I had to "send Quasi deep into the vault" to get this one out, in this case to an article printed in the Nevada Sagebrush on 09/25/2007. To keep this in a bit of a perspective (albeit an inconclusive comparison), I will include the figures printed for BOTH Nevada universities. I figure this is an apt posting since it has come up in the past and will come up again, especially since my dear fellow blogger included another reference to coaches' salaries and how Ault fares into the mix.
According to the article, budgeting lies thusly:
School Up North:
Roughly $20,000,000
School Down South:
Roughly $24,800,000
Of that,
State Funding to Athletic Programs at the School Up North:
$6,763,868
State Funding to Athletic Programs at the School Down South:
$8,940,854
"From there, it is each school’s job to gain enough revenue to cover the remaining expenses for the year.
"In UNR’s case, additional revenue comes mainly from ticket sales and private donations (development), said John Nunn, associate athletic director at UNR. However, other sources include marketing/promotions, concession sales, royalties, NCAA and Western Athletic Conference."
So, according to these numbers (keeping in mind that the total budgets quoted here are approximate, then...
State Funding to Athletic Programs at the School Up North:
approx. 34%, or barely over 1/3.
State Funding to Athletic Programs at the School Down South:
approx. 36%, or barely over 1/3, but slightly higher that the School Up North.
Here's another quote for reference:
"UNLV’s coaching staff, as a whole, is also paid nearly double of what the coaching staff at Nevada receives. This is the big one. In 2005-2006, the Rebels coaching budget was $4,831,700 million, while the Wolf Pack’s was comparatively speaking, a measly $2,854,535 million."
There is a wealth of other info in this article, so I encourage all to read it; it does and will figure into our discussions here. I will point out, though, that when it comes to coaching salaries refer to the above info. regardless of your camp on the subject. But, if 2/3 of athletic funds at the beloved University of Nevada are raised from sources other than the state, we have to ask if this is the best that we can do. Well, is it? SMU folks were able to convince donors to contribute an extra $100K per year to lure June Jones (please see the link on my comrade's post below...granted, Dallas is just a sniffle bigger than Reno, but...). If not, is their enough concern amongst donors/alumni to raise the proverbial bar? What about the community at large? If not there, what can we do to raise their concerns and their willingness to contribute?
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I'm also a fan of MLS (Major League Soccer) and I've found that cities like Seattle and Philadelphia that want a MLS expansion team have "season ticket drives" where a reputable organization collects season ticket deposits (usually $50 or so... about 1/10th of what the season ticket will really cost) to show the league and potential owners that the city will support the franchise. When Seattle got thier MLS team, the organization went down the list in order and converted the deposits in to season ticket sales. Perhaps we can organize a "coach's salary drive" for Nevada where a registered non-profit collects $50 deposits in lieu of $500 or $1000 donations to a potential new coach's salary. Just an thought.
ReplyDeleteAs much sense as Kevin's comment makes, he shoud realize that in order to have a New Coach Fundraiser, the AD must be in the market for a new coach at all. That ain't happenin.
ReplyDeleteSo, with the addition of our newest DB coach from USC I figured I would forward some comments from a friend of mine. Let's toss some gasoline on this offseason fire. It's lengthy, but eloquent, worthwhile and...a touch humorous.
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Don't expect UNR to do anything anytime ever. Our recruiting class is shit this year as the fraud of our program is exposed. I guess if you keep losing on national television people want to play elsewhere. Also, UNR pulls scholarships from very promising recruits because of ineptitude and flimsy reasoning as evidenced by what we did to a promising 3 star linebacker by the name of Elliot Harper out of Chandler, AZ. They definitely burned some bridges there and pissed off a few schools that we usually tap. Go figure. Then the Ass-clown of a coach who is driving the program into the dirt is not going to address the issues on defense that embarrassed us all year long. The terrible Defensive Coordinator will keep his job while the linebackers and DB coaches are going to lose their jobs.
That's funny because under our old DC these position coaches flourished and were able to pull in some raw talent to their positions. We had the highest turnover ratio and sack ratios in the WAC last year as well as a monster run stopping team. UNR walked into the season with the number 2 defensive line and the number 2 linebacker corps in the WAC. We went from WAC co-champions to second place to fourth place. We are a program on the decline.
Look at what happened to our defense all season. Steamrolled by marginal run teams and looks of wild bewilderment and utter confusion among some former WAC 1st team linebackers. What a joke. At one time our defense was 119th for about 3 weeks during the season. I think we progressed to 98th at one point but eventually settled around 114th.
The only difference other than losing about 4 seniors is that our DC changed. By the way, these seniors were replaced by equally experienced players as well. Going into the season our coaches bragged about having the most broadly experienced defensive core of their coaching careers. I guess it only takes one man to demolish this all.
Of course, this douchebag is Ault's Best Friend Forever so he will never be shown the door or be asked to be accountable. This is not idle speculation but pure truth. Ken Wilson has been Ault's best friend since the early eighties. I think that they are next door neighbors as well.
Don't get me started on the offense and our 'Pistol' formation. Ault has done a fine job of destroying our most promising player, Colin Kaepernick, by getting in his head and curtailing his abilities in order for him to fit the system rather than let him run wild and make autonomous decisions depending on the situation. Rather than coach his ability and let him grow as a leader who can use his football IQ to custom fit a play to the game, he is programming him like a robot with no flexibility when it comes to play calling and decision making and reaping the bitter reward. I would not be surprised if one of our two great QB's transfer. If you want a future vision of what Ault will do to Kaepernick, look up Gatlin and see how Ault ruined that promising QB because he would not stop harrassing him and breaking him down.
Expect a 5 - 7 year next year. That is what I believe. That is just about what I predict every season for now one because there are five terrible bottom 10 teams in the WAC and UNLV as well as one I-AA team every year we play. Kind of sad when we have 7 gimme/freebee wins but somehow go 5 - 2 or 4 - 3 with these teams.
It's sad because this DB coach is going to have two really bad years here at UNR before he leaves. I think that he will stick around that long before he realizes it's B.S.
I sat at a bar the other night with some former players that played under Ault and the former coach before him. They all told me to a man that Ault treats his position coaches like the players. No respect, nothing but yelling and screaming heavily dosed with name calling and derision. I would like to think that the head coach would do better than that. Apparently not. They all told me that they felt embarrassed for their position coaches because they were close to them and respected them but had to endure being torn apart in front of the team and made to look like an idiot. Nice. Just another day in the office.
This all just reinforces the small town redneck, hick stereotype of our locale. It's sickening because it will not go away anytime soon and it reflects poorly on Nevada. Just another backwater, podunk, middle-no-where town where some yokels found their way into power and stay there by putting their friends up there with them. Who cares about progress and making the institution better? I think we should install screen doors on all the sports facilities and buy a bunch of bloodhounds and tie them up there next to a rocking chair with a banjo on it so we can REALLY project the inbred backwoods hick image just that much better.
I don't expect national titles, but I would like to think that we can stay competitive in the WAC. Yes, that is all I wish for: Be competitive in the WAC. All we have to do is play three (3) teams year in and year out strong in order to finish well (Fresno, Hawaii, Boise St.). However, these three teams own us and we split among the also ran bottom 10 teams every season (Louisiana Tech, NMSU, SJSU, Utah St., Idaho). That's not entertainment and it's not fun.
I wish that I could grab this DB coach or run into him at a restaurant while he is in town and pull him aside and fill him in on this job. Like I said, I feel bad for this guy because he is going into an environment that will not support him, allow him latitude to develop strong players, allow him to succeed, or institute the kind of playing style that made USC tops in the nation.
I have never been a fan of nepotism and I have always found myself beneath incompetent, idiotic leaders in just about every job or organization I have been a part of. As such, I have witnessed these jobs and organizations go bankrupt or be sidelined into obscurity. I do not find it worthwhile to support a program or sports team that embodies and exhibits all that I hate and have found to be self-destructive in management. I have been a privy to a few well run and organized places and they make all the difference. I would never support an institution that does not have my own philosophy or ideals in place and as such displays the indolent, arrogant, obnoxious, inefficiencies that characterizes bad management.