ISU Athletic Budget

[kingcy]

Budget deficit depletes Iowa State's reserve fund | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register

The headline is misleading. Good write up on why the budget doesnt look so good on paper.

 

[4429 mcc]

Good article..Witosky hearts the open record law.

 

[kingcy]

Good article..Witosky hearts the open record law.

Yes he does, he wouldnt have a job without it.

 

[superfan]

*sigh* I can just hear the Hawk fans spinning this. "You're athetiks departmant iz gonnna fail!"*

To me, it just underscores the good work Pollard is doing and the need for more athletics donors.

*Note: Spelling intentionally changed to accurately represent stupidity of fan base.

 

[SlyCy]

Sounds like good fiscal managment to me.

 

[isuno1fan]

There will definitely be a thread on HR about this saying Pollard's ways are killing ISU financially.

 

[ISUFan22]

Seems a correction of accounting practices - nothing more. A slow day for the DMR.

With that said...

Financially, we're going to need to start winning in the "big two" sports very soon - or we're going to be in trouble. I think of both programs, or at the very least one of them, isn't "successful" by the end of the '09/'10 season - there will be a lot of trying to get blood from a turnip. Fans, corporations and such have been asked to do a lot recently and those "demands" are certainly not going away.

In the event FB and/or BB can't start putting something together to show for the money/efforts - we'll be setting ourselves up for a financial disaster. Pollard & Co. can only market a mediocre product for so long.

I absolutely love that he's been aggressive from day one. The upgrades were much needed. Changes in staff and other practices needed as well to move forward. Overall excitement is probably as high as it's been in a very long time - if ever. But like I said - it can only last so long. Just like adrenaline eventually runs out for an athlete - so does excitement of potential for fans.

The things done were a significant risk. You can't reap great rewards without risk though and it needed to be done. So I'm not questioning it at all. And I feel confident with the people we have in place - success will come.

My worry in the pit of my stomach though is - what if it doesn't come soon? Restlessness is already starting to take place - albeit not the norm - it's there.

We need to win and it needs to happen very soon - or we'll be set back so far, I'm not sure what will be able to save us. There's a lot of pressure on these guys to produce. I hope them come through for us.

 

[4429 mcc]

So the meltdown threads ARE warranted after every future loss in basketball and football.

 

[ISUFan22]

Not once did I say that. We do have to give this time. Yet I can't see it being 3-4 years - but instead it needs to happen within 2 more - at the most 3.

After that, unless there is a swift, significant upswing in success - it's a very tough road ahead for Pollard.

 

[CyBobby]

Only a bunch of financial/accounting nerds would even care about accounting practices....

Its merely a correction to make jp's budget numbers look more credible/correct.

Plan on playing golf around march 20th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[cy1225]

You will not be playing golf on March 20th, May 20th if you are lucky. Ankeny has about 2 feeet of snow and it is -9 degrees wind chill right now.

 

[Bobber]

I don't think this is that big a deal. JP knew there was an accountng problem that need to be corrected and he took care of it. Plus he knew it was going to look bad, so he accelerated the payoff off McCarnery and Morgan to get that off the books for future accounting.

When you get down to the brass tacks, it's a problem that was created by a past athletic administator. Now if we were seeing chronic losses, I would be concerned.

 

[Splendid]

"Unacceptable accounting practices" is what I read. Some AD in the past took 2 years worth of football receipts in the same year to make the budget look good. JP straightened out the accounting record in '07 so it does not linger into the future, good for us. He said, "because if we didn't do it, we would have been misleading people".

There was no mention of record football or basketball season ticket sales last year.

 

[cloneu]

"Unacceptable accounting practices" is what I read. Some AD in the past took 2 years worth of football receipts in the same year to make the budget look good.

I just skimmed the article quickly. Did it mention when this previous practice started? Has it been going on for a long time?

 

[ISUFan22]

It specifically noted Pollard was not aware when the "odd accounting" practices started.

 

[drmwevr08]

It's no big deal, really... I sometimes debit a credit just to see if people are watching... Its not like misrepresenting financial stability will get you thrown in jail or anything. Hang on, the guy from Enron is on the phone...

 

[CLONE2THEBONE]

$9.4 MILLION in the hole for Athletic Budget

Has this been discussed? This is a huge amount. What kind of "accounting change" could cause this?

I thought we broke all sorts of ticket sales records...WTF?





February 07. 2008 11:19PM
ISU expenses outpaced revenues

By Scott Dochterman
The Gazette
[email protected]

Iowa State University's athletics department expenses exceeded its revenues by more than $9.4 million during the 2007 fiscal year, according to figures obtained by The Gazette through the Freedom of Information Act.
According to its annual audit report, Iowa State athletics' total expenses were about $42.1 million, and it brought in about $32.7 million.
Attempts to reach Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Iowa State President Gregory Geoffroy said "an accounting change" contributed to the shortfall.
"I have absolute confidence in the way it's being managed financially and in every other way and have no concerns about that," Geoffroy said Thursday at the state Board of Regents meeting.
More than $3 million in expenses were attributed to severance pay for former coaches. Pollard, who was hired in 2005, fired men's basketball coach Wayne Morgan after the 2006 season. Football coach Dan McCarney resigned the same year.
Much of Iowa State's financial problems began with the football program, which had a shortfall of nearly $342,000. Iowa State generated about $11.1 million, including nearly $3.8 million in ticket sales. That's down overall by nearly $2.8 million generated in the 2006 fiscal year. Ticket revenue reached nearly $7 million during the 2006 fiscal year.
The athletics' department expenses rose by $8.8 million in one year. Operating expenses for facilities, maintenance and rentals rose by nearly $3 million from 2006 to the 2007 fiscal year.
The University of Iowa's athletics department reported more than $80.8 million in revenue and about $70.1 million in expenses for the 2007 fiscal year, according to figures obtained by the Freedom of Information Act.
Iowa's revenues increased by about $7.5 million from the 2006 fiscal year, and its expenses rose by nearly $11 million.
Nearly $8.7 million in added expenses came from Iowa's facilities.
Iowa spent more than $15.1 million on facilities and maintenance.
Iowa's football team generated nearly $45.4 million with $28.8 million in expenses.

 

[clone2011]

Re: $9.4 MILLION in the hole for Athletic Budget

This was discussed a few days ago, I'm sure someone else will post the link to the thread, I can't seem to find it.

Basically Pollard paid out the severance packages to coaches just before the end of the fiscal year instead of forwarding them to the next year. Also the old administration did something weird with football season ticket sales, something about applying them to previous fiscal years, as in (for example), 2030 Season Ticket Sales would be applied to the 2029 fiscal year instead of the 2030 fiscal year. Pollard changed it to be 2030 Ticket Sales applied to the 2030 fiscal year. It was something like that...I didn't really understand the article, but I think this was right.

 

[Wesley]

Re: $9.4 MILLION in the hole for Athletic Budget

I think it is fairly clear. We are going to have to do more with less. This means we need to get to a major bowl game. And we need to quit losing and then having to bring in more coaches. We are going to have to sell more beer, more dogs, more pork sloppies, and popcorn. No more new uniforms. Cut down on TP. Arby's will now be the food of choice at the training table. Recruiting visits will be by VTC. Get a budget going. Or else we will be like the federal govt.

 

[cyclonez7]

Re: $9.4 MILLION in the hole for Athletic Budget

We could always get Bill Gates to become a booster.....