Tulane Upping Commitment to Football

[Harry]

Read More: http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/2011/12/tulane_officials_say_commitmen.html

Recently the Tulane administration has paid lip service to the problems, but the numbers didn’t match the words, however. Former coach Bob Toledo was at the bottom of the salary scale for Conference USA coaches, making just $450,000. Meanwhile, SMU was paying its coach, June Jones, $2 million per year.

The $40 million already raised for the football stadium is another show-me-the-money moment. Tulane has watched many schools in Conference USA refurbish or build new stadiums in the past 10 years. It needs to look no further than SMU to see a glimmering “like school” comparison. The Mustangs opened Gerald J. Ford Stadium in 2000 with a 32,000 capacity and the ability to expand. Tulane has plans for a 30,000-seat venue that also could be expanded, Cowen said.

Now that the Green Wave has its stadium plans and some money in hand, it shows it is keeping pace with the conference in that regard. Raising the money up front instead of obtaining loans and bonds for the facility is another positive, Ballard, a local businessman, said.

“It will be a self-sustainable project. That tells you something,” Ballard said. “That tells you a lot. The experience of these kids who are students at this school will be so much more memorable that the fundraising from the academic side to the athletic side — the total endowment that this school will get from the experience that the students will get from having an on-campus stadium will fund many things for years to come.”

The football operations budget will see a jump, too, several sources said, although Tulane doesn’t release exact figures.

In 2009-10, Tulane reported to the Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics that it spent $6,686,956 on football and $21,309,000 on athletics as a whole. That ranked Tulane 10th among the 12 Conference USA schools in football expenses and 11th in overall expenses.

That number should be significantly higher now, sources say.

“You can clearly tell that they want to invest in this program,” senior offensive lineman Harris Howard said.

That investment is essential in gaining footing in the shifting sands of conference realignment, Cowen said. Although there no longer are NCAA rules for minimum stadium seating, the conferences looking to expand want teams who are properly funding their programs and have stadiums reflective of that. The push for greater support was internal, though.

“We really undertook the task of doing the stadium regardless of conference affiliation; we thought it was the right thing to do for our program and the community,” Cowen said. “Might it have some impact later on? It could, but I think what conferences look at is, ‘Are you making a commitment?’ And there’s no question in anybody’s mind that we are making the commitment you expect of someone who is serous about Tulane football.”

[LakeTravis]

Looks like a Europe Soccer Stadium more than anything but good for Tulane.

Party deck is pretty sweet, I hope they will serve beer.

[Green Mean]

Really nice looking facility. I'm anxious to see the final product when it is done.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Really nice looking facility. I'm anxious to see the final product when it is done.

Hopefully, we'll have an opportunity to check it out every other year.

[EagleD]

I worked 2 games there this year. They were bad. Real bad. I know we bitch about our fan support but the Super Dome was almost vacant for one of those games.