How do the costs add up?

Truman's campus-wide budget cuts reached the athletic department less than two months ago when the men's golf program was discontinued. Future athletic scholarships in men's tennis, men's swimming, baseball and wrestling also will be discontinued. The athletes with current scholarships in those sports will continue to receive their athletic scholarships as long as they continue to be part of their respective team.

Athletic Director Jerry Wollmering said the athletic department has a goal of cutting $100,000. He said the total could not be met in one year, but with the phasing out of scholarships, the department should meet its goal within a few years.

"Overall, no matter what the amount is, we had to cut somewhere," Wollmering said. "[Men's golf] operating cost, their coaching, we cut a sport where a coach didn't lose their full-time livelihood. Obviously they cost the least, but they have the least amount of athletes. Even though we have 12 on the squad, only five or six travel. If you looked at costs per athlete that travels, there's a different analysis."

Costs Per Athlete

The men's golf team had total expenses of $29,082 during the 2009-10 school year when the most recent data was released. Those expenses included athletic student aid, team travel, equipment, uniforms and supplies, fundraising, marketing and promotions, direct facilities, maintenance and rental and coaching salaries, benefits and bonuses. The men's golf team had 12 members on its team, giving the men's golf team a $2,423.50 per athlete expense. It is the second-lowest per athlete expense of any sport at Truman. The lowest is the women's golf team, with per athlete expenses of $2,418.71.

Four Bulldogs sports had per athlete expenses of more than $10,000 in 2009-10 — softball, volleyball, women's basketball and men's basketball. Men's basketball is the highest, at $28,305 per player. The football team has the highest total expenses at $1,099,457.

The main reason the men's basketball per athlete expense is high is due to athletic student aid. Last year, 12 of the 13 basketball players received athletic student aid in the amount of $152,585, or $12,715.42 per player.

"Typically, the main expenses are in three areas — transportation, meals and lodging costs," Wollmering said. "Some sports you can tack

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on entry fees like golf. Pretty much every tournament we go to in golf has an entry fee. Softball, usually like a nonconference tournament, there's an entry fee."

The Budget

Budget Director Dave Rector said each sport has a yearly budget. It is up to the coaches to decide how to use the budgeted money.

"In a certain way, it's historical costs I guess," Rector said. "The reason that one sport gets more than another sport has to do with the historical cost. They don't tend to dramatically change year to year. If you had $30,000 last year, that's where you start. Is it going to go up $1,000 or down $1,000? It might even change a little bit based on schedule. If you have more out-of-town games one year, the budget could be different."

Wollmering said each sport must decide where it can spend its money. He said if the team just bought new uniforms or had a large expense, they more than likely would not be able to take a long travel trip.

Last year, the softball team took an eight-game trip to Kissimmee, Fla. The trip cost $18,810 — $8,700 for airfare, $3,580 for a bus in Florida, $750 entry fee, $5,300 for meals and lodging and $480 for transportation to St. Louis. The team had 20 participants last season, not including head coach Erin Brown and assistant coach Cathy Monroe. The team has played games in Texas in two out of the last five seasons.

Wollmering said nonconference games could be cheap, such as going to Quincy, Ill., or they could be more expensive, such as going to Florida or Texas.

"In softball, they can get 12 games in during a week versus basketball where you can only play six nonconference games," Wollmering said. "We wouldn't go to Florida for just one game. Typically, nonconference ends up costing us more than conference. In conference games we kind of know that they are in our normal competitive region."

Wollmering said meals are dealt with differently by each sport. Generally, smaller sports are given money to use at their leisure and larger sports have a set meal.

"For example, football with its large numbers doesn't pass out meal money," Wollmering said. "They have organized meals — a team dinner on Friday night, a pregame meal on Saturday and postgame pizza. One of the coaches will be in charge of what is paid. Some of the other sports may give you $20 for the day and you're on your own after that."

Equipment and supplies are part of each team's budget. Wollmering said the budget mainly takes care of the necessities. Wollmering said for swimming, the budget covers swim caps and warm ups. The athletes are in charge of buying their own swimsuits.

"A lot of times when teams want an extra warm up or things like that, the athlete has to pay for it on their own," Wollmering said. "Of course, they then get to keep it. For example, in golf we don't buy golfers their golf clubs because it's their clubs. We have programs where they can get special deals on stuff that they can't get personally. Tennis players buy their own rackets and we'll buy them shoes and stuff like that."

A Normal Road Trip

Last year, the baseball team played a two-day, four-game series at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The total cost of the trip was $2,982 — $495 for transportation, $1,192 for lodging and $1,295 for meals. The baseball team had 33 members last season.  

Wollmering said the team used the Department of Public Safety minibuses for the trip. Before the trip to Omaha, the baseball team traveled to Marion, Ill., and had to use a charter bus. He said transportation for that trip cost $2,900. Most sports, especially larger teams, can't use DPS minibuses.