The facilities at Kentucky State University are a vital component of the athletics program, significantly influencing the perception of prospective students, student-athletes, donors, visiting teams, and the broader community. While the athletics facilities have some strengths, there are notable challenges and safety concerns with certain practice/competition venues for specific sports programs. Many facility spaces are shared, and some are located off-campus, creating logistical challenges such as limited practice time and transportation issues. There are locker rooms or spaces provided for most teams. Locker rooms are outdated and too small to accommodate most teams. Upgrades are needed for baseball, men's and women's basketball and football. Softball does not have a locker room and both cross country programs and track and field programs do not have a locker room for either gender.
There appears to be a risk management issues with the main playing surface in Bell Gymnasium. There are visibly damaged, rotten and missing wooden floor pieces to the main playing surface. The baseball complex appears to have a risk management issues which include no fencing around the perimeter of the complex, holes in the batting cages and holes in the protection screens. The dugouts appear also to be unsafe.
The main athletic training suite is small cramped, and outdated. It is also in need of upgrades. The track is not usable and there are safety concerns at the William Exum Center. In some instances, there are no locks on doors, or the locks do not function properly.
The NCAA IPP data are from the most recent NCAA IPP Dashboard and are from the 2022-23 academic year. The IPP data compared Kentucky State University to the median of the SIAC, GLVC, and all NCAA Division II member institutions.
Based on our extensive review of NCAA IPP data Kentucky State University is behind all NCAA Division II institutions, SIAC and GLCV institutions in most categories reviewed for the years 2018-2023.
Academically, Kentucky State’s student-athletes have shown steady improvement in their Grade Point Average (GPA) increasing from 2.82 in 2018 to 2.93 in 2023 often matching or exceeding SIAC medians but consistently lag behind GLVC and all NCAA Division II institutions. Graduation rates remain a concern, as Kentucky State’s federal graduation rates are lower than peer groups, though student-athletes outperform the general study body.
Resource limitations further highlight disparities in Kentucky State's athletics program. Kentucky State sponsors 14 sports programs, fewer than GLVC and all NCAA Division II institutions but more than SIAC schools. Despite fluctuations in athletics-grant-in-aid funding, Kentucky State's support remains modest compared to all Division II and GLVC and is closer to the SIAC median. Administrative staffing aligns with SIAC medians, but lags Division II and GLVC Compensation for head and assistant coaches, though improving remains below peer benchmarks.
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