ULM at the bottom of college sports in athletic support

[Harry]

ULM has faced an uphill battle from the day it joined the rank and file of Division I college athletics.

The latest financial data released by USA Today tell the same old story. In 2014, ULM was once again dead last among FBS schools in athletic revenue and budget.

It's not just the "Power-5" the Warhawks lagged behind financially.

ULM ranked last in the Sun Belt Conference and in the bottom third of schools in the UL System in athletic subsidy — the percentage a university contributes to the athletic department's budget — at just 39 percent. Every school but two in the UL System gave a higher percentage than ULM to athletics, including those that receive less state funding.

The 36 percent the athletic department received in 2013 was the lowest in the system.

ULM President Nick Bruno cited the continuous budget cuts to higher education at the state level for the university's frugal approach to athletics.

"It's not that we don't want to put money in it, but in our situation it just comes down to dollars and cents. We're still probably $20 million below where we were when the cuts began," Bruno said. "I think our programs continue to improve, but with our resources, for our coaches to be successful they have to out-coach other coaches."

Keeping up

A portrait of the Sun Belt's membership circa the late 2000s hangs in Wickstrom's office — a memento of sorts from his predecessor as AD, Bobby Staub.

Five of those schools are gone.

Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, North Texas and Western Kentucky all made a mass exodus for the financially greener pastures of Conference USA in a two-year stretch from 2013-14.

ULM's former conference-mates spent the money institutionally on athletics and then made more of it. The results were facility upgrades, increased fundraising, bigger budgets and more lucrative television revenue.

The dated portrait serves in some ways as a reminder of the possibilities of college sports, but also how far ULM has to go.

"Dr. Bruno has to balance the budget for the university ever year and in that process tough decisions have to be made," Wickstrom said. "In our situation, we aren't in a conference with a big television contract, we rely on private dollars, fundraising and ticket sales. That's our lifeblood."

read more:  http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2015/06/18/ulm-bottom-college-sports-athletic-support/28934097/

[Ben Gooding]

Interesting. Louisiana has a relatively low population as a state, so trying to win over those LSU/ULL fans down south and the Tech fans up north seems like a hurdle that will never be cleared for Monroe. 

[Harry]

I don't post this to down them, in fact it is the opposite.  I think what they've managed to do with so few resources is amazing.

[97and03]

Still not UNT football related. 

[MeanGreenTexan]

Still not UNT football related. 

You must have forgot:  This is @Harry's board.  He owns it.   If he wants to put a thread on the football board titled: "What is your favorite My Little Pony Character?", he can.   YOU can't.  I can't.  But HE can.

[97and03]

[greenit]

When the time comes, I would not be upset to see UNT hire Todd Berry. There is a guy who does more with less and certainly wouldn't make the asinine comment about UNT being so hard to recruit to. 

[North Texas Shep]

A girl who graduated from ULM was at the bar visiting her buddies that go to UNT. She brought up the last time they kicked are butts in football. It made me sad, but I feel that we are in a better position now, then before.

[Harry]

A girl who graduated from ULM was at the bar visiting her buddies that go to UNT. She brought up the last time they kicked are butts in football. It made me sad, but I feel that we are in a better position now, then before.

you know @North Texas Shep there are a lot of schools who would kill to have the resources we have.  And yet there remains such discontent.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Harry

[North Texas Shep]

you know @North Texas Shep there are a lot of schools who would kill to have the resources we have.  And yet there remains such discontent.

It is true. I feel that our coaches and staff understand that also. 

[untjim1995]

you know @North Texas Shep there are a lot of schools who would kill to have the resources we have.  And yet there remains such discontent.

Those schools that would kill for our "resources" would love it because they put athletics--football, particularly--as their main advertising and promotion window. We use music and arts for that. ULM, La Tech, and ULL all do more with less than we do. But they love the attention that football brings to their university, particularly ULM, with its wins/close losses against Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, and Wake Forest. I'm sure they do wish they had Apogee, our location, and even half of our enrollment--they would use it to their advantage in athletics, not something else.

The discontentment here comes from the fact that we view athletics as cost when we can pay more, but don't, then we lose and won't spend money to buyout the coaches. And funding the program at a half-hearted way, while those traditional and storied programs at UTSA and Texas State fund their athletic programs more than we do  by taking advantage of a state law. If the BOR and admininstration doesn't try any harder than this, you can't be too surprised when the "family" follows their lead. Those other schools like football and athletics to be the primary window to the university. We don't.

[Arkstfan]

When the time comes, I would not be upset to see UNT hire Todd Berry. There is a guy who does more with less and certainly wouldn't make the asinine comment about UNT being so hard to recruit to. 

One of my favorite message board comments of the 2014 season came from the ULM board.

"ASU has had five different coaches and Todd hasn't beaten any of them" which then led into an extended rant.