It costs a lot to operate Division I athletic department.
At nearly every institution in the country, there’s an ongoing debate about spending for college athletics.
That’s not an exception at Ohio.
According to the latest Ohio University budget book, the athletic department’s budgeted expenses for this year are just shy of $19.2 million.
At least half of that is salaries and benefits for the athletic department's employees, including coaches and staffs.
But where exactly does the rest of that money go, and who is spending it?
Through a public records request, The Post obtained purchasing card receipts from the athletic department for summer 2017.
According to the OU finance department’s website, a purchasing card is an “Ohio University-issued credit card that delegates small-dollar purchasing power to individual University employees.”
The document lists every purchase made by a member of the athletic department from May to August. In those three months, the athletic department spent $428,937.
Here’s what we found the athletic department spends its money on.
Recruiting
Ohio spent nearly a quarter of its charges on purchases relating to recruiting.
The amount totaled $124,185 for the three-month span.
For anyone familiar with college athletics, it makes sense that Ohio would pour money into recruiting student-athletes to join the program. Even during the summer, coaching staffs were hard at work recruiting potential athletes.
Who hit the recruiting trail the hardest? One example is assistant volleyball coach Maggie Couture, who racked up $6,571 in charges, with nearly one-third of that amount paid for hotel rooms.
Important to note: Couture’s purchase card was defrauded, according to the document, which states that more than $1,000 in purchases she had not charged were made in Washington, D.C. Those charges, however, do not not factor into the $6,571.
Also hitting the recruiting trail hard was assistant baseball coach and recruiting coordinator C.J. Wamsley, whose three-month total amounted to $4,303.
But who was the leader in the clubhouse in terms of biggest spender on the recruiting trail?
Assistant football coach and offensive coordinator Tim Albin, who reached $8,663 on his purchasing card.
His biggest expense was a flight in late May purchased from Bellevue, Washington, that cost $1,750.
Head coaches
An assistant football coach may have spent the most on the recruiting trail, but it was the head baseball coach who spent the most among all Ohio head coaches this summer.
Rob Smith, in his sixth year as Ohio's head baseball coach, spent $18,679 in the three-month span. Hotels accounted for his largest purchases, including a $6,418 charge at a Hampton Inn in Cheektowga, New York, the purpose of which was listed as team travel.
Coming in close behind Smith was Jodi Hermanek, Ohio head softball coach, who spent $18,060. A majority of Hermanek’s charges stem from team meals, especially at the MAC Tournament in May.
At the MAC Tournament, Hermanek spent $3,562 on team meals over a stretch of five days. On May 7, Hermanek spent $5,027 for the team to stay at a Comfort Inn in Amherst, New York, before a game against Buffalo.
Head men's basketball coach Saul Phillips — who is the university’s highest-paid employee at $572,220 per year — spent $9,874.
In May, Phillips spent $1,511 on “camp basketballs” for a June “Junior Bobcats Day Camp” and “Little Bobcats Day Camp.” The cost for campers to attend was $120.
In July, Phillips took a recruiting trip to Las Vegas, where he spent $1,633 for rental cars and a stay at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel.
Head football coach Frank Solich, the university's second highest-paid employee, spent $1,878 in the three months.
Solich’s most frequent purchase? Gasoline. The 13-year head coach spent $915 on gas during the summer.
Uptown
Ohio student-athletes are no different from regular students: They love Chipotle.
And that’s evident from how the athletic department fed them.
The athletic department spent $1,719 at Chipotle. The largest purchase at Chipotle was by Hermanek, who spent $262 at Chipotle in Canton for a team meal during the MAC Tournament in May.
In Athens, members of the athletic department spent $512 at uptown bars.
Though the university states that alcohol for consumption “must be charged to a Foundation account,” it is not stated on the obtained record whether or not alcohol was purchased at the bars.
Graphic by Rilee Lockhart.
