Sports are supposed to be played at an even level with the same rules and the same equipment. But what ends up separating two teams are dedication, chemistry and talent - and lots and lots of money.
From July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2002, Ohio State spent $57,879,610 on athletics, whereas Ohio spent just $11,495,397, according to the United States Department of Education.
Money means more resources for facilities, travel, recruiting and salaries, Ohio Director of Athletics Thomas Boeh said. So the Bobcats have a tight budget to work with and this forces members of the athletic department to find a way to compete with other teams.
"We have a lot of great coaches here," Boeh said. "They're working miracles with little resources. The success they have is based on their own hard work."
Coaching, however, is another area dominated by Ohio State in terms of its average coach's salary. The average male coach at Ohio State brought in $179,714, nearly triple that of his Ohio counterpart, who averages $65,844. Percentage wise, the average female coach is not much closer - $85,714 for the Buckeyes compared to $48,693 for Ohio.
The number of coaches also differs. Ohio has one full-time wrestling coach, and an assistant coach who is not paid full time, while Ohio State has two assistant coaches and a coach who are paid full-time salaries.
Those coaches also must deal with economic restraints that do not affect schools at big-name programs. Ohio's wrestling team has an operating budget of $38,187 to Ohio State's $68,418.
"Everything that we would do (if we had more money) would really go back to the student athletes," Ohio coach Joel Greenlee said. "As far as the competition, we don't need to go a lot of places. But the places we do go now, instead of taking a van, we would take a bus, stay over an extra night instead of leaving Lock Haven, Pa. at 11:30 at night."
Scholarships are also not even in each sport. Some sports for Ohio are fully funded scholarship programs, though some teams - such as wrestling - have fewer scholarships to offer student-athletes than Ohio State. Entering 2002, Greenlee had 4.7 scholarships, while Ohio State wrestling coach Russ Hellickson had the NCAA maximum 9.9.
"Our budget is very competitive," Hellickson said. "The game is all about resources. It's a big business world."
While also having more scholarship athletes, Ohio State also has better facilities for them to practice. Ohio State built its wrestling, fencing and gymnastics programs the Steelwood Training Facility, which boasts 6,500 square feet of wrestling mat area and more than 40 workout machines.
Although Ohio does not have these facilities, Greenlee said his saving grace is the fact that the state of Ohio happens to be nationally recognized for its high school wrestlers, allowing him to sign state champions such as Jake Percival and Vinny DiGiovanni.
"If Ohio wasn't a good wrestling state, honestly I don't know if we'd stand a chance," Greenlee said. "We're really able to fill our needs with in-state kids. If we weren't able to do that, it would cost so much more."
Last season, the Ohio wrestling team had four wrestlers who graduated from high schools outside of Ohio. The Buckeyes had seven.
Boeh said a number of things would be helped by a gigantic budget, though Ohio must work with what it has.
"The first thing that we could do is immediately become gender equitable," Boeh said. "We could do a better job of recruiting, better travel and better supports. All of it is reasonable now, but it could be a lot better. We're doing a whole lot with very little."
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Eric Pfahler
