During trying budget times, athletics/academics friction heats up

Ohio University's projected $15.5 million budget shortfall for the next school year has prompted some faculty members to question the amount of money the university spends on intercollegiate athletics. The OU athletics department, however, maintains that intercollegiate sports do not threaten academic funds and are a good investment for the university.

OU's athletics director maintains that major sports teams such as the football squad give the university important national exposure.

During this school year, the OU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has spent $18.7 million and brought in $4.1 million in revenue. It spent $16.4 million and generated $3.9 million in revenue during the 2007-2008 school year. While this revenue is funneled back into athletic expenditures, the largest portion of athletics funding comes from student fees.

"Is there a discussion about the question if we can afford that?" asked Bernhard Debatin, associate professor of journalism at OU, at last month's Faculty Senate meeting.
OU Athletics Director Jim Schaus said that competitive sports programs are "a good investment" for the university. His department serves as a "marketing arm" for OU and gives the university national exposure to increase enrollment and boost school pride on campus, he added.

"The benefits are a little more subliminal," Schaus said.

Intercollegiate athletics are also helpful in raising funds for the university as a whole, according to Howard Lipman, CEO of the Ohio University Foundation. Sporting events bring alumni to campus and provide an opportunity for the university to connect with possible donors, he said. He cited an alumni event last fall during the OU versus Ohio State University football game that brought in $6,980 for the Central Ohio scholarship.

Last year, athletic fundraising raised $1.3 million, according to Lipman. Also, the Vernon R. Alden Endowment for Intercollegiate Athletics has generated gifts/pledges of $1.45 million.
"According to our records, we have 7,557 living former student athletes," Lipman said. "Over the total lifetime of giving, we have received from these generous and loyal former athletes, $27,686,883 in gifts, pledge payments, pledges and bequests to support the university."

Some faculty members, however, question the merit of funding a program that they feel is not a core to the mission of the university.

Some faculty members at OU worry that expensive athletics programs take money that could be used in the classroom.

"I do not see intercollegiate athletics as central to our academic mission," said English professor Joe McLaughlin, who serves on both Faculty Senate and OU's Budget Planning Council. "It does enrich the experience for student athletes and other students, alumni and people in the community, but it is, as the saying goes, extracurricular. It is certainly not as important as continuing to fund health benefits for employees at the same level we have done so in the past."

McLaughlin was referring to the $2.2 million cut in employee health-care benefits that President Roderick McDavis approved last month.

Schaus, however, argued that the athletic department's funding does not detract from sources of funding for academics. Student fees and the department's own revenues fund intercollegiate sports, he noted, while academic departments are largely supported by state funds and student tuition.

Schaus said his department is "not strongly funded" and has had to cut four intercollegiate sports teams in recent years, leaving OU with the bare minimum number of teams allowed by the NCAA.

McLaughlin pointed out that the number of fulltime employees within the athletics department has risen from 56 to 65 since the 2003-2004 school year, with the overall salaries of full-time employees rising from $2.9 million to $6.5 million.

As of January 2009, Frank Solich, OU's head football coach, was the second-highest-paid employee at OU, making $330,000 a year, behind only President McDavis. Schaus is the seventh-highest-paid employee making $225,000 a year, and head men's basketball coach John Groce makes $200,000 a year.

To do its part to combat the current budget shortfall, the athletics department laid out a five-year strategic plan to cut $600,000 from next year's budget as part of its Bobcat Renaissance. However, this year alone the department is running a $1.8 million budget deficit.

Schaus said the department's budget deficit was "not all our fault," and the department suffers from a "lack of investments" in expenses such as team transportation and facilities. OU athletics currently receives less funding than most athletic departments in the Mid American Conference, ranking ninth out of 12 MAC schools for total funding.

"What you put into an investment is a factor of what you get back," Schaus said.

The AD said the Bobcat football and men's basketball teams are the most visible on a national scale and hold the most potential for generating revenue. He said he would like to see such programs "funded at the level of the competition" in order to achieve success and visibility.

OU men's basketball went 9-7 and placed eighth in the MAC conference for the 2008-2009 season. Bobcat football went 3-5 in the MAC conference last year.