By Burton Speakman

It comes as little surprise that coaches are hesitant to discuss sports funding. All coaches think their program is underfunded. The topic is a landmine for coaches and administration within the athletic department at BGSU. Most have worked years achieve the positions they are in and don’t want to do anything to jeopardize it.

Title IX, a federal education amendment passed in 1972, states that universities must provide equality in men’s and women’s sports.

"One of the biggest problems we face [at BGSU] is not enough resources for the athletic programs," said Paul Krebs, the athletic director at the university.

Krebs has been at his current position for more than two years. He said more money needs to go towards successful women’s sports. "In my mind, close enough attention was not paid to them (smaller sports) before I got here," he said.

"We are one of the few schools nationally that offer football, men’s basketball and ice hockey," said Ray Schneider, an assistant professor in sports management.

Hockey and football are two of the most expensive sports in which to participate for the university because of the number of players involved, the travel costs, and equipment used in the sport.

Krebs acknowledged that the university must be responsive to improving equitable funding between the sexes.

He wants to accomplish this without significantly cutting opportunities for male athletes. This is a difficult task since football, at most universities, makes up 55 percent of the budget.

The ultimate goal of the university, Krebs said, "is that all our athletes are treated the same."

This could be accomplished by having comparable budgets between similar sports, he said.

But that doesn’t mean each team’s budgets will be exactly the same each year, Krebs said. For example, the men’s team may get new uniforms one year and the women’s team on a different year. Instead, comparable budgets mean the average budgets for these programs would be comparable over a period of years.

The department has accomplished much in Krebs’ short tenure as athletic director. When he took the job, the university had a five-year equity plan for the department. In less than three years, all of the goals were reached.

One of these goals of the five-year equity plan included raising the salaries of women’s team coaches. According to the NCAA, combined men’s team coaches are paid $1.2 million more than women’s team coaches.

The purpose for the five-year plan is in NCAA evidence that major spending differences occur between men’s and women’s sports.

Men’s sports spend about $400,000 more per year than women’s sports. In recruiting, women get less than half of what men’s sports receive.

Nationally, large differences exist between spending for men’s and women’s athletics. The typical Division 1-A athletic program spends $31,000 for a male athlete to participate, while spending $18,000 for each female athlete per year. Based on this, in most athletic departments, female athletes are worth $13,000 less per year than male athletes.

Most schools have about 100 fewer female athletes than male athlete competing each year. Nationally, women athletes receive 600,000 fewer scholarships per year.

BGSU has more male athletes than female athletes on scholarship, Krebs said. All female sports teams are allowed to offer the full number of scholarships allowed by the NCAA. They have no restrictions on what areas they can recruit from and whether the scholarships are in state or out-of-state, Krebs said. Women’s sports are only limited in recruiting by their budget.

Krebs stated the same is not true for all male’s sports. Some teams, such as men’s golf, soccer and track, cannot offer the full number of scholarships allowed. The recruiting is restrained because the number of out-of-state scholarships is limited.

On average, men’s sports represent 48 percent of the annual athletic budget while women’s sports receive 20 percent of the funds, according to NCAA reports.

Many blame football for the large disparity in spending between men and women’s sports.

While NCAA averages show that football takes up about 55 percent of many university expenditures for men’s sports, it also generates two-thirds of all the revenue from all of men’s sports combined.

A small portion of the athletic budget comes from donations by alumni or others, Schneider said. The person donating the money has the opportunity to specify what sport the money goes to. They can also choose whether their donation is used for a specific project.

"Donations account for about five percent of the budget," said Krebs.

Usually donations just go to the scholarship fund for a particular team. This saves the university from spending general funds on those sports and allows the scholarship money to go for other uses within the department.

Many factors cause differences in spending between the sexes. Sports such as football and hockey cost more money for travel, equipment and facilities, Schneider said. The hockey team has a team from Alaska in their league and must travel there every other year. The MAC also just added Central Florida to the league in football, which will increase their budget in the years they must travel to Florida.

Title IX does not control how much money goes to each sport. Instead, it deals with participation rates being comparative to enrollment rates at the university.

If a university is made up of 53 percent males and 47 percent females, then 47 percent of athletes participating in sports should be female. At the very least, the university has to show consistent improvement towards equality.

The university has few options to fulfill this standard. One solution is to cut men’s sports by awarding less scholarships and having smaller rosters.

"The athletic department has taken the position to offer as many opportunities (to participate) as possible, sometimes spreading themselves too thin," Schneider said.

Squad sizes are also used at BGSU to increase participation in women’s sports, Krebs said. This usually means limiting the number of men who can participate in a sport, he said. At the same time, female team coaches are required to keep a minimum number of players on their teams.

"This is because of the culture of men’s athletics," Krebs said. "Men have a tradition of walking on to programs. They were willing to sit on the bench and not play just to be a part of the team. Meanwhile, women have traditionally been less willing to do this. Though that is changing through the generations."

Squad sizes encourage women to walk-on, though few actually do, he said. They also limit the traditionally large amount of male walk-on athletes.

Athletic officials at BGSU acknowledge there are inequities within the athletic program. They are working to fix these problems. Several coaches were contacts repeatedly, but were unwilling to talk about funding. This shows how sensitive the subject of budgets is in college athletics.

The university is taking an active approach towards making things even for female athletes instead of simply making "consistent improvement."

Spring 2002 Contents

Laptop Mania

My BGSU Web Portal

Remembering the Silent Victims

Defending Yourself

Heeding the Call

Arthur Andersen and BGSU

Extra Income

Buying Better Eye$ight

Random Humor

Experimenting with Stereotypes

Women vs. Men

Stressed Out

Interracial Dating