Tulsa AD, Montgomery and Haith All Accept Pay Cuts

[Drew]

TU’s current budget situation is a difficult circumstance, he acknowledged, but not a crisis.

What would qualify as a startling revelation?

Specific numbers aren’t known, but recent budget cuts have affected all aspects of TU’s operation. In an effort to avoid a reduction in services for student-athletes, Gragg said, Hurricane football coach Philip Montgomery, men’s basketball coach Frank Haith and Gragg himself all have accepted pay cuts.

At the major-college level, this could be unprecedented — that a football coach, men’s basketball coach and an AD simultaneously and willingly absorbed salary reductions for the sake of the greater good of a money-starved school’s sports programs.

“Basically, the budget reductions to me are a microcosm of what’s going on, not just at TU but across the country at a lot of different places,” Gragg said. “We’re like a lot of other athletic departments — we’ve been asked to tighten our belt.

“We approached it with a combination of things. We did have some budget reductions. We did have some head-coaching salary reductions. My salary has been reduced the past three years. That’s the way we’ve dealt with some of that. You don’t want to negatively impact the student-athletes in any way.”

 

[huskeynut]

Outside of the P5 schools, this may be just the beginning for many G5 schools. They are not getting enough revenue to maintain the spending. Sad.

 

[CL82]

Outside of the P5 schools, this may be just the beginning for many G5 schools. They are not getting enough revenue to maintain the spending. Sad.

This highlights the importance of football. The FBS schools are going to be the haves in the new world order.

 

[Adios]

Advertising creates more revenue. Don't be surprised if some "G5" school puts an ad on their uniforms.

 

[CL82]

Advertising creates more revenue. Don't be surprised if some "G5" school puts an ad on their uniforms.

Wouldn't help much in the arms race though would it? The P5 have greater visibility and more favorable brand recognition and so would command more money. Advertising on uni's would expand the differential between the haves and the have nots, not reduce it.

 

[Adios]

Wouldn't help much in the arms race though would it? The P5 have greater visibility and more favorable brand recognition and so would command more money. Advertising on uni's would expand the differential between the haves and the have nots, not reduce it.

I am sure. But have to start somewhere. Maybe we'll be rewarded with a quick invite to the "P5" for being amongst the first.

 

[Kolumbo]

It is awful that the G5 members play the enabler role and it is simply not sustainable.

The G5 should stop scheduling P5 and create regional conferences. This would save the schools money, be more entertaining for the fans, and they can have their own play-off. They're not winning any national championships - ever - so just do it. Let the P5 be stuck only playing other P5 schools and force the change. Something drastic should be done, and done fast.

 

[whaler11]

This highlights the importance of football. The FBS schools are going to be the haves in the new world order.

Nah. The top 40 will be the haves and anyone else in FBS will be have-less than those who don’t play football at all.

 

[whaler11]

Thank God the AAC jumped on this solid Tulsa market.

That was mind-numbingly stupid when they did it - it looks particularly ridiculous now.

 

[buddy]

I can't help but wonder about UConn's record against Tulsa teams, minus women's basketball. Seems to me like they are very competitive.

 

[CL82]

Nah. The top 40 will be the haves and anyone else in FBS will be have-less than those who don’t play football at all.

I think about this from time to time Whaler. So long as TV or broadcast rights remain high and shared equally, the BCU's of the world can choose to suck and take their checks and live happily ever after.

 

[Adios]

Thank God the AAC jumped on this solid Tulsa market.

That was mind-numbingly stupid when they did it - it looks particularly ridiculous now.

We could have had UTEP instead!

 

[huskymedic]

Slightly off topic from original post but in the same vein:

Staton orders ECU athletics audit - Daily Reflector

>>ECU Chancellor Cecil Staton has requested an independent audit of the university’s athletic department in hopes of putting to rest continuing concerns raised about the financial health of the Pirates’ sports program.

Staton told The Daily Reflector in a conversation Wednesday he asked the UNC System to hire a private firm to review the department’s finances. The audit would be the latest in a number of reviews prompted by criticism from alumni and concerns about a deficit of more than $3 million between spending and revenue in the department — blamed in part on fees associated with ECU’s entry into the American Athletic Conference.<<

>>We’re trying to do Division I athletics at a very high level,” Staton said. “Dave Hart summed it up as succinctly as anyone has: ‘Our expectations for success are not matched by our financial resources.’ There it is in a nutshell. So, we’ve got to raise more and we’ve got to invest more. We’ve got to win because, as you know, that is certainly a part of revenue generation as a part of athletics. We’ve got a lot of things we have to do, but at the end of the day, all of this could really have been plotted out, and should have been seen in some cases, once the decision was made to leave Conference USA and join the American Athletic Conference.”<<

 

[billybud]

Media money, for the very big programs, is a small portion of the total athletic budget.

Take all the media money away from Alabama, Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, FSU...and they still have $100 million annually.

Programs like these developed fan bases over time, spent 100's of millions in athletic facilities, sit 80-100 thousand in the stands.

Take away Clemson media money and give it to Tulsa...and Clemson, I think, would still be Clemson...and Tulsa would be Tulsa.

Just as surely, Wake Forest would still be Wake Forest with an extra $20 million.


There could be exceptions in areas of great growth potential and great recruiting....UCF comes to mind.

 

[billybud]

W...A...K...E Forest...the program would not let me edit "W...a...k...e" for some reason.

 

[Adios]

There could be exceptions in areas of great growth potential and great recruiting....UCF comes to mind.

That's the purpose of the AAC.

 

[billybud]

That's the purpose of the AAC.

OK...we'll see how UCF does in the AAC.

UCF looked good last year...but were hurt by their SOS...having played two top 30 teams (Sagarin) before the bowl.

UCF has had a pattern of putting together double digit win seasons and then falling off...I am curious if the pattern holds..

in 2007 they go double digit...in 2008 they are 5-7....in 2013 they have a great 12-1 year but by 2015, they go 0-12.

I suspect that they will be a 9-10 win team this year...and less next year. I could be wrong of course.

 

[CL82]

Our expectations for success are not matched by our financial resources.’ There it is in a nutshell. So, we’ve got to raise more and we’ve got to invest more.

This will be the motto of every G5 program, until it becomes their epitaph.