a casualty of budget cuts. Sims-Fletcher is now an assistant coach at Illinois. 

Ohio’s Wilberforce University became the third HBCU gymnastics program in 2024 — and now will be the only one. 

On its website, Brown Girls Do Gymnastics has posted a petition to urge HBCUs to continue gymnastics programs. Referring to Fisk and Talladega, the petition reads, in part, “These pioneering programs were never meant to stand alone. They were intended to light the path for others to follow.” 

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Five at The IX: Derrin Moore on Resilience to Brilliance

Listen to Derrin Moore, the founder of Brown Girls Do Gymnastics, on a podcast speaking about her career and her push to get gymnastics into HBCUs. 

Watch an excerpt here: