Last year, the Board of Trustees voted to increase the athletic fee from $8.90 to $10.07 per credit hour. If trustees approve the University Student Fee Committee’s recommendation, it will go up by another $0.84 to a total of $10.91 per credit hour.That number is smaller than what Athletic Director Bill Hayes wanted. He requested a $2.00 increase, for a total of $12.07 per credit hour. According to him, that rate would generate $3.2 million dollars.
Before hiking the athletic fee any higher, the trustees need to ask some tough questions. First, knowing that fees went up last year, why did the Athletic Department still amass a $3.1 million deficit in addition to the $2.6 million deficit it already had? Right now, the department is a staggering $5.7 million in the red.
It looks as if Hayes is depending on students for a bailout.
That leads to a second important question: Does Hayes’ athletic budget projection for 2009-2010 consider the likelihood that most students will take smaller course loads next year?
Most of FAMU’s students are in the lower division (less than 60 credit hours). Since 1998, these students have steadily decreased their course loads in response to the rising cost of college. Pell Grant increases have done nothing to reverse that trend.
Smaller course loads will directly affect athletic fee revenue.
If Hayes bases his 2009-2010 budget on the assumption that student course loads are going to remain steady, then that could set the department up for another big deficit.
The trustees have a responsibility to make sure that the athletic budget is realistic.
Athletic deficit nearly doubles
FAMU’s course load cliff
I want Bill Hayes gone. He is not doing our programs any justice and has no new ideas about fundraising. He wants to make students bear the brunt of athletics instead of earning the money he makes. FAMU has just finished building a brand new athletic facility. Most schools understand selling naming rights. There are 9000 seats in the facility. Provide alumni and others the opportunity to put their name on the back og a chair on a brass plate for $200 to be payable over 2 years. Most working people can come up with $200 in 2 years. This activity alone would raise $1.8M. Next ask alumni like Pam Oliver, Denise Hendricks, Keith Clinkscales if they are interested in putting their name on the press room. The facility has locker rooms and other rooms that could carry the name of alumni for a decent price. We have the capacity to retire a significant portion of our debt, just through naming rights. However, that would require too much work of the Athletic Director and the VP of University Relations.
ReplyDeleteCoppin State University is building a new athletic facility. They have plans in place to do just that. Guess who is their VP University Relations? None other than Dr. Thomas Haynes, a rattler who wanted to come back to FAMU and raise dollars. Instead we hire a novice with no vision or idea about how to raise real dollars.
Every body is getting fat off of FAMU dollars. Dr. Ammons needs to cut the base salary of these people and incentivize their work. Maybe they would work or leave if they had to earn their keep.
I agree totally with 11:42. The administration is pulling down way too much money compared to academics. Academics is just an irritant to the FAMU admin.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go that far 1:38. But you are right on the money(pun intended). Its also tell tale how much Mr. Hayes knows because the opening of a new facility should have been the greatest news opportunity to leverage whatever the department needed. Calling Dr. Haynes... calling Billy Joe.
ReplyDeleteBilly Joe??? He's one of the reasons we're in this mess. I agree that Bill Hayes must go. Even his picture puts me in a lazy mood.
ReplyDeleteDON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT HAYES. HAYES WAS PUT THERE BY AMMONS. THEREFORE YOUR COMPLAINTS NEED TO GO TO AMMONS.MAKE AMMONS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HIRING OF HAYES.AMMONS NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 1:38. "Academics is just an irritant." The piss-poor salaries that many -- not all, mind you -- make is simply atrocious. Hayes must "have something" on Ammons for him (Ammons) to still be hanging onto him when he sees that the man is not worth a fraction of the salary he makes. I agree, also, with
ReplyDelete11:42. The ideas, plus a few more, all sound doable. We simply need someone with vision. Unfortunately, that person is not Bill Hayes. The only vision he has is knowing the direction to the bank to cash his $$.
^^ oops! "... piss-poor salaries that some professors ..."
ReplyDeletenext time the job of AD is available, some of you need to apply...LOL
ReplyDeleteTrue and some of us need to be in the room at least.
ReplyDeleteIf hayes stop listening to mickey clayton and bob mcbee maybe he could actually run the department. hayes listens to them hands down and hes looking like a big joke. take bob mcbee and mickey salary. mickey gives him wrong information on purpose and hayes falls for it no matter how many times hes clearly seen how mickey has made him look like an A$s not sure why all those people either got fired or quit from the athletic department and there isnt any money.
ReplyDeleteMarlynn Jones, Albert Clayton Smith Joe Durrant, Dwanyne Robinson, Robert Raines, Clifton Huff, Corretta Ellison, Anthony Ellison and a host of other empoyees who either left or got fired. huu mmmm
and the strange thing is if there isnt any money you have new people popping up all over athletics with no experience in the work.
bob mcbee need to get out of compliance and academics and just do marketing not sure if hes raising any money. hayes let him spend what ever he wants out of coaches foundation and the regular budet when the department cant even pay for day to day operation items and team travel. he knows NOTHING about compliance, academics or athletics and how it should run. its crazy how you think because hes white hes right. o my goodness athletics is trying to get off probation in january 2010 and with him running the compliance department there may not be an athletic department.
hayes need to stop looking over the people in his department who are well capable of doing these jobs and keep hiring these goof ups and is his son-in-law still there?
hayes should have been on the road raising money...
thanks to micheal smith for saving the day.......
Mr. "Coach" Hayes isnt as bad as you all think. he made some bad choices but hes human. give this man a chance.
ReplyDeletefrom the article on the front post:
ReplyDeleteBefore hiking the athletic fee any higher, the trustees need to ask some tough questions. First, knowing that fees went up last year, why did the Athletic Department still amass a $3.1 million deficit in addition to the $2.6 million deficit it already had? Right now, the department is a staggering $5.7 million in the red.
wow....
hayes we need answers!!!!!
the university need to hold a press conference with you and your new partner mcbee so you can answer the questions to the public
wow you are right 10:05 am.
ReplyDeletewhat's up with that.
no hayes does not need a chance to stay. well he does need a chance to explain.
ReplyDeleteand at the ribbon cutting ceremony why was coach harris standing there smiling like he had a 30 - 0 record... the man record was 9-20
and recruiting the guys is fine he just cant coach them.
explain explain explain.
i agree hold a press conference open to the public in lee hall so you will enough seats so he can answer questions.
I can tell you that the answer this is administration will give is "we are in a budget crisis". That may be true, however you don't see any of his top people stepping up to the plate and offering a sacrifice. This is going to be one of his downfalls. While Dr. Ammons may be a good man, he is not being given the truism of the infrastructure. Please sir, open your eyes and ears before it's too late.
ReplyDeleteRe:
ReplyDeleteFAMU has just finished building a brand new athletic facility. Most schools understand selling naming rights. There are 9000 seats in the facility. Provide alumni and others the opportunity to put their name on the back og a chair on a brass plate for $200 to be payable over 2 years. Most working people can come up with $200 in 2 years. This activity alone would raise $1.8M.
11:42 ...
Although I TOTALLY agree with you on this ...
$200.00 is the kinda loot you ask for when naming BRICKS!
To get your name(s) INSIDE the Arena should be a minimum of $500.00!
Scale the seats in the Arena from $500.00 to as much as $5,000.00+ for those Orange Seats surrounding the Court ... and you will have most of this so called "Deficit" completely eliminated.
Couple it with a full-fledged Season Ticket Campaign - so that folks can have the opportunity to insure that nobody else's butt BUT there's is in a seat with their names on it - and you've created a new added ANNUAL Revenue Stream that will get us in the Black in 2-3 years tops.
"It's Time For FAMU To $tart Thinking - And ACTING - BIG!"
Correction:
ReplyDeletethere's = theirs
("Mom would kill me if she saw that!")
10:05 am
ReplyDeleteMarlynn Jones, Albert Clayton Smith Joe Durrant, Dwanyne Robinson, Robert Raines, Clifton Huff, Corretta Ellison, Anthony Ellison and a host of other empoyees who either left or got fired. huu mmmm
Thats about $600,000 in Salaries
+ the $500,000 he said he raised in booster $.
and the Mickey braggs on his 258,000.
Okay thats $1,358,000.00
then the revenue from athletic fee
okay somethings not adding up
a window was open and all the money flew out - wow
yes someone need to explain
If ALL alums or anyone who ever attended famu or just a fan gave just $2.00 or more to the athletic foundation to help without any questions
ReplyDelete$1.00 to the University Foundation and
$1.00 to the Athletics Foundation
that would be a good start
dont keep yapping about it put a dollar into the upbringing of this great institution
Just wanted to let everyone know that what 4/13/2009 9:36am wrote is not correct as to who the building is for...THE NEW TEACHING GYM IS NOT AND WAS NOT BUILT FOR ATHLETICS. That building belongs to Department of Education (HPER). The university runs that facility.
ReplyDelete