(03-20-2018 11:36 AM)ljmhurons Wrote: One of the measures of a tier one athletic program is the number of sports it compete in. We're falling further behind and establishing ourselves as a minor league.
EMU had the most sports in the MAC, we're right-sizing to our conference, it's pretty simple. Nobody in the MAC is 'Tier One', never will be. Can't compare to the P5 because the revenue structures are apples and oranges.
(03-20-2018 11:36 AM)ljmhurons Wrote: One of the measures of a tier one athletic program is the number of sports it compete in. We're falling further behind and establishing ourselves as a minor league.
Not sure I agree with that, but we are a MAC school in a conference which is treading water financially. It is a conference wide phenomena.
Literally we are pruning branches to save the trunk, which is FB, MBB, and WBB.
That said, MAC football is good (e.g.., NIU, WMU went to New Years bowl games), MBB is not where we want it, but MAC WBB is having an outstanding post season.
I suspect this is the wave of the future for non P5 conferences which have FB.
(03-20-2018 11:35 AM)emu steve Wrote: Guys, I know the feeling. I started in the federal government right around 1980 and less than 3 years later comes a big reduction in force at my agency.
Those who were non vets and < 3 years ("career conditional") went out the door. At headquarters we lost 10% of our staff, including yours truly. When folks got their termination notices there were employees crying all over the place. Employees running to the bath rooms not because they had to go potty, but they didn't want to cry in public.
I've seen happier funerals than this day. It was a Friday. Terminated employees had two weeks. Then gone. Gone. Gone.
Those who had were non-vets and < 3 years were not sure how the retention registers would play out. How many would be fired by job series, etc. How much seniority would be enough to save them.
Employees hoped against hope that it wouldn't be as bad as some feared. It was. Maybe worse. I was just shy of 3 years and hoped that I would make it. I didn't.
Losing a job happens a lot, maybe to most people. The whole team I was on had their work moved to Mexico and it caught up to me. It is a normal part of life. Not so with student athletes. This is much more devastating.
(03-20-2018 10:16 AM)FrankAnderson Wrote: For what it's worth, I also want to say to any student athletes of these 4 sports who are reading:
I am sorry. Truly sorry. I don't know what it feels like to experience what you are going through, but I know it is a shame. If I had the money, I would donate to double EVERY EMU athletic program budget.
My 4 years at EMU were the best of my life, and I'm sorry circumstances lead to many of you not being able to say the same. It is unfair. I wish you the best in your athletic career, professional career, and entire life.
"On Friday, faculty and staff marched in protest of EMU's decision to cut nearly 60 staff positions to erase a deficit between $4.5 and 5.5 million, arguing that the university did not look closely enough at its athletics budget for solutions to its shortfall."
"The credit hour projection, Smith said, represents an 11.6 percent decline from just four years ago. In June, EMU projected it would see less in revenue from tuition and fees, from $221.3 million in 2017 to $214.8 million in 2018 - representing a 2.5 percent drop in credit hours for the 2018 fiscal year."
...........It's pretty simple math here. 6.5 million less in revenue for 2018 results in 4.5-5.5 million deficit, which results in 60 staff cuts, and 4 sports cuts. Everybody just 'shared' the pain.
The big question is, what is EMU doing to reverse the negative enrollment/credit hours trend?????? Until THAT is addressed, expect more cuts, and rightly so.
(03-20-2018 10:02 AM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote: As an EMU parent does this mean I see a reduction in tuition costs?
No because the state is cutting higher funding, again.
As they have done year after year after year and tuition rates have skyrocketed beyond the reach of most middle class families which results in students or parents going way into debt with student loans which will be our next financial crisis.
(03-20-2018 10:16 AM)FrankAnderson Wrote: For what it's worth, I also want to say to any student athletes of these 4 sports who are reading:
I am sorry. Truly sorry. I don't know what it feels like to experience what you are going through, but I know it is a shame. If I had the money, I would donate to double EVERY EMU athletic program budget.
My 4 years at EMU were the best of my life, and I'm sorry circumstances lead to many of you not being able to say the same. It is unfair. I wish you the best in your athletic career, professional career, and entire life.
This.
Above written by a softball alumnus. Let's save this woman's program. Drop the women's studies department and use the money to save softball. It can produce teachers, accountants and engineers, something women's studies cannot.
(This post was last modified: 03-20-2018 11:56 AM by ljmhurons.)
(03-20-2018 11:48 AM)EagleTough Wrote: "On Friday, faculty and staff marched in protest of EMU's decision to cut nearly 60 staff positions to erase a deficit between $4.5 and 5.5 million, arguing that the university did not look closely enough at its athletics budget for solutions to its shortfall."
"The credit hour projection, Smith said, represents an 11.6 percent decline from just four years ago. In June, EMU projected it would see less in revenue from tuition and fees, from $221.3 million in 2017 to $214.8 million in 2018 - representing a 2.5 percent drop in credit hours for the 2018 fiscal year."
...........It's pretty simple math here. 6.5 million less in revenue for 2018 results in 4.5-5.5 million deficit, which results in 60 staff cuts, and 4 sports cuts. Everybody just 'shared' the pain.
The big question is, what is EMU doing to reverse the negative enrollment/credit hours trend?????? Until THAT is addressed, expect more cuts, and rightly so.
If we aren't at capacity enrollment wise go back and redo the 0+0+0 meaning no increase for one year in tuition room and board.
I'm sorry for what's happened to the softball players, but we are a University. Academic programs cannot be cut for athletic programs, and I'm saying that as the most earnest athletics supporter there is.
(This post was last modified: 03-20-2018 12:03 PM by FrankAnderson.)
How much could the University save by getting rid of Bunsis? The positive publicity, and general feeling of euphoria on campus would likely be worth millions!
(03-20-2018 11:36 AM)ljmhurons Wrote: One of the measures of a tier one athletic program is the number of sports it compete in. We're falling further behind and establishing ourselves as a minor league.
EMU had the most sports in the MAC, we're right-sizing to our conference, it's pretty simple. Nobody in the MAC is 'Tier One', never will be. Can't compare to the P5 because the revenue structures are apples and oranges.
All non-P5 is minor league. It is what it is.
That's it in a nutshell - how long did anyone think EMU could keep the most varsity sports in the MAC? Men's swimming is a surprise, but with just two other MAC programs, it is an unfortunate, but logical, choice.
And before anyone throws out the P5 vs. G5 stuff, it's only a matter of time before P5 programs make the same choices about non-revenue sports, and those that can "self-fund" somehow will survive.
Dear FrankAnderson,
On the other hand, Judith Kullberg from Eastern, speaking in the Detroit News article, was claiming that too much money is being spent on athletics at the expense of academics. My point being, if we are to believe President Smith, and I do, we have had a significant drop in enrollment. That translates into classes being cut, programs being cut, and lastly staff being cut. What classes are professors going to teach with no students? Lastly, if we are talking of a five million dollar shortfall, athletics has already come up with almost half of that. As I have already stated, without students, academics have to come up with their share.
Freep has a good article. Here is a great quote from our AD:
"I feel handcuffed," Wetherbee, who was hired eight months ago to replace Heather Lyke, who left EMU to become the athletic director at the University of Pittsburgh. "I walked into a terrible situation. I knew budget was bad. Didn't know how bad it was. Thought I could come in a conquering hero and generate revenue so we didn't have to do this. This should have been done a long time ago, but I’ll own it now. Would I have come here if I knew I’d be sitting here 8 months later? I don’t really know.”
Knowing what I know as an outsider (but I did listen to Smith's address to faculty and staff what two months ago; someone sent me the link) I knew that EMU had a 5M budget hole.
When a school has a huge budget hole and tensions on campus are high, no AD is going to spend an extra 500K to get a new MBB HC. Pardon the expression but that is 'crazy.'
It's very similar to the decision that Buffalo had to make last year.
We cut Mens Soccer (Which was getting to be the #2 team in the MAC), Mens SwimDive (Not as good as EMU but did have a recent conference championship), Womens Rowing (Competitive in the CAA), and Baseball.
The move was made then the board took 2M away from the department. And the infighting is *still* going on.
(03-20-2018 12:14 PM)Ken Barna Wrote: Dear FrankAnderson,
On the other hand, Judith Kullberg from Eastern, speaking in the Detroit News article, was claiming that too much money is being spent on athletics at the expense of academics. My point being, if we are to believe President Smith, and I do, we have had a significant drop in enrollment. That translates into classes being cut, programs being cut, and lastly staff being cut. What classes are professors going to teach with no students? Lastly, if we are talking of a five million dollar shortfall, athletics has already come up with almost half of that. As I have already stated, without students, academics have to come up with their share.
I agree, Ken. Athletics did have to bear the brunt of this cut, despite support from the university to athletics being LESS than 8% of the overall budget.
But we have to keep in mind that revenue is projected to fall again next year. So this is preparing for future potential revenue shortfalls as well.
(03-20-2018 08:40 AM)Ken Barna Wrote: Dear Friends,
I see our buddy at the Free Press, David Jesse, did his usual hatchet job on our football program and the amount of money spent on athletics from the general fund. He never mentions the fact that Western and Central spend like amounts from their general funds. By comparison, the Detroit News article was to the point and that was all.
Oh gosh we got that so bad from our writers at the Buffalo News.... "We should drop to FCS" and be a basketball powerhouse. They went on about it for months before we even cut sports...
(03-20-2018 12:17 PM)Bull_Is_Back Wrote: It's very similar to the decision that Buffalo had to make last year.
We cut Mens Soccer (Which was getting to be the #2 team in the MAC), Mens SwimDive (Not as good as EMU but did have a recent conference championship), Womens Rowing (Competitive in the CAA), and Baseball.
The move was made then the board took 2M away from the department. And the infighting is *still* going on.
I didn't realize, until now, how painful this was for UB to go through. Sorry you had to endure it too.
(03-20-2018 12:16 PM)emu steve Wrote: Freep has a good article. Here is a great quote from our AD:
"I feel handcuffed," Wetherbee, who was hired eight months ago to replace Heather Lyke, who left EMU to become the athletic director at the University of Pittsburgh. "I walked into a terrible situation. I knew budget was bad. Didn't know how bad it was. Thought I could come in a conquering hero and generate revenue so we didn't have to do this. This should have been done a long time ago, but I’ll own it now. Would I have come here if I knew I’d be sitting here 8 months later? I don’t really know.”
Knowing what I know as an outsider (but I did listen to Smith's address to faculty and staff what two months ago; someone sent me the link) I knew that EMU had a 5M budget hole.
When a school has a huge budget hole and tensions on campus are high, no AD is going to spend an extra 500K to get a new MBB HC. Pardon the expression but that is 'crazy.'
Pretty candid response from Wetherbee. He sounds like someone who was conned. Maybe he was.
Not all academic programs are equal. Get a female student athlete to graduate with an engineering degree and businesses will beg her to work for them. A classmate with a woman's study major will likely have much less opportunity and a small salary. Then she'll blame men.
Athletics opens all kinds of academic doors.
It should also be noted that non football and basketball sports produce higher academic achievers.
