From The AD's Desk - Climbing Higher
September 06, 2019 12:30 PM | Football, General
Mountaineer Nation:Last August, we unveiled an ambitious $100 million capital campaign we named "Climbing Higher."
It is aggressive and unprecedented in its scope and detail in the history of intercollegiate athletics at West Virginia University. Since then, we've hired a new football coach in Neal Brown, and some of the pieces to this comprehensive campaign are beginning to take shape.
The $41 million Milan Puskar Center renovation project was recently approved by the West Virginia University Board of Governors and construction crews are currently onsite doing the initial utility work in preparation for the bigger project that lies ahead.
Since I became director of athletics, we have already completed improvements to the team room, medical, and training table areas in the Puskar Center. Now it's time to turn our attention to the locker room, player position rooms and lounge area, office suites for the football staff and the Hall of Traditions, which will be completely redone to make it more accessible to the general public in the front of the facility.
When this next phase is completed, the upgrades will total $55 million.
Introducing new @WVUfootball renderings for the #ClimbingHigher Facilities Master Plan! Learn more and climb higher with us at https://t.co/iEY2BEd0TR ?? pic.twitter.com/urs4QVWtpB
— Mountaineer Athletic Club (@WVU_MAC) September 5, 2019
As I go around the state and beyond to discuss with fans and supporters these important upgrades to our football program, I am getting a general impression from those I interact with that the funding for this project is already completed.
Furthermore, the question I get asked is why does athletics need philanthropic support right now when it realized an $11 million profit last year, as reported this summer in USA Today?
While I'm proud to say we run a fiscally responsible athletic department with a balanced budget, that report did not provide a full snapshot of our department finances.
Similar to other Power 5 institutions, which were reported to have made huge profits last year, the article did not take into account key factors such as debt service and the way in which gift revenue is reported, which distorts the department's true cash picture. Additionally, the category listed as "allocated monies" are normally items such as student fees and are already included in total gross revenue. So when you factor those areas into the equation, our revenues equaled our expenditures.
Many athletic departments share the same frustration with these types of articles on athletic budgeting. While the figures submitted in the forms utilized for their reports are correct, they do not provide a complete financial picture for athletic departments.
Regarding the Puskar Center renovation project, we have taken an aggressive approach on this because I do not believe it is prudent to put this vital project on hold for a year or two until more funding is in place.
That's because it could potentially mean a three-to-four-year impact from a recruiting standpoint and in this day and age, I firmly believe each year you do not build something it puts you further behind your competitors.
We hired Neal Brown to build something special here. He's fully invested in West Virginia University and Mountaineer football, and as director of athletics I am fully invested in Neal and his vision for the future, and it's my job to make sure we give him a solid foundation for success.
That means providing any resources we have at our disposal to make sure he can build a lasting program of which we can all be proud and that's why the Climbing Higher campaign remains a top priority for this department.
Mountaineers are always up to the challenge and I know we are all up for this challenge as well.
That's why we're Climbing Higher!
Let's Go Mountaineers!
Note: You can learn more about the Climbing Higher Campaign by clicking HERE
Nate Gabriel | April 8
Wednesday, April 08
Coach Rod West | April 8
Wednesday, April 08
Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 8
Wednesday, April 08
Ryan Ward | April 6
Monday, April 06
