IU looks to donors to eliminate athletic debt

The IU Athletics Department hopes to rely on donors to pick up the tab for the replacement of men's basketball coach Mike Davis. \nThe $800,000 resignation package due to Davis has left the already cash-strapped Athletics Department with the added expense of paying a new basketball coach over the next two years. The budget proposal Athletics Director Rick Greenspan submitted to trustees in September included Davis' salary for the remaining two years of his contract but did not allocate funds for a new coaching hire. \nIU officials are asking wealthy private donors to pitch in to cover this cost, said Trustee President Stephen Ferguson.\nAthletics Department Spokesman Pete Rhoda said it is too early to judge whether the drive will be successful and would not release information on which donors are being solicited. The fundraising goal is also still up in the air because the money needed depends on the salary of the new basketball coach, Rhoda said. \nBut Ferguson said the potential donors he has spoken with have shown interest in making such donations.\nGreenspan, who has declined several interview requests from the Indiana Daily Student since Davis' resignation, told a reporter from the Indianapolis TV station WTHR Friday that the Athletics Department will be "very aggressively seeking private funds" to finance the basketball coaching change.\nGreenspan's athletic budget, which was passed by trustees this fall, ended eight straight years of budget deficits for the Athletics Department.\nThe plan eliminated the $30 per year student athletics fee but cut 500 student seats at Assembly Hall and raised the price of student basketball tickets by $4 per game.\nThe new budget plan also relies on revenue from IU home football games to increase.