UConn Athletic Dept continues to hemorrhage money; Benedict, Edsall, Auriemma and Hurley continue to get massive raises

[ScottVib]

As long as universities refuse to add the value of earned media to the value of athletics, their true value is vastly under rated.

Nailed this. UConn’s transition from in-state safety school to selective, well ranked university correlates extremely well with the rise of the basketball programs and the profile they provided the university.

 

[Chin Diesel]

One thing also worth remembering a chunk of the deficit is the charge to the athletics department for the cost of full, unaided (i. e. no federal need based reimbursement for those students) out of state tuition for each scholarship. The actual cost to the school to bring those student athletes in is much lower. In the process it adds ‘revenue’ for that full unaided tuition to other department budgets at the university

And the Rent the state university pays to the state to play football at the Rent and for basketball and hockey to use the XL center.

 

[karstenkibbe]

This. I would rather over pay Benedict than whatever the hell deal Herbst and the other guy who was president for 15 min are getting. At least Benedict is working full time.

Herbst is working full time, but is she still receiving a president’s salary for teaching in Stamford!?

Susan Herbst | Department of Political Science

polisci.uconn.edu

 

[John]

Virtually every major program runs a decent deficit in the country and football has a lot to do with it. The idea that UConn doesn’t run a really good athletic program is dead wrong. Football has been an obvious outlier. Baseball, basketball, hockey representative, soccer, sports you probably pay no attention to like track and field Tons of schools would love to have the overall success of our programs.

Then why are we where we are?

 

[huskyinfl]

Then why are we where we are?

We got left out of realignment

 

[shizzle787]

I continue to believe that we should offer the minimum number of required sports for an FBS institution while staying in compliance with Title IX. We are not an Ivy League school or private. We need to be responsible stewards of taxpayer money.

What we should offer (IMO)
Men's sports: Basketball, football, baseball, soccer, hockey, water polo (very popular among colleges in northeast)
Women's sports: Basketball, volleyball, softball, hockey, soccer, water polo, field hockey, lacrosse, swimming and diving

 

[Dove]

Can't read

Is it an issue of needing a new prescription for glasses?

 

[cohenzone]

Then why are we where we are?

What does that mean. the league? a load of history before Benedict and a few university presidents Where do you think we are? Football is one of a few dozen sports programs the vast majority good to very good. Clueless they are not.

 

[husky8273]

One thing also worth remembering a chunk of the deficit is the charge to the athletics department for the cost of full, unaided (i. e. no federal need based reimbursement for those students) out of state tuition for each scholarship. The actual cost to the school to bring those student athletes in is much lower. In the process it adds ‘revenue’ for that full unaided tuition to other department budgets at the university

the cost per athlete was recently changed to in-state tuition which will provide some relief. Also, DB's bump was primarily due to deferred comp that vested after 5 years.

 

[cohenzone]

College Athletic Debt Soars as Power 5 Programs Resist Scrutiny

As the costs of doing business at Power Five school soar, athletic department debt is ballooning, writes Illinois professor Michael LeRoy.

www.sportico.com

 

[the Q]

I continue to believe that we should offer the minimum number of required sports for an FBS institution while staying in compliance with Title IX. We are not an Ivy League school or private. We need to be responsible stewards of taxpayer money.

What we should offer (IMO)
Men's sports: Basketball, football, baseball, soccer, hockey, water polo (very popular among colleges in northeast)
Women's sports: Basketball, volleyball, softball, hockey, soccer, water polo, field hockey, lacrosse, swimming and diving

The uncomfortable truth is the discriminatory title ix legislation is the #1 reason any athletic department is in the red.

Football should be exempt as it generates most of the revenue and There is no female equivalent (unlike mbb/wbb and baseball/softball etc)

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Why did I think ADs were more in 400k-600k range??

 

[CL82]

P5 schools have $40M paychecks coming in every year. If they didnt, 99% of them would have the exact same issue we have. Half of those schools got lucky they stumbled ass backwards into a major conference. What have schools like Wake Forest, Northwestern, etc done to deserve that money? Nothing.

And Rutgers has a 70 million deficit, not withstanding the facts that it receives big 10 money. That’s special

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

There are probably 15 schools in America that don't run a huge 'deficit' with the rules as they are currently.
I would love to see a line by line P & L from one of these athletic depts. I can only imagine what we would find.

This is a non-story, but it's great for clicks, and manufactured outrage.

 

[Hoophound]

Why did I think ADs were more in 400k-600k range??

They are/were. Dave’s total compensation of 1.3 million may explain why we still have him. He’s running with the big dogs. IMO, he deserves it. He’s presided over challenging times at UConn and accomplished a lot. He’s a great AD, despite what some will try and tell you.

 

[huskymedic]

”Why did I think ADs were more in 400k-600k range??

“Much of the boost comes from deferred compensation. Benedict was hired by UConn from Auburn in February 2016, signing a five-year contract with a base salary of $450,000 and the ability to earn $100,000 per year in bonus compensation.

His contract was restructured in December 2017 with a new base salary of $550,000 and a decrease in the cap on bonus compensation to $50,000.

The original contract also included a $50,000 per year retention bonus if Benedict remained at UConn for five years. But that deferred compensation increased from $250,000 to $500,000, payable if Benedict was still employed by UConn on June 30, 2021.”

 

[SubbaBub]

We just got to the point where we are happy the school is putting resources into the AD after years of complaining about not being competitive. You can't be upset about both things at the same time and you should be smart enough to recognize the hoard stirring the pot by now.

I repeat, if this bothers anyone, go support another program. I don't want to hear it.

 

[8893]

We just got to the point where we are happy the school is putting resources into the AD after years of complaining about not being competitive. You can't be upset about both things at the same time and you should be smart enough to recognize the hoard stirring the pot by now.

I repeat, if this bothers anyone, go support another program. I don't want to hear it.

And I repeat GFY you tone deaf old fool.

You may be the biggest fraud on the board.

 

[cohenzone]

This. I would rather over pay Benedict than whatever the hell deal Herbst and the other guy who was president for 15 min are getting. At least Benedict is working full time.

Yeah, all they do with their time is deal with athletics.

 

[the Q]

Yeah, all they do with their time is deal with athletics.

I believe he’s referring to their cushy academic gigs that still get huge salaries

 

[cohenzone]

I believe he’s referring to their cushy academic gigs that still get huge salaries

Yup, no doubt running a state university with a huge budget, several academic departments, physical plant issues and a state legislature looking over your shoulder is cushy. Applicants are falling from the sky. People get these ideas about what it takes to administer a major undertaking from some weird place.

ETA: Be responsible for the safety of several thousand people. Don’t know how I could forget that one given my son was in lockdown in his VTech office while some nut was killing 32 people.

 

[the Q]

Yup, no doubt running a state university with a huge budget, several academic departments, physical plant issues and a state legislature looking over your shoulder is cushy. Applicants are falling from the sky. People get these ideas about what it takes to administer a major undertaking from some weird place.

I feel like you’re just being intentionally obtuse right now.

Herbst is being paid something like 400k to be an academic right now.

Thats what is being referred to.

 

[cohenzone]

I feel like you’re just being intentionally obtuse right now.

Herbst is being paid something like 400k to be an academic right now.

Thats what is being referred to.

I think this whole theme was about handling college athletics and I pointed out that athletics are far from the only thing a college president has to handle. If he’s saying Herbst left a mess in the athletic department and now has a job some might consider cushy is so full of biases and assumptions it isn’t funny. First of all. sadly, the UConn athletic financial picture is pretty typical of universities with major sports and says more maybe that big time college sports are a stupid idea, especially football, than how a particular college president is perceived by some to have handled it. Could UConn have done so much better that the deficit would be markedly better is highly debatable. Did you read the article I posted about U of Illinois sports that included info about the other Big whatever schools? Nobody is going to say UConn made sterling decisions in the football program but they haven’t been half bad in almost any other sport. Moreover, if anyone thinks the university president is immune from political pressure exerted by the Board of Trustees and in our case the State elected officials I hope they are in grammar school, speaking of obtuse.

As to whether Herbst has some job some people think is cushy, they are probably jealous. Lots of people might think being paid millions of dollars to coach and play sports is a pretty cushy gig too.

 

[gtcam]

Virtually every major program runs a decent deficit in the country and football has a lot to do with it. The idea that UConn doesn’t run a really good athletic program is dead wrong. Football has been an obvious outlier. Baseball, basketball, hockey representative, soccer, sports you probably pay no attention to like track and field Tons of schools would love to have the overall success of our programs.

Schools that are state affiliated run deficits. Not every major program runs a deficit.
I agree UConn enjoys programs with lots of success and it's great to be a fan of UConn athletics but overall the athletic department has not have experienced the best of direction and UConn overall has seen way to much turmoil at the top.
Hopefully things will turnaround but with the State of Connecticut - that's a huge ask

 

[cohenzone]

Schools that are state affiliated run deficits. Not every major program runs a deficit.
I agree UConn enjoys programs with lots of success and it's great to be a fan of UConn athletics but overall the athletic department has not have experienced the best of direction and UConn overall has seen way to much turmoil at the top.
Hopefully things will turnaround but with the State of Connecticut - that's a huge ask

True but I think Benedict is not the one to point fingers at.