It’s really no surprise to most of us here at Statefans that the Triangle Business Journal’s Chris Baysden is reporting that NC State spends much less on recruiting than our rivals down the road. In football the difference is simply (and sadly) astronomical. Here is a link to Mr. Baysden’s article: link.
The report sets out information gained from perusing the public records associated with public institutions. Private schools such as Wake Forest and Duke need not make public all of their financial records, but upon request Duke offered some insight into what its programs spend.
In 2008 NC State’s recruiting budget was $275k on football and $125 on men’s basketball.
UNC’s budget expenses totaled $629k on football and $175k on men’s basketball.
The league averages, according to an anonymous survey, were $350k (FB) and $133k (MBB).
When asked, Duke reported that it spends more than the league average on football.
Since Butch Davis has been in Chapel Hill, UNC’s budget for football recruiting has increased 24% up from $506k in 2006-07. The really sad part? Reports indicate that our trend is heading in the opposite direction. TOB’s budget was $325k last year, but has been decreased to $275k for 2009-10.
In response to being shown the huge discrepancy, NC State’s Associate Athletic for Business Operations Diane Moose had this to say: “I’m sure they have their reasons, but Jiminy George that’s a lot of money.”
Reasons? It doesn’t take someone tabbed with the label “Associate Athletic Director” to give a response that is something more than a restatement of the obvious and does not include the words “Jiminy” or “George”. The first is certainly a dedication to excel on the playing field. The other, as has been so often highlighted here on SFN, is the collateral effect of easy marketing for a University with a successful football and basketball program. Ms. Moose, in her defense, is undoubtedly acting on the behest of Mr. Fowler and thus should, perhaps, not be held personally accountable for the cuts that could and likely will seriously effect our ability to compete for recruits. This is Lee Fowler’s modus operandi, and we can definitely see how are coaches are more than fed up with it. The man who so often likes to take credit for building our facilities and running our athletic department in the black fails to self-report that he’s doing so by running our programs into the ground.
The easy opposition to this idea is that TOB has beaten Davis three years running on the field. And that certainly is not lost on us. However, it goes more to the idea that there’s an utter and complete refusal to give the support necessary to our programs so that they can be competitive on the field. I’m picturing a few scenes from Major League with guys beat up and injured in tin wash tubs with 1968 10 h.p. Evinrudes attached to them.
Facilities, you see, are just a slight part of the equation that equals success. Dave Telep is quoted in the TBJ article as saying: ““If you don’t have players, you’re at a decided disadvantage.” This is certainly something all of us who follow NC State sports regularly over a long period of time know all too well. It’s the obvious inability of our administration to understand this concept that remains quite baffling. When the Romans built the Coliseum, they didn’t stage the gladiator games with blind men and lepers. Our coaches have been put at an obvious disadvantage, and it’s to their credit that they’ve been as successful as they have. If you look at discussions of this past football season, you’ll repeatedly see commentary as to the athleticism in relation to our opponents. Keep in mind, we understand this could very well be the result of many, many factors. However, you simply cannot ignore a discrepancy as huge as this and dismiss it as a non-factor in our inability to regularly compete on the field and court.
For crying out loud… even Duke spent more than we did on football recruiting last year. Duke. The school that for the better part of a century fielded a team that drew high school worthy crowds to a less-than-high-school worthy stadium. If there’s ever been a University that has failed to adequately promote and support its football program, it’s Duke.
On the basketball front, Coach Lowe dismissed the discrepancy as a reason to sing the blues. Lowe is quoted as saying: “They allow us to get out and go see just about anybody that we want to see… I don’t see where it’s a disadvantage.” Good for Coach Lowe, but honestly… what would you expect him to say? Also, perhaps the fact that there is no quote from TOB speaks even louder. Obviously the discrepancy in football is the most glaring, and thus the most reasonably harmful to our program.
What does this say about the mindset in our Athletic Department? And more importantly, what does it say about the man who embodies it? How long will butts fill the seats of our wonderful facility if our administration fails to provide our coaches with the ability to put competitive teams on the field? What good is an empty Coliseum?
