The Idaho State Board of Education (SBOE) will make a decision on UI’s proposal to apply more institutional funds to the athletic deficit, which could produce three new athletic programs should it pass. If denied, it would likely force UI to cut three current athletic programs – women’s soccer, men’s golf and women’s swim and dive.
One year ago, the University of Idaho athletic department announced a deficit of $1 million. Now, the department returns to the (SBOE) attempting to solve that same dilemma by adding three new sports to the roster or cutting three others.
In face of the same deficit last spring, UI asked for the same waiver. UI President Staben said the SBOE granted UI the waiver and one year to return with a plan in April 2018.
Now, UI waits for the SBOE to make a decision on the proposal put forth by Staben.
The proposal states that should the SBOE grant the university a waiver, three limited-scholarship, low-cost sports – women’s triathlon, men’s swim and rifle – would be added to generate revenue primarily through student tuition while incurring little cost, Staben said.
According to Staben’s proposal, the three sports combined would generate $1.1 million in revenue while only costing around $115,000 a year.
While the athletes would not be granted direct athletic scholarships, they would be awarded academic scholarships, such as the WUE and out-of-state tuition waivers.
If the waiver is denied, UI would be forced to eliminate women’s soccer, men’s golf and women’s swimming — the only three Idaho sports not required by the Big Sky Conference. Sand volleyball and women’s triathlon would likely be added to stay in accordance with Title IX and the NCAA’s 14 sport policy if the waiver is denied.
President Chuck Staben
“This isn’t some, ‘We hate golf, we hate soccer,’ this is some financial realities sort of constraints,” Staben said of the potential cost-cutting measures.
Unlike many other states, the SBOE gives institutions a cap on how much they can spend on athletics, limiting universities to only the revenue generated without spending deficit money. The cap is the revenue generated called the general education money, which comes primarily from student tuition or state appropriation money. Last year, the general education totaled $5.3 million in revenue and expenditures $6.3 million, forcing the university to take action.
While Idaho is not currently in a deficit as the SBOE’s waiving of the policy in April of 2017, Staben said UI is projected to be in deficit once again at the end of the year if no changes are made.
Staben said that change comes in the form of “Plan A and Plan B” in the proposal.
“As we looked at that we came to the realization that this may not be the best way to look at what athletics does for your university,” Staben said. “It is the State Board’s way of doing it right now, but it may not be the best way.”
Plan A is waiving the cap and adding the sports, while Plan B is cutting the three non-Big Sky sports.
Acting Athletic Director Pete Isakson said in an official statement that the department is doing everything in its power to preserve all programs.
“Participating in intercollegiate athletics is important to student success and important to the university,” Isakson said. “While the discussion is about finances and policy, the goal is to preserve, and even add to, the opportunities for student-athletes.”
Many will point to the football programs recent drop from the FBS to the Big Sky, and FCS program. While there may be some overlap, Staben said the financial instability in the athletics department predates that of the transition although the drop led to a decrease in donations from donors.
“When I first met with the Athletics Director in January of 2014 to discuss budget, it was clear we were in a deficit situation then and we were still staving off that deficit by using reserve funds we’d gotten off our exit fee from the Western Athletic Conference,” Staben said. “Those funds ran out over a period of time and that forced us into real deficit, which is where we are today. This is not a new problem. This is a current symptom of a long-standing problem.”
Staben said a number of options have been discussed in the process of creating a new plan, but moving divisions has never been seen as a viable option.
Idaho will remain a Division I school, but the model will begin to look more like that of an amateur sports program, said Scott Jedlicka, WSU Assistant Professor Sport Management.
“What this proposal would look like is something closer to a true amateur college sport system where athletes come to the university truly as students first,” Jedlicka said. “They come and they pay their own way and they are here probably just as much if not more for the education than the sport. If they want to play a sport or that’s part of their decision to come so be it, but there is no longer this arrangement where the athletic department is giving them a form of compensation in exchange for their sport performance.”
The State Board of Education is set to meet at UI beginning Wednesday, April 18 to make a decision on the proposal.
“You can read this proposal as a stop-gap, as a way to sort of get around the requirements of the state policy,” Jedlicka said. “At the same time I think it is also a very ambitious or a very novel way of beginning to conceptualize college sports.”
Vandal Nation will continue to follow this story.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]or on Twitter @mere0415
UPDATE: This story was updated 10 p.m April 12.