From the outside, the Ohio athletic department presents a quality athletic program, but does so without the advantage of a quality athletic budget.
Since July 2002, the athletics department has been forced to cut almost seven percent from its budget, said Amy Dean, Ohio associate athletic director. The cuts impact every athletic program, with each one receiving a reduction in its funding according to its percentage of the total athletic department budget.
"The athletics department made a conscience effort in fiscal year 2003 to limit the degree to which the sport programs were cut," Dean said.
While several other Mid-American Conference schools have cut some non-revenue sports to address budget problems, Dean said Ohio has tried to avoid this remedy.
"At Ohio we have made every attempt to achieve gender equity and fiscal balance without a reduction in sport programs," she said. "It is our intention to continue on this path."
One of those non-revenue programs, swimming and diving, keeps an eye on the budget reductions and the possibility of program cuts. Ohio swimming and diving coach Greg Werner said when UCLA's swimming program was cut about 10 years ago, it was 10th in the country.
"That told me for sure that anyone could get cut - any program at any time," he said. "If there is a program in this country that feels they are secure, whether it's swimming and diving or any other Olympic sport, I think they are being a little naïve."
Although there is always fear of a team being cut, Werner said he is proud of the fact that Director of Athletics Thomas Boeh has not cut any sports and added three women's sports during his eight years at Ohio.
But Boeh said Ohio spends less on athletics than most other MAC institutions.
"When you compare the size of this institution with the amount of athletic expenditures, we are extremely low," he said. "Here we are one of the biggest schools in the league and yet we fund our athletic department at that level."
In fiscal year 2002, Ohio University ranked 10th out of the 13 schools within the MAC and 102nd of 117 among Division I-A schools in total athletic expenditures, Dean said.
"This athletic department was already facing unprecedented challenges," she said. "Those challenges just became greater (this year)."
While more definite numbers for fiscal year 2002 are not yet available, in fiscal year 2001, Ohio as a university spent more than $400 million for salaries, benefits, scholarships and operating costs, according to Collegiate Financial Services. This figure ranks Ohio second only to Buffalo in the MAC.
The athletic department, on the other hand, was only allotted around $10 million of those funds, whereas the average MAC school was granted more than $11 million.
To really put the numbers in perspective, Boeh said Ohio's athletic department receives only 2.4 percent of the total institutional budget, which ranks it 12th out of the 13 MAC schools for percentage of athletic funding received. The average for MAC schools is 3.6 percent.
"In essence, what you are seeing across the board is we are one of the lowest funded programs in the league," Boeh said.
In 2001, Sporting News ranked 115 athletic departments based on success of the teams, graduation rate of the athletes, attendance, merchandise sales and NCAA and conference compliance.
Ohio was the only non-Bowl Championship Series conference team in the top 40, a feat Boeh said the school could take to heart.
"We are proud of the quality of the athletic program we achieved with this funding," he said. "If you can take a 99th-out-of-117th budget and finish 32nd, that says that something is going right. That's something we hang our hat on here."
Even though the Ohio athletic department has succeeded without proper funding, the lack of money is still viewed as a problem, Boeh said.
"Everyone from the president to the provost will say we know that [funding] is an issue," he said. "And we are asking our athletic department to compete at a very high level even though we don't fund at that level.
"I attribute our ability to compete at a high level with less resources to the quality of our institution and the quality of our people involved in our program."
While Werner said the reductions are disappointing, he is appreciative of the leadership the Ohio athletic department has shown financially.
The athletic department forecasted the deficiency in funds and, in response, has put money back from years past when it had surpluses. Something Werner said he appreciates.
"And I am certainly appreciative that we still have programs because they are dropping like flies all over the country," he said.
17 Archives
Lindsey Elling
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The Ohio field hockey team is one of many of Ohio's non-revenue sports that recieves money that the football program brings in for the Ohio Athletic Department.
