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Sports Programs' Deficits
Column:
Know the facts about OU dropping sports
By HERB FITZER
Guest Columnist
Ohio University recently dropped men's track and swimming and women's lacrosse
from its athletic program. Ohio's administration would have you believe that
Title IX caused this situation. A more ingenuous explanation is wanton spending
by "revenue" sports and woeful institutional control of the athletic
budget.
Although I coach "orphan sports," college football is my favorite,
especially bowl season. Many labor under a misconception that big money is made
from bowl games. Big money is made only at bowls that start with "BCS."
Ohio appeared in a bowl game, but spent hundreds of thousands of dollars more
than they earned for the appearance. Because Ohio was in a bowl, Coach (Frank)
Solich brought his team back to campus after Thanksgiving break and since the
dorms were closed, housed and fed them in the Ohio University Inn (which is not
owned by Ohio) one to a room until the bowl game. This is in addition to housing
players in a hotel before all home football games.
Taxpayers should note that Ohio spends an average of $23,000 per athlete (above
and beyond the scholarship) in basketball, around $13,000 per football player,
and less than $400 per track athlete. Ohio flies to most of its MAC away
basketball games. For these road games, Ohio sends an empty bus from Athens to
transport the players from the airport. Next time you sign that tuition check,
remember basketball and football lost around $10,500 a day in 2006.
Cutting track cost Ohio money. The NCAA contributed $22,000 to Ohio for men's
track. They have women's track (men's and women's were combined) and cannot cut
coaches and with men's cross country intact, they cannot cut scholarship money
(they only have seven). The difference between money spent on track outside of
salaries is over $3,000 less than the NCAA contribution. The same is true of
swimming, which was "bare bones." Eliminating men's swimming saved
only the cost of six scholarships!
This administration has no concept of fiscal reality. Football lost $1.9 million
last season - and the basketball program lost nearly as much. The rest of the
sports offered at the university lost a combined $1.9 million. If you look at it
this way, Ohio has no "revenue sports."
One member of the athletic counsel, in a conversation with a student athlete
affected by cuts, reportedly asked the swimmer, "why don't you just
participate in another sport?"
Intercollegiate athletics can be a formative part of university life. Many
students attend for the Division I athletic experience, and most, "go pro
in something other than sports." Few have "full rides" and perks
of the "big two" and compete for the love of sport.
Men's programs cut were leaders in campus in GPA and graduation rates. Students
such as these go on to lead prosperous lives and become great alumni. Now they
will be great alumni elsewhere. Maybe your child will be among them.
If what I have written disturbs you, don't take my word for it. Check it out
yourself. Once you discover that Ohio spends YOUR money like it is their JOB,
maybe you will disturb someone who will do something about it!
Herb Fitzer is head boys and girls track coach,
and head cross country coach at Zanesville High School. This is a copy of the
letter he sent to Ohio University.
"From The Athens News"
Thursday, March 15th, 2007
During
the fiscal year ending last June, the only major Ohio University sports program
that operated in the black budget-wise was men's basketball, according to a
recently released state financial audit of OU.
The independent audit, conducted by Deloitte & Touche LLP, shows that in FY
2006, the men's basketball program took in revenues of over $1.52 million and
had expenses of under $1.06 million, to end the year $463,899 to the good
financially.
The men's football and women's basketball programs, by
contrast, ran deficits of more than $428,000 and $227,000 respectively, the
audit shows.
All other sports programs at OU combined racked up a deficit of more than $2.1
million, according to the audit, though non-program-specific sports (a separate
category) helped cover this shortfall, ending the year with more than $2 million
of revenues over their expenditures.
Overall, intercollegiate athletics programs at OU accounted for a loss of
$281,557, the audit shows.
The audit, which looked closely at various parts of OU's budget, acknowledges
that "in many respects, FY 2006 was a trying year for the university,"
because of widely publicized problems with computer security breaches and
student plagiarism.
However, the auditors add, "with many eyes on its response, the university
has taken ownership of those issues and is working diligently to address the IT
(information technology) issues and to make good come out of those 'teachable
moments' for our students."
One positive budgetary sign that shows up in the audit is an increase over the
previous year in OU's total net assets at fiscal year's end. This number - total
assets minus total liabilities - has increased from $462 million in FY 2004, to
more than $482 million in FY 2005, and to more than $506 million in FY 2006.
As the audit makes clear, however, this increase has been made possible, in the
face of falling state subsidy, partly by steadily increasing tuition rates.
OU increased tuition by 6 percent for undergraduates and 3 percent for graduate
students, and increased room rates by 4 percent in FY 2006. The previous year,
OU had increased both undergraduate and graduate student tuition by 9 percent,
and hiked both room-and-board rates by 3 percent.
From FY 2004 to 2005, OU's state money support fell by more than $2.76 million,
then fell by more than $2.25 million the next year.
However, "student receivables" - mainly tuition and fees - went up by
more than $3.16 million from FY 2005 to FY 2006, owing to the tuition increase.
OU continues to build and renovate campus facilities, and after seeing its debt
obligations in the form of outstanding bonds and notes drop between FY 2004 and
2005, from more than $175 million to about $167 million, that number went up in
FY 2006 to more than $192 million.
Projects completed during FY 2006 include renovation of the Biddle Hall
dormitory ($5.2 million), upgrade of the Lausche heating plant ($3.2 million),
extension of steam to the Ridges ($1.8 million), conversion of part of Scott
Quad from offices to student rooms ($1.3 million) and replacement of South Green
conduits ($1 million).
Cumulative costs of projects still underway during FY 2006 - ranging from the
new Baker University Center to the renovation of Alden Library's second floor -
represent a cost of about $82.4 million, the audit says.
From FY 2005 to 2006, the university shifted its mix of investments. (These
numbers do not include the sizable investments handled by the OU Foundation.)
OU has put more of its investment money in stocks and less in bonds. Compared to
FY 2005, when the university had about 2.8 percent of its portfolio in common
stock and 40.5 percent in equity mutual funds, those numbers went to 4.3 and
44.1 percent in FY 2006.
From having about 2.6 percent of its portfolio in corporate bonds and notes, and
about 43.3 percent in bond mutual funds in FY 2005, OU in FY 2006 lowered those
percentages to about 1.2 and 39.3 percent.
It also moved more heavily into mortgage-backed securities, upping its portfolio
percentage from about 1.9 percent to about 6.4 percent.
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DROPPED
TEAMS
2006
Women's Lacrosse Team
Swimming
and Diving
and
Track
and Field
|
