UA Athletics Study
January 4, 2010 | AZPM
Story by Robert Rappaport
Photo of University of Arizona Football team is courtesy of UA Athletics
An ad hoc committee of the Arizona Board of Regents recently heard a report from the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics about the sustainability of college athletics organizations across the United States. Part of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the commission’s report found that Arizona is ahead of the game nationally, as the regents request annual reports from the athletics directors in the state. The foundation is developing a set of recommendations to be released this year.
Board of Regent’s President Ernest Calderón says it’s hard to justify to the public big spending in athletics during tumultuous budget times. He says the issue came to a head when Sean Miller was hired to coach the UA basketball team, at an annual salary of $2 million, even though the money came from private sources. “But the public saw layoffs at the university. They saw a lot of other issues facing us and they said ‘Is this the time to make the philosophical statement that enough is enough?’,” said Calderón, who then appointed Regent Dennis DeConcini to head an ad hoc committee dealing with intercollegiate athletics. That committee is charged with determining whether the UA is reaping the benefits of athletics and, if it is, is the school doing a good job of communicating that? If not, the committee will deliver recommendations to improve the system.
The University of Arizona Athletics Department is self-supporting, meaning it gets no direct funding from the university. However, Calderón says it’s a bit more complicated than that, since the department receives office space, utilities and other amenities simply from being on campus.
University of Arizona President, Dr. Robert Shelton, says the athletics department has shown responsible leadership and money management over the years.
Outgoing UA Athletics Director Jim Livengood, who recently accepted the A.D. position at UNLV, says his department has not run a deficit over a “great number of years,” but he acknowledges that financial problems are just starting to emerge in the poor economy and that will need to be addressed institutionally and collectively with those responsible for budgeting and raising money at the school.
