New year, same problems for AD

In his last address to the Bloomington Faculty Council regarding athletics, former Athletics Director Terry Clapacs listed five major departmental concerns for new AD Rick Greenspan to tackle. The list included football, scholarship costs, gender equity, facilities and the Fair Labor Standards Act.\nMost of these five concerns relate to one constant problem within the athletics department -- the budget deficit.\nTo remedy this situation, the board of trustees adopted a $15 per semester student fee in May to help reduce the deficit. \n"It hurts when we only have five home (football) games this season, compared to six last season, which included Ohio State and Purdue coming here to play," Clapacs said.\nIU currently ranks last in the Big Ten for football revenue, as the program pulled in $14.3 million for fiscal year 2004. Although IU is known for its success in men's basketball, the team's revenue for 2004 only totals $11.1 million -- which ranks second in the Big Ten Conference.\nClapacs attributed the overall deficit to rising costs in tuition, compiled with 75 percent of all student-athletes coming from outside the state of Indiana and the lack of revenue from the football program.\nAlong with Clapacs' address, the athletics committee gave its annual report to the BFC.\nWith concern for the facilities, Bruce Jaffee, faculty representative, said IU is planning construction of an outdoor women's field hockey complex by using space next to Bill Armstrong stadium. \nClapacs followed Jaffee's speech by emphasizing two aspects about women's athletics -- the addition of a new sport in the next three to four years in order to continue compliance with Title IX and the lack of participation of IU's women's sports in the state of Indiana.\n"Dropping a (men's) program is not a priority," Clapacs said.\nWith the most recent record coming six years ago, Daniel Maki, chair of the athletic committee, said the graduation figures from the class enrolling in the 1996-'97 school year showed that 65 to 66 percent of athletes at IU graduated within six years. Compared to the rest of the student population during the same period, 68 to 69 percent of the overall student population graduated within six years.\nMaki said according to these numbers, IU's student-athlete graduation rate ranks in the middle of the Big Ten, with Michigan at 82 percent, Penn State University at 80 percent and Northwestern at 87 percent having higher graduation rates and Minnesota at 63 percent and Ohio State at 60 percent having lower graduation rates than IU.\n"Most schools' athletes (nationally) are in the low 60 percent, while the (overall) students are in the high 50 percent," Maki said.\nJaffee stated the NCAA will visit IU in February to perform the recertification of the athletics program -- something the NCAA requires for member institutions every 10 years.\nGreenspan, who officially became athletics director Sept. 15, now has the job of putting the department back on the right track. \n"It is a big enterprise," Greenspan said. "It is a costly enterprise."\n-- Contact staff writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.