Gymnast Ryan McEwen can't picture the possibility of collegiate men's gymnastics losing its NCAA sponsorship. He doesn't want to think about it. No athlete would.

But the NCAA has not given him a choice. Effective Aug. 1, a sport's NCAA championship will be discontinued the year after it fails to meet the 40-team minimum requirement. Men's gymnastics is currently sponsored by 36-member institutions.

McEwen said he believes Penn State will find a way to save his sport, even if the NCAA will not. He is not ready to give up, and won't be until all available options have been considered.

"There's a million options," the sophomore said. "You just have to spend time thinking about it. You have to start asking questions about what you can do."

Of its 28 varsity sports, Penn State does not currently have any without an NCAA-sponsored championship. Athletic Director Tim Curley said that the University has not determined what will happen to its men's gymnastics program.

However, Coach Fred Orlofsky of Western Michigan predicts that many institutions will be forced to drop men's gymnastics from varsity to club status.

"It's very doubtful that a lot of the universities . . . will still continue to pay for a coach and pay for a budget and everything else when it's not under NCAA," Orlofsky said.

Many men's coaches find hope in the idea of creating a national championship in conjunction with the women's program.

"The primary thing we're working on is to try and convince the women to have a combined championship," said Lt. Col. Louis Burkel, gymnastics coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy. "We feel like that's the most logical thing to do."

The format would combine the men's and women's team scores in deciding who the overall champion would be.

Some of the women's coaches do not favor such an adjustment. With many of the top women's programs existing without a men's counterpart, schools such as No. 1 Geogia, No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 Utah would have half the scoring potential in winning a combined team trophy. Also ranking in the top 10 nationally are Michigan and UCLA, who are in danger of losing their men's programs.

Boise State Coach Sam Sandmire is not in favor of a joint championship because Boise State does not have a men's team.

"We don't want to weaken our championship, but we do want to help the men," said Sandmire, the chair of the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches for Women. "I would personally vote against anything that would result in Boise State having half the score that a score with both men's and women's teams had."

Lady Lion Coach Steve Shephard agreed that combining the championships is not in the best interest of the women's program.

"I don't think that there's anything the women can do to help them," he said. "I think our championship is a successful tradition."

Lions' Coach Randy Jepson has other options in mind. Although the loss of an NCAA-sponsored championship would be unfortunate, Jepson is overlooking the negative in favor of "the exciting possibilities that can exist." Jepson said that alternative plans will allow his team more freedoms.

"Right now we're tied into NCAA format for running a championship, which means we have to use their travel agents," he added. "The air fares are sky high. We can't get corporate sponsorship or anything like that. Our hands are tied in a lot of ways."

Iowa Coach Tom Dunn is optimistic considering the Big Ten's long history of sponsoring a gymnastics championship.

"The Big Ten conference has had championships long before the NCAA started, and I'm hopeful that they will continue to sponsor a Big Ten Championship," he said. Dunn added that even if some teams drop their programs, institutions such as Penn State, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio State will have programs.

"There will be a championship by another name," Dunn added.

The next name attached to the collegiate men's gymnastics championship could be the U.S. Gymnastics Federation. Bill Meade, the USGF's interim men's program director, said that if the sport loses NCAA sponsorship, the USGF may sponsor it.

"We're doing it now for Division II and III, and we've done it I think for the last 70 years," he said.

The official status of collegiate gymnastics -- varsity or otherwise -- will not minimize the gymnasts' desire to perform.

"Varsity sport or not, they'll always be a gym here and Randy and (Assistant Coach) Vladimir (Novikov) will always be here, so I presume myself staying," freshman Tom Ellefson said.