Athletic director Don Kaverman tries to make coaches, athletes

and Toby Carrig ~ Southeast Missourian

Southeast Missouri State University athletic director Don Kaverman has a simple wish.

The man who counts every dollar that comes into the school's athletic program and keeps a close eye on where each is spent wants to find a way to bring more dollars into the coffers.

"We've got to identify new sources of revenue," Kaverman said. "The most important thing, we need a new, predictable, long-range revenue source. Where it will come from, I don't know."

Kaverman's budget request for 2004-05, with nearly $6 million of spending on athletics, was approved Wednesday by the board of regents as part of the school's $115.9 million operations budget. He expects the amount of spending to increase by another $450,000 or so when funds are donated by boosters and raised by coaches.

In the 2002-03 academic year, for instance -- the most recent for which figures are available for comparison -- Southeast's athletic expenses of little more than $6.1 million ranked second in the 11-member Ohio Valley Conference. That total, which includes every expense associated with the department in addition to the specific sports, utilized $440,000 of revenues from fundraising.

But was it enough? Southeast ranked last in the OVC in operating expenses for men's basketball and football. Included in that category is recruiting, in which men's basketball was last and football ranked seventh out of nine schools, according to a report by Collegiate Financial Services of Wisconsin based on information submitted each October by colleges and universities to the U.S. Department of Education.

What does that mean? While Southeast ranked near the top of the conference in its spending on women's sports and while it pays several of its longtime coaches better than any other school in the conference, the football and men's basketball programs are behind the pack when it comes to travel, equipment and ability to recruit.

Based on the 2002-03 academic year, Southeast's total women's sports expenditures -- which includes salaries, benefits, scholarships and operating costs -- led the OVC at $1.99 million while men's sports came in seventh at $2.59 million, with football and basketball largely accounting for that low ranking. Southeast also had another $1.66 million in unallocated expenses, a figure that was the most in the conference.

Southeast's total football expenses of $1.27 million ranked seventh in the OVC -- which has only nine football teams -- while the school's total basketball expenses of $692,750 ranked fifth.

Taking that one step further, in pure operating expenses -- which Kaverman considers to be perhaps the most important financial aspect for coaches and primarily consists of recruiting, team travel and equipment, including uniforms -- Southeast's men ranked ninth in the OVC at $329,869, again largely because of football and basketball, while the women were second at $299,873.

Whereas every other Southeast program ranked at least sixth in the OVC in operating expenses, football and basketball were both last. Football's $97,798 was well off the league average of $188,971 while basketball's $67,451 lagged behind the conference average of $94,008 and was behind even Southeast's women's basketball figure of $80,218.

Football's operating expenses ranked No. 111 among 121 Division I-AA programs, while basketball's operating expenses were almost at the bottom among all Division I members, ranking No. 321 out of 326.

"If you ask a coach what their primary needs are, and they'll tell you operating expenses," Kaverman said.

Financial equity

Kaverman said the problem is that there is simply not enough money to go around. He acknowledged that -- because Southeast has been one of the OVC's groundbreaking institutions in complying with Title IX regulations related to gender equity -- the school's women's programs might appear to be getting a financial boost compared to league members who haven't yet fully funded all of their women's programs.

"It's not only because it's federal law, but it's the right thing to do," Kaverman said. "I don't know what other institutions are doing, but female athletes deserve as much right to be successful as anybody else."

Kaverman also said that Southeast has emphasized as much financial equity as possible across the board regarding its athletic programs, whereas some similar schools focus on the so-called major sports of football and men's basketball while relegating the so-called minor sports to after-thought status.

"I realize the sports that have the big community following, but that doesn't affect how we fund our programs," Kaverman said. "I feel like the other athletes deserve the same experience as the football and basketball players.

"Some schools our size put so much money into their major sports and are terrible in everything else. We've always tried to be very balanced. Our women have won seven of the last 10 OVC all-sports trophies, and we're proud of that."

Asked whether Southeast is using its athletics funding in the best way possible, Kaverman said, "I think they're being allocated fairly. I just don't think we have enough, that's the problem. We can't get into a situation where we're siphoning money off our non-revenue revenue sports into our revenue sports. There are some people who think we should, but not only is it not fair, it's probably a violation of federal laws."

As for the situation football and men's basketball are in, Kaverman said, "We'd love to be able to allocate more money to them, but we need more revenue to do that. I can't take it from other sports. And let's face it, those sports are not exactly rolling in money. They may be in the middle of the pack or above in the OVC, but compared to some other conferences and schools we compete against, we're way down there."

Financial bind

Southeast's athletic department, along with virtually the entire campus, has felt the strain of budget cuts. Approximately $350,000 has been sliced from athletics since 2002, with an additional $70,000 scheduled to be cut by 2006, including the elimination of men's golf.

Coupled with recently declining men's basketball attendance and the continued rising cost of running an athletic program, Kaverman said it makes for a dilemma.

"You look at the cuts we've taken the last three, four years ... it's not just us, it's across the board, university-wise," Kaverman said. "But it's tough. Costs are rising and we can't keep pace with the rising costs of running programs. That's why it's so important to identify new sources of revenue."

While men's basketball has had three straight struggling seasons after four consecutive winning campaigns and attendance has declined significantly -- Kaverman estimates that, between diminished basketball ticket sales and donations, it cost the overall athletic department about $100,000 in potential revenue this past season -- that sport remains the school's only one providing any positive cash flow.

For the 2002-03 school year, men's basketball -- which almost annually leads the OVC in attendance -- showed a profit of $165,749. Football lost $302,105 while the other potential money-maker, women's basketball, lost $101,565. Overall, Southeast's total athletic expenses showed a collective deficit of only $7,724, which seems to indicate that Kaverman has been able to balance the books fairly well. The school's report to the U.S. Department of Education lists $3.7 million in unallocated revenue. That amount includes money from the university and student fees, which are not assigned to one sport.

Kaverman credits the athletic department's ability to keep its head relatively above water overall amid tight financial times to a variety of factors, including the booster club that brings in several hundred thousand dollars of donations annually; the football and men's basketball teams going on the road to play higher-profile opponents for a guaranteed sum of money; and individual sports raising their own funds.

Southeast football will once again hit the road to play a pair of Division I-A teams this fall, with games at Bowling Green and Central Michigan bringing in about $245,000. Men's basketball, which has in recent years played two "guarantee" games, will this coming season play three as contests at St. Louis University, Western Kentucky and Bradley will bring in roughly $125,000.

Some of that guaranteed money from those five games is applied to the travel expense and the majority is placed in Southeast's general athletic department revenue.

Even the women's basketball team got into the act with another trip to the University of Oklahoma that allowed Kaverman to put an additional $10,000 into that program's operating budget for 2004-05 -- the only major scheduled increase from last year in any sport's operating budgets.

"The smaller guarantees that individual sports programs receive are basically used to underwrite the cost of the trip," Kaverman said.

Financial boost

As for the boosters, Kaverman said, "I think the community has been extremely supportive over the years."

Booster club president Jim Limbaugh said his organization has provided the athletic department an average of about $300,000 in cash over the years and has probably matched that total through in-kind contributions that help hold the department's spending down.

But Limbaugh said he's not sure how much more that figure can increase.

"I think the opportunities for future growth on that source has leveled off," Limbaugh said. "Given the funding level, our coaches have done a phenomenal job, but they can't do that forever. In order for us to do that effectively, we'll have to find different revenue sources.

"I think Don Kaverman has done a terrific job in managing a bad situation from a financial perspective."

Limbaugh, a former Southeast football player and assistant football coach, is particularly sensitive to football and men's basketball -- the school's two highest profile sports that attract by far the most interest and attendance. But Limbaugh does not advocate taking money from other sports.

"Coaches have to be able to operate on a level playing field. It's not fair if they don't," Liimbaugh said. "And it's terrible that the football and basketball teams have to play games just to balance the budget.

"But I wouldn't nor would the booster club advocate reducing funding from any sport to give it to football or basketball. It's creating additional funds for all sports, that's our ultimate goal."

Kaverman lauded Southeast's coaches for raising nearly $150,000 over the past year, which goes toward their specific operating expenses. Without that revenue, he said, most of the sports would not be able to function even close to a respectable financial level.

"Coaches know going into the year that what I'm giving them to operate on will not be sufficient," Kaverman said. "They all know they have to raise money, and it's not for extra stuff."

While all of Southeast's coaches have been able to raise significant funds, Mark Hogan was almost solely responsible for baseball's operating expenses of $106,781 in 2002-03 ranking first in the OVC by far. His actual operating budget allocated by the university for that fiscal year was about $42,000, which would have placed it at the bottom of the league.

"In the last two, three years, Mark Hogan has raised more money than he has been allocated," Kaverman said. "But you have to hand it to all our coaches. If they hadn't been able to raise money, I don't know where we'd be."

Student fees

Conversely, the athletic department has not generated nearly as much revenue from student activity fees as most similar institutions. In 2002-03, Southeast garnered $288,979 from student fees compared to the OVC average of $632,432 and the national Division I-AA average of $1.44 million.

"You have to look at our peers and where our peers are able to produce revenue," Limbaugh said. "Look at student fees in the OVC and compare us nationally."

Said Rich Eichorst, a Southeast basketball player in the 1950s who serves on the booster club's executive board: "Our student fees have got to be increased. We need to be comparable to other schools. If you are comparable with money and spend it wisely, you can compete.

"If we don't turn this money thing around, we won't be able to compete. Sports is what sells the university, especially football and basketball. That's what people look at. You have to be competitive."

Kaverman said student fees for athletics at Southeast are $1.38 per credit hour and work out to about $37 per full-time student. While Southeast was one of just five conference schools charging a student fee in 2002-03, it is now the lowest fee of eight schools that charge. Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State instituted fees this past year, while Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee-Martin are increasing fees.

Kaverman said he has had conversations with student leaders about the fees at Southeast.

"You always hear stuff," said Dane Huxel, the new Student Government president, "but there hasn't been anything formal. We would take into consideration what he has to say."

Southeast president Dr. Ken Dobbins, while sympathetic to the boosters' concerns, said it's not fair to simply look at how much money is being provided from student fees but to consider how much overall funding the institution awards the athletic department.

In the category of institutional support, Southeast was listed as having provided a little less than $3.7 million in 2002-03. That figure ranked third in the OVC -- the league average was $2.6 million -- and was also above the national Division I-AA average of $3.5 million.

"It's just a matter of how you classify, whether it's student fees or whether it comes out of the operational budget," said Dobbins. "You have to look at the total budget and not specific areas. When you add the two together, I think we rank very high."

The two figures total nearly $4 million compared to the OVC average of about $3.2 million, although the national Division I-AA average is nearly $5 million.

"I think we all have to understand that both academic and non-academic issues have to be reviewed, and we've had some cuts in both areas," Dobbins said. "Obviously we'd like to have more money for all programs, academic and non-academic.

"I think we've done a good job of balancing the two. I think our coaches have done an excellent job, and our boosters have been so supportive."

Financial future

The addition of two new OVC schools this past year -- Jacksonville State and Samford, both in Alabama -- has added about $50,000 annually to Southeast's overall operating expenses because of additional travel, Kaverman said.

But, added Kaverman, who took over at Southeast in February1999, "Since I've been here we have not increased the operating expenses. We have cut it some."

Kaverman emphasized that he in no way places any blame on Dobbins, who Kaverman said is in an even tougher situation trying to balance the entire university budget.

"Dr. Dobbins has been as supportive of our program as possible since I've been here," Kaverman said. "I think he's done everything he can for us."

With what has gone on financially within the athletic department over the past few years, Kaverman said, "Quite frankly, I'm amazed we've been able to hang in as well as we have. We've lost some support from the university and from ticket sales in basketball, but our boosters have held in there.

"We're holding our own. Some sports may have slipped a little bit, but you're not going to be on top at this level all the time. I think our coaches have done a great job."

With the resources for state universities not expected to get much better for the foreseeable future, and with programs like Southeast's having limited revenue opportunities, Kaverman said unless some major donors step forward, the school's athletic department will have to continue its delicate balancing act -- which in turn means Southeast's two highest profile sports will likely continue to suffer financially.

"It takes somebody in the community that has a passion for what you're doing. It's going to take somebody to step up, but it's not just about resources, it's about matching that with the passion," Kaverman said. "Athletics is not unlike anything else. You get what you pay for. If you aren't willing to make that investment, you'll see a dropoff in performance."

Added Limbaugh: "It's going to come down to, what's the priority for the entire university? And at the end of the day, the board of regents is going to have to decide what role athletics plays in the overall university setting.

"We, as boosters, are passionate about it and feel it plays a very important role."