- Can't afford to fire Coach Ernie Kent. Going to cost $4.2M if he doesn't take a diminished buyout (and why would anyone do that?). Only possible workaround is digging through the bargain bin for CEK's replacement. RESULT: Coach Kent steps aside and gets the full-blown, no discount crimson parachute. Dr. Schultz/Mr. Chun confidently shell out another $4.2M guaranteed for a verifiable analytics maestro and one of West Coast's most highly-regarded up-and-coming basketball coaches.
- Hear ye, hear ye! Cougar Athletics is drowning in facilities-related debt. The Pac-12 Network's inarguable flop has created a financial hole in Pullman bigger than the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel. Major cutbacks and severe belt-tightening are frighteningly inevitable. RESULT: Record-setting fund-raising by Mr. Chun and his team. Modernized baseball complex and state-of-the-art football IPF on schedule. Beasley Coliseum upgrades in discussion.
- Mike Leach is going to leave for a higher-paying or "more prestigious" job just like Jackie Sherrill, Warren Powers, Jim Walden, Dennis Erickson, Mike Price, etc. Result: CML is entering his 8th season at WSU, where he's averaged 9-plus wins over the past 4 seasons and continued on his HALL of FAME trek. Dr. Schultz and Mr. Chun will pay Coach Leach well over $4M in the 2020 season for that success.
Consider a recent post here with cogent (if overlooked) assertions made by two of the top 7, 8, 9 posters on any Cougar message board:
- There are huge money-making opportunities available for WSU
- The state (of Washington) just paid for Martin Stadium's renovation
Seems like these "money problems" have a way of working themselves out when all is said and done.
Overblown? Depends how you look at it.
The athletics debt is real, and a big part of the reason for it is the overly optimistic revenue projections for the Pac-12 Network. That's not a surprise.
But, it's a bit of a shell game. Money moves around and changes color. The Athletic department budget is, at least on the surface, separate from the university budget and is theoretically self-supporting. Of course, we all know that most ADs are not truly self-supporting, so they end up getting propped up by the university budget. This is pretty easy with facilities, since while they do support athletics, they are in the end still university buildings. There's also an argument that the athletics department is a marketing and outreach tool, so some general expenditure is justified. So, yes...university funds do support the athletic department. Perhaps not as an explicit line in the budget, but as an expense from reserve funds or from allocations to marketing.
And, that's where the "money problems" emerge - reserve funds. The
real issue currently being addressed is that for the last several years, the university has been overspending its budget (thanks in large part - but not entirely - to the AD) and dipping into reserves to cover operating expenses. Dipping to the tune of several million dollars per year. So, it's not that the university is broke...or really even close to it. The issue is that if they don't correct the issue, the university
could be broke in a few years. So the edict has come out that spending needs to be reduced, we need to stop dipping into reserves, and eventually start rebuilding the reserves.
That all makes sense to me, and probably does to most people. You don't use your emergency cash to buy a cup of coffee. Where I have a problem is that although athletics created the bulk of the debt, and a large part of the reserve expenses have supported their expansion, athletics is pretty much excluded from the directive to reduce expenses. All of the other campus departments - particularly the various campus services - are tightening their belts to pay back athletics money.
Kent's payoff is going to ultimately come from reserves, and it'll get recovered from non-athletics sources. Based on where WSU expenses are, that means positions get held vacant and/or people get laid off, or maintenance gets deferred. Probably both. Positions that aren't supported by donor funds or research grants are going to carry the brunt - maintenance, custodians, payroll, contracts, safety, clerical, etc.
So, the debt is real. The crisis is somewhat overblown, as it's not a critical situation now but it could become one eventually. But, there's really not a money problem in the Athletics Department, because if they have to spend a few million it'll ultimately just get shaved from the rest of the university. Problem is that the current model spreads staff too thin in some areas, which results in things which are happening now that are less visible - garbage doesn't get emptied as often, burned out lights don't get replaced, contracts don't get reviewed, and injury rates go up. And, nobody will really care as long as teams keep winning, kids keep graduating, and tuition doesn't go up.
Rant over. For the moment.
