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The university’s strategic plan for athletics is intended to make UW more competitive in Division I-A. |
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UW officials in May unveiled a comprehensive strategic plan to enhance the competitiveness of the school’s intercollegiate athletics program within the NCAA Division I-A Mountain West Conference. The Strategic Plan for Intercollegiate Athletics is the most recent effort to thoughtfully chart UW’s future. Since 1999, UW trustees have adopted an Academic Plan, a Support Services Plan, and a Capital Facilities Plan. During his 1997 installation address, UW President Philip L. Dubois said, “I do not believe that quality academic programs and quality athletic programs are mutually exclusive. If operated properly, intercollegiate athletics help recruit new students who otherwise would not have considered us. They enhance our reputation across the country, creating opportunities that would not have existed. We should strive, therefore, to be more competitive, to rebuild our fan base, and to raise private funds to build the new student athlete center.” The university did, indeed, raise $9.5 million in private funds to build the Rochelle Athletics Center, but the goal of making UW athletics more competitive has been decidedly mixed. The men’s basketball program has been successful under Coach Steve McClain and, after some false starts, the women’s volleyball team has blossomed under Coach Jim Barnes. Cindy Fisher took the women’s basketball team to the National Invitational Tournament, winning a tourney game for the first time in Wyoming history. But, football, the flagship sport for most NCAA Division I-A schools, has fallen on hard times, winning only five games in three years. An NCAA analysis of spending on intercollegiate athletics by Division I schools found that UW seriously lags behind its competitors in overall spending and on football in particular. Following is a table that shows mean spending, nationwide:
The numbers are even worse when looking at the Mountain West Conference, where UW spending overall on athletics is $4.8 million below – and spending on football is $2.6 million below – the conference average.
With Colorado State University and San Diego State University each needing to add at least one sport to meet NCAA Division I rules, UW will fall even farther behind the conference average if nothing is done to right UW’s ship.
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by Jay Fromkin