Board tackles athletic issues

Five primary issues were the topic of Terry Clapacs' last presentation as athletics director to the IU board of trustees Wednesday in Nashville, Ind. \nWith less than a week left in his tenure as AD, Clapacs highlighted the first session of the trustees retreat early in the morning, wrapping up the state of the athletics department under his reign, the financial performance of the past year and taking a look at the concerns and major issues incoming athletics director Rick Greenspan will be facing when he takes office Wednesday. \nClapacs listed football, scholarship costs, gender equity requirements, facilities and the effect of the fair labor standards act revision as the five issues at hand. \n"Those are the things that (Greenspan) will be looking at as he begins his administration at IU," Clapacs said.\nComing off a 41-10 win over Central Michigan, Clapacs re-emphasized the number one concern in the department -- the football team.\n"Football has to continue to get better," he said. "Football is the answer to the athletics department prospering." \nSaturday's game saw 36,041 fans in attendance at the 52,180-capacity Memorial Stadium -- 1,058 fans more than last season's average home attendance of 34,983, which is a key figure to Clapacs, when it comes to producing revenue for the department. \n"Obviously we have to win," he said. "As we win, more people will attend games."\nThe second major issue Clapacs addressed was scholarship costs to the athletics department. \nHe said 75 percent of the athletes at IU are out-of-state athletes on full scholarships. With an annual increase of tuition at IU, the department is directly affected because it reimburses the University for the cost of the scholarships. \n"(It) is a huge expense for us," Clapacs said. "Clearly, the amount of the tuition increases affects athletics."\nThe third topic for Clapacs was the gender equity requirements IU has in place. \nAccording to the 2002-03 NCAA Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, 52.7 percent of IU athletes are male and 47.3 percent are female.\n"Gender equity is basically for IU to have the proper proportion of male and female opportunities," Clapacs said. "It's not just the number of sports or participants. There needs to be parity in terms of facilities and expenses. These things need to be in line for both men and women. There needs to be close parity for those."\nThe gist of Clapacs' presentation to the trustees Wednesday about gender equity was making sure IU is compliant. \nClapacs also addressed IU's athletic facilities in his presentation, referring to football as the main concentration of need. \nThe athletics director presented a $65 million renovation plan to the IU facilities this summer -- $35 million of which will be used to close off the north endzone of Memorial Stadium to add facilities for the department, according to a July 8 Indiana Daily Student article.\nIn part of his presentation, Clapacs talked about ways to finance the new facilities. \n"In my view, we need to make a major commitment to football," he said. "That's what makes it work together. The new athletics director will have to assess all that and make his own judgement." \nClapacs said that new training, medical and academic areas are among the needs of the athletics department.\nThe last topic of Clapacs' presentation was discussing the effect of the Fair Labor Standards Act revision, which will require athletics department employees to be paid overtime instead of being paid on an annual salary for the hours they work, he said. \nWith the transition of power in Assembly Hall six days away, Clapacs is leaving office with a package of issues for Greenspan. Despite the challenges Greenspan faces in his first year as athletics director, Clapacs said he was a good choice to lead the Hoosiers into 2004-05.\n"I think he'll do just fine," Clapacs said. "(Greenspan) seems like a very solid administrator."\n-- Contact senior writer Josh Weinfuss at jweinfus@indiana.edu.