AS MANY of you know, President John T. Casteen III directed the Strategic Planning Task Force to develop goals for the Department of Athletics that address a number of different areas, but the one which is making the news has to do with the financial model, which is supposed to reflect the next 20 years. It is imperative that everyone realize that the Department of Athletics is only running a $200,000 yearly deficit. The task force used a model with a lot of "assumptions" that exaggerated a cumulative 10 year deficit of $44 million. This sensationalized estimate comes from:
An annual 10 percent capital expenditure account. This means that the Department of Athletics is expected to set aside $2 million per year into a capital "lockbox." The idea of putting away money that you don't have sounds a little odd to me. Why don't we just set aside $20 million per year?
An annual 3 percent "rainy day" account. This means that the Department of Athletics is expected to set aside $600,000 per year into an account that will be used for unexpected expenditures. If the task force reduced scholarships for the seven affected sports, they would save $546,000 per year in scholarship money. Everyone understands the idea of putting away money for a rainy day, but wouldn't our current plight qualify as a rainy day?
A new basketball arena. Although the task force said that U.Va. ought to "use considerable caution" in building a new arena, it remains a part of the financial model. The new arena is purported to cost $125 million to build and another $1 million per year to run. If we can help raise the money to help fund this new arena at this staggering cost, doesn't it make sense that money can also be raised to help the Tier Four sports remain competitive? Why does there have to be a choice between a new arena and seven sports?
Inflated wish list numbers. All the coaches here were asked to come up with a "wish list," building a budget from ground zero to address some budget items that may help us reach a top 10 status in our respective sports. As you may guess, we inflated our budgets considerably during this process. After all, we felt the reason we were being asked these questions was so the athletic department could raise the bar. As we came to find out, the opposite was true.
There were many mentions of The Sears Cup ranking during the task force report. There is a feeling among the task force that by tiering the sports here, they will help our standings in The Sears Cup. Here are the facts from last year's standings (1999-2000). We placed 13th in the United States among all other Division 1 schools with 698.5 points. The seven Tier Four sports accounted for 169 points (24 percent of our total). Without the success of the Tier Four sports, U.Va. would have dropped from 13th to 27th place. Don't let the task force tell you that we are going to be more competitive by dropping or tiering sports!
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If the Board was to accept the recommendations of the task force, our sports would then die a slow death. Carolyn Callahan, a professor in the department of education and chair of the Task Force committee claims that she wouldn't have agreed to this proposal if she thought it were going to be sounding a death knell for the sports affected ("Athletics proposals spark controversy," April 17). The following actions would be a likely scenario over the next few years:
There would be a mass exodus of exceptional student athletes who would want to transfer to other institutions so that they can compete at a higher level. Most of our athletes either come in with partial scholarships or no money, but have a chance to earn it while they are here. With that incentive gone, it gives them one more reason to leave.
Blue-chip recruits, those that are nationally ranked, wouldn't even consider coming to U.Va. anymore. Moreover, we would not even be able to bring in the 2nd tier (no pun intended) recruits because most of the other schools are offering a partial scholarship to them. Our battles in recruiting are often won by giving a student athlete another $1,000-$2,000 in scholarship. The morale of the athletes and coaches here would sink, as we would continually lose to teams that we traditionally have beaten for years.
Thomas Jefferson once said, "All through your life, you'll be faced with making a decision between two things - choose the one that is right. If they are both right, then choose the one that will make you feel the best about it at the end of the day." It's time for the Board to make the right decision.
(Lenny Bernstein is head coach of the men's wrestling team.)
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