Minneapolis ? Declaring it a “last resort,” University of Minnesota administrators recommended Thursday dropping three sports to contend with growing financial problems in athletics.

Men’s and women’s golf and men’s gymnastics will end unless officials reconsider after the Board of Regents responds to the plan.

The university also will combine its long-separate men’s and women’s athletic departments, a move feared by supporters of women’s sports.

Without the changes, the university estimates a deficit will grow to $21 million over the next five years.

“We’re not very cavalier about cutting sports. This hurts a lot of people,” said university president Mark Yudof.

Dropping the three sports would save an estimated $900,000 annually. Merging the departments would save an estimated $4.4 million in the next five years, according to vice president Tonya Moten Brown, who oversees sports.

A three-year moratorium also was placed on nonessential facilities projects, and Yudof warned it still might not be enough.