Considering that wealth and prestige are not new concepts at Fairfield, would it be surprising that the university has the wealthiest institutional and athletic budgets amongst Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) schools?
According to the 2001-2002 Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA), Fairfield spent $8,241,475 on athletics last year. Loyola College came the closest to Fairfield in the MAAC, spending $6,705,730 for its athletic programs.
However, Fairfield also had the highest overall institutional budget in the MAAC, after spending $114,330,637 last year.
Director of Athletics Eugene Doris said there are a number of factors why Fairfield has the highest expenditures in the MAAC.
“Aside from Loyola, our athletic scholarship actual dollars spent per capita [athlete] is higher than any other MAAC institution,” Doris said. “We may have less scholarships in number than some of the MAAC institutions, but we are spending more money.”
Doris gave the example that Iona College may offer a scholarship for approximately $27,000 compared to one that Fairfield would provide for approximately $35,000.
In essence, Iona can provide five scholarships for approximately $135,000, whereas it would cost Fairfield $140,000 to give out four scholarships.
“As a result, in the athletic scholarship area we may in fact be spending less of a percentage of the total institutional financial aid budget than the athletic department at Iona, but it would appear to be considerably more,” Doris said. “If we were to match the lowest dollar amount in the MAAC we would become significantly uncompetitive.”
Although Fairfield has the highest athletic budget in terms of dollars spent on its athletic programs, the university only spends 7.2 percent of its total institutional budget for intercollegiate athletics.
In comparison, Siena spends 10.8 percent of its overall institutional budget of approximately $55,600,000 on its 18 varsity sports teams. Last year’s athletic budget at Siena was $6,005,875.
Loyola, which only provides 15 varsity sports compared to Fairfield’s 21 teams, spent 6.3 percent of its overall budget of $106,000,000 last year. Loyola had the second highest athletic budget in the MAAC of $6,705,730.
“Our cost of doing business is higher than most institutions because of higher facility and maintenance costs,” said Doris, referring to Fairfield’s up-keep of its athletic facilities deriving from the athletic budget, whereas other schools provide an individual budget for facilities.
The EADA report is mandated by the NCAA for all universities that participate in intercollegiate athletics illustrates the number of athletes, a breakdown of head coaches and assistant coaches’ salaries, operating expenditures, recruiting expenditures and overall revenues and expenses by the athletic department.
The operating expenses, or game day expenses, were most surprising to several of Fairfield’s head coaches. The operating expenses include team travel, lodging and meals, uniforms and equipment and officials.
“This is a lot higher than I’ve ever seen it. I need to go ask … because I need to know that. The number you showed me is a lot different than the number that was given me,” said men’s basketball head coach Tim O’Toole, referring to the team’s $177,208 budget last year, the highest of the athletic programs.
“I mean what are my guys getting that’s different? I don’t understand why our [men’s basketball] is so high in comparison to the other teams. I think there are certain costs that go hand-in-hand in what we do that are different from other sports,” O’Toole said. “There’s no question that our budget is tight. There are some costs that are absolutely fixed … there’s nothing you can do. I think every coach would say that about their budget.”
The men’s basketball team had the most expenses of Fairfield’s 21 athletic programs last year, while the women’s basketball team had the second highest with $143,025 in expenses.
Doris said the basketball teams are likely the most equitable in the conference in terms of coaches’ salaries and budget.
According to women’s basketball head coach Dianne Nolan, the higher expenses for basketball is attributable to the lengthy schedule that stretches over two semesters, extensive traveling due to scheduling and the costly amount of paying officials.
“It’s not surprising how high our expenses are. What you have to understand is that our players are here over Thanksgiving break and intersession break. We have to pay for them to stay here and for their meals,” Nolan said. “I don’t think … I know we don’t receive any more than any other team.”
Despite the budget crunch that has caused Fairfield to disband two of its highly expensive programs, hockey and football, this year, head coaching salaries went up from the 2000-2001 EADA report
According to the 2001-2002 EADA, Fairfield’s average coaching salary was $53,249 per full-time employee for men’s teams and $43,527 per full-time employee for women’s teams.
These salaries increased from $48,263 per full-time employee for men’s teams and $40,995 per full time employee for women’s teams in the 2000-2001 EADA report.
“It was an institutional decision through a study by the Human Resources Department that looked at what we were paying and what the outside market was paying,” Doris said. “The institution evaluated all positions on campus. Technical increases to certain positions were made over a two-year period after all administrative parts on campus were looked at.”
Head coaching salaries are broken down similar to the tier divisions that divide Fairfield’s athletic programs. Doris said the tiers are broken down by number of scholarships awarded to a particular program and the priority the university looks at an individual program.
Men’s and women’s basketball comprise the Tier I division, while men’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball are considered Tier II sports.
The biggest difference between the two tiers is that both men’s and women’s basketball receive the maximum amount the NCAA allows for athletically related aid, whereas Tier II sports receive a significant amount of scholarship funds, but not the maximum.
For programs like the men’s lacrosse team, which has nine scholarships, and competes in the Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL), not having the NCAA limit of scholarships is often a major factor on the field.
“We’re competing against Top 20 programs that have the NCAA limit of 12.6 scholarships,” said men’s lacrosse head coach Ted Spencer. “We don’t pretend that we have the same resources that Ohio State has … of course its budget is going to be higher.”
Many of the athletic programs turn to fundraising and the Lyons-Lademan fund, which allows alumni and others to contribute to programs of their choice.
Traditionally, the men’s lacrosse team raises approximately $40,000 from fundraising activities.
According to head coach Len Roberto, the men’s golf team, a Tier IV program, raised approximately $1,500 in donations last year that increased its actual budget of $10,500 to $12,322.
The NCAA also provides Fairfield’s athletic department with support by allocating $13,827 for every team, starting with the 14th program.
The university has received a check for $110,616 each year for eight of its sports that goes directly into athletic budget, according to Doris.
“We’ve proven that we can compete with those teams [with higher budgets]. But can we do it consistently? It’s hard to compete against that,” Spencer said. “They have more resources, but we do well for ourselves.”
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