Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

[89rabbit]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

 

I bet State's financial situation isn't that great either, but their newspaper probably isn't allowed to talk about it.

The facts don't support your premise.

1.  SDSU bought our new scoreboards and we will receive the revenues that they generate.  Daktronics gave USD their scoreboards, but Daktronics will benefit from the revenues that they generate.

2.  SDSU is adding scholarships (both men's and women's).  USD is cutting scholarships.

3.  SDSU is adding athletic opportunities (Women's Equestrian).  USD is cutting athletic opportunities (Men's Baseball).

4.  USD has a three year "plan" to invest $1.126 Million dollars in it's athletic programs to get compliant with Title IX.  SDSU had a single donor give more then double that ammount to the athletic department last year ($2.4 Million).

Now quite wasting time, and go get that resume online your Alma Mater needs you. 

Go State!  ;D

[sports_buff]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

It looks like the difference in our fundraising is that you happened to have one very rich donor.
Just because you are spending money like mad does not mean that your financial situation is a good one, it could just mean that you are spending beyond your means.
I hope your financial situation is as good as you think it is, because you are going to need a lot of money traveling all over the place trying to find games to play.

[89rabbit]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

Our second largest donor last year pledged $1.0 million dollars, almost as much as your schools 3 year plan.  I suppose if you keep stripping away our top donors at some point SDSU's and USD's Alumni and Friends support would be the same, but alas for you those big donors do count in the real world.  That is why SDSU can make the jump to D-I and USD is struggling to maintain a viable D-II program.

All smack aside I do agree with Rabbitlivinginverm and joeybrownerHOF that USD's current AD is cleaning up someone else's mess.  However the facts remain that USD has a mess and we do not.  

Go State!  ;D





P.S. I believe it was Mike_H who posted earlier that our revenue were actually up for the year.  Don't forget we get paid guarantees to play teams like Marquette, Colorado, etc.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

Yes, the USD athletic dept. is dealing with some serious issues right now.  However, the current AD is cleaning up the mess of others.  The belief that SD will bail out USD athletic dept though is unfounded.  Athletic funding comes directly from the student General Activity Fee.  The problem with USD is that their GAF fee is one of the lowest among the university's in the state system (SDSU generates about $50 more per student per semester than USD....the funny thing is SDSM&T and DSU have the higest GAF fee) The allocation of these funds (athletics, student orgs, etc) is determined by the University and students.  USD again is among lowest allocation of GAF to athletics.  The USD administration will have to change this to help shore up the budget. The SDBOR has strict policy against SD taxpayers money to aid collegiate athletics.  Hopefully Nielson will get this mess straightened out. Anyone with more specific information on how this works would be appreciated. Enough about USD from me.

Actually SDSU received about $50 more per year not per semester than USD in the general activity fee from every student. You are correct in saying that these fees go to support everything from Student Groups and Activities (which SDSU has more of), health services for students, Intramurals, Varsity Athletics etc. It looks as if USD will be charging an extra $5 bucks per credit per student for the GAF next year in order to pay for their new student union (which SDSU already has). For the average student that will be an extra 160 bucks a year putting them in the range with SDSMT and DSU.

By the way i believe DSU's is higher because every student that attends is given a state of the art laptop to use during their tenure at the University, i may be wrong about if their increased student fees pay for that. ???

[Crashola]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

This may be a stupid question, but hasn't USD recently been touting the size of its Foundation endowment? Why doesn't the Foundation step in and cure the problem? Are they prohibited by their charter/bylaws, etc. from funding athletics?

[gojacksgo]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

DSU still has to pay to rent the laptop's still, so I don't think that is the reason for the high student fees. I think the students still have to pay about $250 a semester. It's something close to that.

[joeybrownerHOF]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

This may be a stupid question, but hasn't USD recently been touting the size of its Foundation endowment?  Why doesn't the Foundation step in and cure the problem?  Are they prohibited by their charter/bylaws, etc. from funding athletics?  

Campaign SD was set up to raise money for faculty recruitment, academic scholarships, new b-school and med school, improvements to slagle and old armory. Basically the same thing State did in 94 with their 50M campaign. The U is basically a few years behind State on general improvements to campus and whatnot...ie new student union, prez house,etc.... However, i do think the campaign SD did raise awareness for some donations that were earmarked to athletic program (obviously not enough), but those are not included in the campaign SD numbers. Like Nielson said, the U's problem is the current funding model that if not changed will continue no matter how much money is donated (unless the U is found to be the sole beneificary of Howard Huges estate)

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

This may be a stupid question, but hasn't USD recently been touting the size of its Foundation endowment?  Why doesn't the Foundation step in and cure the problem?  Are they prohibited by their charter/bylaws, etc. from funding athletics?  

Very good question. Supposely the USED Foundation raised 103 million this year. That is what their press releases said, but if you count bequests of living people, then you can count every bird in the bush. Since it is spring, there are a lot of birds in the bush . Since many people are not athletic oriented, their bequests are probably intended for other purposes. Heck if they are alive and breathing why should they part with their hard earned assets?

[bigjake]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

I was at the UNO-USD softball game yesterday and I was talking to a couple of other uno fans and we were lamenting the possible hard times that may come to UNO bc the arrival of the Omaha "Knights" minor league hockey team next year. A reasonable person would have to assume that they will hurt the Mav's hockey (our cash cow) attendance although most people tend to think they will hurt the omaha lancers more than uno. The thing that was neat though is that you can sit down at a uno game and people are refreshingly realistic about what the future holds versus a lot of the "pie in the sky" optimism that permeates this site.
Now I know this is a fan site and people are going to be often times overly optimistic but certain things just seem over the top. Just a couple of things that come to mind recently
1. 89 Rabbit's point about sdsu getting money from the new scoreboard. I am sure the board is beautiful but how much meaningful revenue can a school like that generate from a scoreboard. Now maybe you can get a lot of advertising revenue from those things in chapel hill or durham but in Brookings? I highly doubt it.
2. I hear lots of stuff regarding this 20 million capital campaign but yet I read nothing about how many actual dollars are in the bank right NOW. I would be curious to find out. Even if you get 20 million in an endowment that will generate about 1 million at 5percent which just doesn't seem like enough revenue to succeed in D1.
3. Finally I read this site a lot and hear all the bubbling optimism but yet when I see attendance listed it just doesn't seem like your students/alumni are yet on board to the level that is needed to be successful. If you don't start drawing a lot of people soon to your games your admin may be forced to play 2/3 of your bb games out of town to get the good revenues needed to fund your move.
So yes USD is having some problems and it looks uno will be having some future funding problems but a reasonable person would have to assume that the bean counters up in brookings are plenty worried about the fiscal situation up there, too
*** You have claimed I am jealous of your situation. I AM jealous of your ability to play d1aa fb. I would love to play d1aa fb if the d1 stuff didn't come with it. I am also jealous of that marching band you have. Easily the equivalent of Lincoln. But I am NOT jealous of one other thing about sdsu and your situation

[CatchEmAll]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

The thing that was neat though is that you can sit down at a uno game and people are refreshingly realistic about what the future holds versus a lot of the "pie in the sky" optimism that permeates this site.  
Now I know this is a fan site and people are going to be often times overly optimistic but certain things just seem over the top.  Just a couple of things that come to mind recently
1. 89 Rabbit's point about sdsu getting money from the new scoreboard.  I am sure the board is beautiful but  how much meaningful revenue can a school like that generate from a scoreboard.  Now maybe you can get a lot of advertising revenue from those things in chapel hill or durham but in Brookings?  I highly doubt it.
2. I hear lots of stuff regarding this 20 million capital campaign but yet I read nothing about how many actual dollars are in the bank right NOW.  I would be curious to find out.  Even if you get 20 million in an endowment that will generate about 1 million at 5percent which just doesn't seem like enough revenue to succeed in D1.
3.  Finally I read this site a lot and hear all the bubbling optimism but yet when I see attendance listed it just doesn't seem like your students/alumni are yet on board to the level that is needed to be successful.  If you don't start drawing a lot of people soon to your games your admin may be forced to play 2/3 of your bb games out of town to get the good revenues needed to fund your move.
So yes USD is having some problems and it looks uno will be having some future funding problems but a reasonable person would have to assume that the bean counters up in brookings are plenty worried about the fiscal situation up there, too

One thing to remember, and you do say it, this is a fan site and you are getting a very small perspective of opinions. And yes, at times it is very "pie in the sky".

Just to respond to a couple of your points:
Scoreboards - no clue how much revenue will be generated. And yes, new scoreboards in Chapel Hill would do better than Brookings, but part of the reason for the new boards was to replace the relics that currently exist. The revenue won't be great initially, but the thought is to grow that revenue over time.
The Endowment - your math is good. The reason for that $1 million a year from the endowment is to pay for scholarships and free up other money for operations and facilities. I don't remember what the $$$ to fully fund scholarships on an annual basis is, but I know $1 million a year would cover the current number and would cover a great majority of scholarship dollars in the future.
Attendance - the figures you look at are basketball. You have to consider that we have twice as many home basketball games as in the past. Someone who has more time should look at the total attendance from last year to this year for comparison. Again, the goal is to grow numbers over time, not to equal the last season of DII right off the bat. One year of off attendance does not dictate the next decade of numbers.

I will guarantee that the bean counters at SDSU are just as worried about the finances as they are at USD and UNO, and every other university that has athletics in the nation. There are very few athletic programs that are self sufficient. I would venture to guess that in all NCAA divisions there are less than 1% of athletic programs that operate in the black. So the problems at USD, UNO, or even SDSU are not unique, just more noticable in our fishbowl.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

For informational purposes: A $1 million endowment currently produces between $35,000 and $45,000 in revenue annually. Thus, SDSU's planned $20 million goal, if it was all placed in an endowment, would produce between $700,000 and $900,000 in annual revenue that could be used for things like scholarships. Those are solid, conservative figures, and they're the ones we use here for planning purposes (since Mr. Gaylord gave us $22 million and required us to use what was left over after our new building went up for endowed professorships.)

Somebody give me $1 million to use for the next year and I'll test my math.

Oh, and athletics is a dicey proposition sometimes. OU, even with its ridiculously profitable athletics, somehow managed to lose money and had to borrow $12 million (interest-free) from the academic side of the university a few years back. The endowment is good policy, but you have to be prudent as well. So, no purchasing $1.2 million in new furniture for the athletic department offices like they did here at OU recently.... even though they haven't paid back their loan.

[89rabbit]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

1. 89 Rabbit's point about sdsu getting money from the new scoreboard.  I am sure the board is beautiful but  how much meaningful revenue can a school like that generate from a scoreboard.

Not sure, but enough that a "For Profit" Company like Daktronics is willing to "give" USD $2.0 million dollars worth of scoreboards in exchange for the revenue rights.

Will they generate enough income so that SDSU will do away with the Jackrabbits club, probably not.  Will they generate more then Big Jake's job at McDonalds, probably so.  

Either way I am sure the University will be glad to take in whatever amount of money they contribute to the athletic budget.  Is that too Pollyanna for you?

Go State!  ;D


P.S. Jake, you might want to read this old thread from when USD got it's new scoreboards.

http://diaafootball.com/cgi-bin/yabb...6207831;start=

[el_presidente]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

A few things quick.

1. I took a tour at Daktronics today and our boards are going to be pretty nice. Nice boards generate nice revenue. Enough to pay for the scoreboards for starters. (I worked for Dak 2 summers ago) Campus is also going to be getting Dak message boards to promote activities. USD and DSU are also getting some message boards. However, ours are color. Theirs are red only. We would also like to get LCD TVs to put in the new union, however, that is more of a 3 to 5 year goal depending on the money.

2. I think the students will be on board for attendance next year. Having lots of home football games will be a good indicator of that. I think it will spill over to basketball and other sports. Other things will help with HPER athletics as well. Caldwell hall will be a much shorter walk then Berg/Bailey, Hansen, or Waneta. If promoted, attendance will be good. (We are also looking to bring back the Jack Fanatics from a few years ago)

3. As far as USD goes. They are spending 15 million on a new union that will be 72,000 square feet. We spent 9 million to renovate a union that will be 131,000 square feet.

4. Unrelated, but next year is SDSU's 125th Anniversary. Go Jacks

[jackmd]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

Too bad for the U. If Pat wasn't so into the "sauce", the hookers and the cocaine he might have been able to help bail his alma mater out. What a loser/coyote.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=598377

http://argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll...503310346/1004

[89rabbit]

Re: Hard times at SD's largest D-II University

That is too bad for Pat. I hope he can get his personal affairs into order, and get his life back on track.