Athletic budget cut update #41 - UC Irvine and Wright State drop teams

UC Irvine is dropping five sports, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's rowing, and sailing in response to the state's significant budget woes.

Wright State's $1 million cut will constitute approximately 10% of their budget and include: the elimination of the men's track team; the firing of two long time department senior staffers; no scholarships or travel budgets for the cheer leading and dance teams; no team other than basketball permitted to fly unless they can cover the costs through fund raising; coaches are being directed to recruit in-state to avoid out of state tuition costs and some scholarships will be eliminated; significant reductions in summer school spending; and media guide production will be limited.


Hawaii Athletic Director Jim Donovan has taken a voluntary 7% pay cut and it is anticipated that other senior staff and head coaches may have to do the same thing.

The NCAA women's basketball committee has recommended that it adopt a policy that requires any team traveling less than 400 miles to use ground, rather than air transportation. The previous distance was 350 miles. They have also recommended reducing the travel party for the Final Four from 100 to 85.

The Orlando Sentinel is running an excellent five part series about the economy's impact on athletic budgets around the country.

The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that 11 states are anticipating mid-year budget cuts for the 2009-10 fiscal year. The cuts are expected to total more than $22 billion, which will obviously impact the athletic programs in those states.

Athletic Business writer Paul Steinbach also details the athletic budget environment with comments from West Coast Conference Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich, Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley as well as UltimateSportsInsider.com.

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