Budgeting Athletes
Blair Scanlon

On March 13, Court Street in Athens filled with hundreds of students chanting the popular, “OU, oh yeah!” cheer. The basketball team had just defeated Georgetown in one of the biggest upsets of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Days later on the 29th it was the athletic budget that took the spotlight.

The troubled economy is affecting everyone, including public universities like Ohio University. Department’s campus wide are facing budget and pay cuts.

A special Budget Council was created in order to clarify the current situation and subsequent process. There have been numerous emails sent by the council to both students and faculty attempting to explain the situation and how and why these cuts are being administered.

Perhaps the most controversial of the topics on the budget list is the athletics section. A separate, more in depth document was created to answer the myriad of questions. The common trend in questions and comments-athletics has received special treatment and abused their privileges, make them pay.

In a March 2010 article appearing in The Post, the athletic budget deficit is cited at $7 million. The Post’s further analysis showed that since 2005 the athletic department was overspending by $1.2 million each year.



They also said that other departments are being expected to “foot the bill” for these mistakes. The resentment ensues.

The University is now attempting to alleviate the concerns and address the questions.

According to the ‘Budget Recommendations’ from March 29, “Ohio University is an academic institution that since 1892 a tradition of providing institutional support for student athletic competition.”

Athletics are described as a core and integral activity.

Dr. Rebecca Thacker, an associate professor in the Human Resource Management department in the College of Business, agrees with much of what the recommendations are stating.

“Playing a sport is also a learning experience,” she said. “You learn sportsmanship, how to fulfill your obligations to the team you work with, how to take adversity and not let it destroy you, how to manage time and the demands of two different but equally important components of your life -in this case, academics and athletics, but in the real world, it becomes job and family-, and some students learn how to become leaders.”

She admits that her opinion is not the popular way of thinking.

“I know that I am definitely in the minority in thinking this way,” she said.

With the recent budget cuts a lot of concerns have emerged that the athletic departments have not received the same blow.



The athletic department begs to differ.

In an e-mail statement, Jason Corriher, the Assistant Athletic Director of Media Relations, said that his office has been reduced to three staff members from six due to the budget cuts.

Ohio University has also had to cut many athletic programs over the years due to poor attendance and lack of successful funding methods. The most recent cut was the Cross Country Team.

Dr. Thacker says that there is a direct correlation between spending and successful teams. She believes we have to put the time and money in if we want to see any return- continuing to cut back simply is not the answer.

“There is no question in my mind about that,” she said. “The better the athletic facilities, like an indoor football practice field, or a dedicated basketball arena for practice, etc., the more likely you are to recruit the best athletes and the best coaches- the better the athletes and the coaches, the greater the likelihood of success.”

As a proud booster of West Virginia University athletics, she has watched their program blossom over the years. As the teams improved so did enrollment in the University. When enrollment improved people started paying attention and recognizing them as a viable player in the college arena.

“No longer do the sportscasters call us "The University of West Virginia," or call us the "miners," instead of the "Mountaineers," she said. “You have to have a flag to rally around, and unless you're Harvard or Yale, it's not likely to be an academic flag- but it can be the sports flag, and that certainly spawned a great outpouring of affection and money for the university.”

As far as she is concerned, athletics play an important role in this University. She believes that we are on the proper budget course at this point and hopes that we only continue.

“I would hope that President McDavis and Athletics Director Schaus would stay the course as far as the athletic budget is concerned,” she said. “If anything, I'd like to see us improve our facilities for football as a way to attract recruits.”

Other members of the faculty are a little more wary of the state of the athletic budget.

WOUB, the local PBS station has seen its fair share of budget cuts.

The station provides public television to the surrounding counties as well as an opportunity for students to get real world experience in the fields of radio and television broadcasting. With the recent cuts classes have become larger and the faculty and staff have shrunk.

Sue Damron, administrative coordinator for WOUB, says that they have seen some major changes with the budget.

“We lost 6 people last year and we had two people retire this year and everyone has taken a 5% pay cut,” she said. “Without the two people retiring the staff would have had to take a larger pay cut-so we have had our share of budget cuts.”

This has reinforced a concern that all departments should be affected by the cuts, not just one more so than another.

Damron says she appreciates the importance of athletics but that they cannot escape the hardships.

“We have had pretty tough decisions so they should too,” she said. “Last year they didn’t face much in the way of cuts and we lost eight people.”

She does not, however, want to diminish the importance that athletics play in the university atmosphere.

“I would not want to see them go away, sports are always valuable and you are not here just to learn academics-sports are a means to bring interest to the University,” she said.

It is evident during this tough time with budget cuts, that every department is concerned with how their programs will fair when the money is distributed. Those in the athletic department and their supporters, like Dr. Thacker, maintain that they are a vital part to keeping enrollment and interest in Ohio University on the rise.

“Most faculty probably don't attend games, they don't get to know the athletes, and they may have stereotypical and negative impressions of athletes,” Dr. Thacker said. “I think playing a sport is great preparation for life after college. To say that we should devalue that experience is to send a message to our student athletes that they are devalued.”