Tech athletics $1.4 million in the red in 2008

By Mannix Porterfield

CHARLESTON — A revolving door in directors, too much travel and poor performances on the field — all that and more added to a $1.4 million deficit last year by the athletic department at WVU Tech, an audit revealed Thursday.

In its findings, the Performance Evaluation and Research Division said Tech bolted from the NCAA and West Virginia Conference with “poor foresight” and hooked up with the NAIA and Mid-South Conference in hopes of enhancing its programs, but the report suggested the move was taken to avoid sanctions in its former leagues.

Whatever the motive, the red ink began to flow.

In fact, the report showed, the athletic department is a “significant financial drain” on the school.

Since that 2006 decision to switch conferences, the auditor’s report showed, Tech’s travel expenses alone have soared 240 percent.

One recommendation in the report is that WVU Tech return to its old haunts in the NCAA and WVC. It had been in the latter league 81 years before taking a hike.

Getting back there would need the WVC’s approval and require a $10,000 entrance fee. Last spring, the school paid $1,000 of that. Rejoining the NCAA would cost $25,000.

The auditor found the athletic department a “significant part” of Tech’s overall money ills.

In his response, Provost Scott Hurst assured the Joint Committees on Government Organization and Operations that the Montgomery school began taking positive steps well in advance of the formal report.

“I can assure you that Tech (now) has persons in place that will prevent these types of events from occurring,” he said.

“Tech is currently managing and administering the athletic department in an appropriate manner to bring maximum benefit to the student athletes, the general student body and to the greater community.”

While some obligations linger from past decisions, Hurst promised a turnaround.

“I contend that Tech is well on its way to the formation of an athletic department that will be a model for other similar size institutions,” he vowed.

Hurst agreed to return in a year to apprise lawmakers of progress achieved.

Instability was one fault the report uncovered — 14 athletic directors since 1989, including four over a 15-month span from 2002 to 2004.

In the past 20 years, the school has gone through 11 head football coaches, the report noted.

One problem reported by a former athletic director was the failure to monitor spending, the report revealed.

In the 2005-06 school year, the athletic department lost $366,605. The next two years, the deficits were $1,191,749 and $1,417,105, respectively.

In fiscal 2008, the school paid $20,318 in travel money to lasso student athletes, and 76 percent of that went to the soccer and tennis programs.

That figure embraced trips to Venezuela, England, Scotland, Romania, Serbia and Canada.

The report zeroed in on Tech’s miserable football record, noting it had an aggregate won-loss record of 2-31 for three seasons ending in 2008 and only one winning season since 1989.

“This type of performance and the inability to retain a head coach creates concern to what benefit the football team is to the institution,” the audit said.

The report said 39 of the 138 football players were ineligible to play but continued to practice in the 2007 season.

An earlier study found that 24.5 percent of the student athletes left WVU Tech in their first or second semester.

The report also faulted Tech for issuing housing waivers to 50 percent of students in residence halls, compared to 4 percent at such institutions as West Virginia and Marshall universities.

Discounted housing denied the school some $1.5 million in a two-year period.

Hurst told Delegate Margaret Staggers, D-Fayette, that enrollment is up about 20, but one must consider it no longer can count students at the community and technical college.

And he dismissed a claim that the dean of enrollment was pressured to resign.

“We have not forced anyone from the institution,” he said.

What’s more, Father Time has caught up with Martin Field, where the turf is now about a decade old. To make repairs and replace lights would cost about $2 million.

Hurst assured Delegate Mike Ross, D-Marion, that money is being invested into the engineering program and that many new athletes arriving on campus are future engineers.

Ross agreed athletics play a vital role in colleges, “but it’s just as important to turn out very good engineers, too.”

“I can assure you we are,” Hurst replied. “Our athletes are also are engineers now.”