 While informal women's intercollegiate athletics existed without university funding from the early 1960s via the Texas Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (TAIAW), the passage of Title IX by the United States Congress in 1972 revolutionized college sports by mandating "that women athletes must be given the same opportunities as their male counterparts".ETSU began to field funded women's intercollegiate teams in 1974, but initially their funding was insufficient; the first budget allocated $10,300 to all women's athletics, which Director of Women's Athletics Margo Harbison appealed.This resulted in President F. H. McDowell doubling the amount, although even this failed to provide any scholarships, though it did pay for uniforms.