AD's game-day column (Oct. 10)
10/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | General
Homecoming continues to be a special time of year for all of us who graduated from The University of Montana. I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to return to my alma mater to work in the Department of Athletics after an 18-year career in the journalism field, and it is truly an honor to serve as the school???s Director of Athletics.
The Athletic Department
This is my fifth year as Director of Athletics and 12th year back at the University. It has been an extraordinary experience, for the support we receive is unmatched for a school playing at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and our alums and friends of the University are the reason. Annually, we produce more than $9 million in private support from sources such as ticket sales (about $5 million), donations (approximately $2.3 million), corporate sponsorships ($650,000) and student fees ($1 million). The remaining $4 million of our $12.8 million budget comes from institutional/state dollars. That percentage far exceeds the goal of 50% private/50% institutional set for an FCS school. Appalachian State might be close to the 50/50 mark. Others are not so fortunate at our level of play, as fewer than 10 of the 325 Division 1 schools nationally can pay their bills without any form of institutional financial support. (Schools such as Ohio State, Texas, Tennessee, etc., are the exceptions.) Eight million in institutional support per school is needed to offset the high costs associated with running an athletic program. In other words, we cannot exist without our valued alumni, friends and supporters; therefore from all of us at UM Athletics, we thank you for all the wonderful support you provide for us in so many ways.
UM Athletic Staff
UM Athletics is unique in many ways, and one is the number of alums who work full-time in the department. That???s probably why Homecoming is so special to all of us. Aside from myself, our staff consists of the following UM graduates:
??? Administrators ??? Christie Anderson, Jean Gee, Steve Hackney, Chuck Maes, Dennis Murphy and Greg Sundberg
??? Head Coaches ??? Bobby Hauck, Kris Nord, Robin Selvig and Wayne Tinkle
??? Assistant Coaches ??? Adam Bork, Tom Hauck and Kraig Paulson
??? Staff ??? Drew Babcock, Harry Clark, Patty Dwight, Dave Griffin, Janie Haight, Aaron Heiner, Karla Judge, Stacey Kahler, Colleen McChesney, Brynn Molloy, Brent Reser, Rob Stack, Darr Tucknott, Renee Valley and J.C. Weida.
Football Tickets
Each year the question arises as to how many tickets are available to alums for the Homecoming football game. With a stadium capacity of 25,230, it doesn???t leave many extras for alums to purchase.?? (The stadium capacity can be higher if all tickets are purchased in the 47 private suites which comes with eight tickets and eight additional tickets for purchase.) We have 19,200 season ticket holders and 4,000 tickets set aside for the student allotment and an additional 2,000 seats that go to various groups such as 500 for UM Alumni Association to sell, 500 for the football program, 150 for visiting team via contract, 150 for recruiting, 100 for corporate contracts, 100 for UM Athletics donors, 100 for M Club members and 400 single seats throughout the stadium.
While this is positive for our department???s financial well-being, we can understand it can be frustrating for those alums who are only able to get back to Missoula once each year for Homecoming. Thus, the UM Alumni Association is continuing to review ways to keep alums on campus and enjoy all the Homecoming festivities. Included in this is a viewing of the game in the East Auxiliary Gym (EAG) in the Adams Center each year. This is becoming more and more popular.
I wish everyone a happy Homecoming and hope you have a wonderful time in Missoula this weekend.
