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At Ohio.com there was a story on the $35,000 assessment being done on the KSU Athletic Department. I know this is old news but the preliminary report is due in about 10 weeks. The website said everything including dropping football ala Alabama Birmingham is on the table. While I doubt that will happen I wouldn't be surprised to see a few sports drop. Men's track (only 5 indoor teams and 6 outdoor teams left in the MAC) would be particularly vulnerable. Anything else besides maybe X-country would be a real surprise. At most schools wrestling and gymnastics would be on the table but with their traditions at Kent I would doubt it. Also the age old question of dropping to Division IAA will come up. With the power 5 basically raising the ante this week that easily could be a result of this study. I would think at least the Sun Belt, CUSA and the MAC would have to consider this.

I know we are hoping that the new President might help sports but somehow calling for this study makes me wonder. I can't see this study resulting in a higher athletic department budget.

Here's the full story....


Kent State University hires consultant to assess athletics program
By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: January 19, 2015 - 10:19 PM | Updated: January 20, 2015 - 02:57 PM


Kent State University has hired a national consultant to conduct a sweeping assessment of its athletics programs — a review that includes determining whether any sports should be cut.

“We’re going to review the entire program top to bottom from all of our sports to what we’re doing academically to our sports services,” Athletic Director Joel Nielsen said in a recent interview.

The university wants to see where it fits in with the changing landscape of Division I collegiate sports. Nielsen isn’t sure what options the consultant, Collegiate Sports Associates of West End, N.C., will present when a final report is delivered in May, but he would rule out nothing. The University of Alabama-Birmingham late last year shut down its football program for financial reasons.

“Everything is on the table,” Nielsen said. “You can’t go into an assessment protected or it wouldn’t be a true assessment.”

Kent State is paying $35,000 for the study that President Beverly Warren pushed. It comes amid an uncertain and financially challenging time for sports at many colleges and universities.

Last week at the 2015 NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C., the five wealthiest and most powerful conferences — the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference — agreed to increase the value of athletic scholarships by several thousand dollars.

Kent State says it could cost the school up to $1.1 million a year if it were to opt to cover the actual cost of attendance for all its student-athletes.

Collegiate Sports Associates, headed by Todd Turner, a former Division I athletic director, has been interviewing everyone from board trustees to athletes to alumni, and also conducted an online survey.

Marvin Logan, the president of the Kent State Undergraduate Student Government and a former track and field athlete, participated in the survey. A 22-year-old from Warren, Logan is majoring in Pan-African Studies and will graduate this year. He welcomes additional financial resources and programs for athletes so they are better prepared after they leave school.

Some people don’t realize that scholarships don’t cover the full cost of attending college or that not all of them are full scholarships, he said. Athletes also often don’t get to take in the full college experience because of sports commitments, he added.
He noted that he will leave school about $45,000 in debt, despite having an initial sports scholarship. He doesn’t want to see any Kent State sports programs cut.

“Athletics certainly has a place in higher education,” Logan said. “It’s very important for the identity of a school. It’s important to help establish school pride, and it’s one of the recruiting tools the university has.”

But he said he understands the financial difficulties of the university as well.
Football safe? Turner declined to talk specifically about the Kent State study, but said there is tremendous financial stress on colleges and universities today when it comes to athletics.

“The difficulty for lower-resourced schools is that these conditions were created for everyone by this highly resourced group, but only those at that high level have any chance at funding their programs without increased institutional subsidies of athletic programs,” he said.

Schools around the country are looking carefully at their athletic budgets and sports. The University of Akron said the entire school is now undergoing a budgetary review.
Turner doesn’t believe many schools will drop football like Alabama-Birmingham did.

“Dropping a sport is one of the most difficult decisions that an institution can make,” he said. “Dropping football in today’s environment can have very painful consequences, so I don’t expect many to follow suit. But I do believe schools are looking at the scope of their program offerings with a very critical eye.”

Some schools outside the so-called Big Five conferences might opt instead to move from the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level, to the Football Champion Subdivision. Or they could drop other sports to remain in the FBS.

“For these schools, to be competitive at the FBS level will require additional resources,” Turner said. “These dollars to compete with the Power Five will have to come from somewhere. You can either cut costs or increase revenue.

“Unfortunately, these schools cannot drive the dollars from TV and postseason play that the Power Five can, so they are stressed as institutions to subsidize their athletics programs from institutional dollars and student fees.”

Kent State, which operates with an athletics budget of $26 million, has about 425 student-athletes and 18 varsity programs.

Nielsen said it’s not easy running the athletics program now, but he doesn’t see the upcoming NCAA changes as negatively affecting the university.

“It’s not as though this is something that is going to flip our cart over, so to speak,” he said. “It’s something that’s difficult now. It’s like anything else: If you add more costs on, it just increases the difficulty to do all of the things you’re doing right now.”
Turner said the federal government might have to step in “to bring some sanity to the landscape.”

Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.

Track is cheap so I doubt they would decide to eliminate it. Actually it is hard for me to see getting rid of any of our sports. What sport outside of basketball has not received an upgrade recently? I have seen new track and field, softball, baseball, and football facilities and improvements for instance. You know that getting rid of women's sports is a non-starter since there are more women than men at KSU and I imagine we are already are at the point where we cannot eliminate anymore women's sports. I doubt we would eliminate wrestling since it is well liked and successful so I don't think we are going to eliminate any sports. Just my thought on that.

However it would not surprise me if the report says the school, alumni, and community need to do more in getting involved with the school and use this report as a means as a wake up call. We all know there are areas that could use improvement in that regard.

Here is a hypothetical situation. So lets say you that you must cut one sport from mens and one from womens, which one would it be?

Well, if that is all the question is, it makes it a lot easier than if you add on that we would also leave the MAC. That would be a lot bigger question.

Assuming we stay in the MAC then, we can't cut football, volleyball, M&W basketball, baseball or softball, as all are required for MAC membership.

M&W Golf are fully or almost fully endowed, so they are safe. The distance runners can do track and most do already. I would think wrestling and gymnastics are safer because of their higher profile and historical success. The trick becomes, which men's program left do you cut? Well, isn't it down then to cross country and track? What else is there?

So if I'm cutting two, it's probably M&W CC. CC just avoids the deepest impact on the overall athletic program.

How much money does that save?

Probably 10 scholarships and a little travel money. If they have separate coaches (or are they just track coaches anyway) maybe some salary. It wouldn't be huge but the money could be better used. It's funny how small cuts in spending are usually not done because they are so small that they don't matter. Of course small increases are always done because they really don't matter. Eventually all these small items that don't matter collapse the roof.

You guys are all pessimists. I'm hoping the consultants come back and tell the university they should put more cash into the sports, and maybe add a couple. Bulldoze the MACC and build a Basketball Palace. Maybe they'll tell us a 10% increase in funding would yield a dramatic increase in benefits.

(01-23-2015 07:38 AM)Slinkin Street Flash Wrote:  You guys are all pessimists. I'm hoping the consultants come back and tell the university they should put more cash into the sports, and maybe add a couple. Bulldoze the MACC and build a Basketball Palace. Maybe they'll tell us a 10% increase in funding would yield a dramatic increase in benefits.

If we could also include an actual 120 yard practice field for the marching band without trees and a Kent State sign in it, that'd be great.

(01-24-2015 08:01 AM)AlphaFlash Wrote:  

(01-23-2015 07:38 AM)Slinkin Street Flash Wrote:  You guys are all pessimists. I'm hoping the consultants come back and tell the university they should put more cash into the sports, and maybe add a couple. Bulldoze the MACC and build a Basketball Palace. Maybe they'll tell us a 10% increase in funding would yield a dramatic increase in benefits.

If we could also include an actual 120 yard practice field for the marching band without trees and a Kent State sign in it, that'd be great.

Actually the size is not that big of an issue as you don't really use the end zones in most drills. hat the band really needs sadly is for the field to be flatter, not have holes, and be clearly marked.

(01-23-2015 07:38 AM)Slinkin Street Flash Wrote:  You guys are all pessimists. I'm hoping the consultants come back and tell the university they should put more cash into the sports, and maybe add a couple. Bulldoze the MACC and build a Basketball Palace. Maybe they'll tell us a 10% increase in funding would yield a dramatic increase in benefits.

Frankly demographics and finances don't support an increase. With a 60% female student body and alumni base, there is little support for athletics and that is not likely to change. I know plenty of women who went to Kent and as adults support their husband's alma mater or favorite team and not KSU.

It will be lucky if they don't say the university can only afford to support DII level or fewer DI sports, particularly if there is no change in football.