MEMORANDUM

 

TO:                   The Board of Regents

FROM:              Laurie Neils, Director of Budget and Accounting

DATE:               October 29, 2001

SUBJECT:        Report from Task Force on Athletic Reporting

In July 2001, the Commissioner of Higher Education appointed a Task Force on Athletic Reporting.  The charges to the Task Force members from the Commissioner were:

  • Design a Board of Regents Athletic Report that provides a common format and definitions of data requirements so that all the Montana University System campuses athletic reports are comparable and consistent;
  •  Simplify the reporting requirements so that a single report or a single, consistent body of informational requirements may be used for the Board of Regents report, NCAA reports, the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act Report, and other external reports;
  • Provide a sample format of the report to the Board of Regents at its November 2001 meeting;
  • Provide the initial completed reports from each campus and a consolidated report for the system to the Board of Regents at its January 2002 meeting.

The Task Force on Athletic Reporting met on August 30, 2001.  The members of the Task Force who met were:

Trudy Collins – MSU Billings
Carrie Molitor – MSU Northern
Maggie Peterson – Montana Tech UM
Craig Roloff – MSU Bozeman
Sylvia Weisenburger – The UM Missoula
Tom Yahraes – The UM Western

The attached report shell shows the revised reporting format the Task Force developed.  Because this format is similar to a report that is sent to the NCAA, the Task Force representative were confident the campuses would be able to complete the form without too much extra effort.  The revised format is intended to satisfy the first two requirements.

The cover page is the basic schedule to report athletic revenues and expenditures.  A column is provided for the three largest sports of football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball.  All other sports will be combined into the fourth column.  The second schedule provides the detail by “Other Sports” in the same format as the cover schedule.  The third schedule provides the detail for “Non-Program Specific” revenues and expenditures.  Items such as athletic directors, athletic training, and other centralized athletic expenditures will be identified on this schedule and will equal the total of “Non-Program Specific” on the cover schedule.  For each of the first three schedules I have listed some typical revenue and expenditures, but the campuses will identify any other categories that are significant.  The “Budgeted FY2002” column is for information only so that you are able to compare the total actual expenditures for the completed previous fiscal year with the total budgeted expenditures in the current year.

The fourth schedule, “Schedule of Salaries Expenses,” is where the campuses will detail all positions paid from athletics.  The position title, FTE, salary, and funding source will be identified.

The fifth schedule will show the number of athletes participating by sport and by gender. We will ask the campuses to use the same definitions of participation that they do for the NCAA Equity in Athletics report in order to provide consistency in reporting and avoid duplication in counting athletes.  Also on the fifth schedule the campuses will provide statistics related to graduation rates for the campus population as a whole and then a comparison percentage for athletes.

The sixth schedule shows the financial aid that was awarded to student athletes.  This schedule shows the number of waivers awarded, by resident and nonresident waivers, and other financial aid awarded on the basis of a student’s athletic status.

The final schedule is an athletic conference comparative table.  This table will show for each campus:

  • The athletic conference in which they participate;
  • The division level;
  • The number of required sports;
  • The NCAA sport and scholarship equivalencies.

The Task Force believes that this report will accomplish the objectives set out by the Commissioner.  If you have questions or suggestions for ways to improve the report please do not hesitate in calling me before the meeting.  Several of the Task Force participants will be available at the meeting to respond to any questions you may have