Gene Smith: Buckeyes Will Not Cut Programs, Coaches Salaries at this Time
Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith addressed the media on a teleconference Thursday with an exhausted, yet patient tone. The last two weeks have taken a fairly significant turn for the worse as far as the prospects of a fall sports season are concerned. Thankfully, Smith did deliver some good news in the midst of all the chaos the last 48 hours.
Smith said, at this time, the Buckeyes are not considering cutting any varsity programs or reducing coaches salaries. The news doesn't fall on deaf ears, after Stanford slashed 11 Olympic sport programs earlier this week. The only school in the country that sponsors more varsity sports than Stanford is The Ohio State University (37 total - 18 men's sports and 21 women's programs).
That's the best piece of news Ohio State has given fans this week. OSU was forced to halt voluntary workouts on Wednesday and Smith expressed significant doubt on Thursday on a football season being played. The Big Ten also cancelled all non-conference games for all fall sports programs across the league on Thursday.
That certainly doesn't mean the Buckeyes haven't been impacted financially by the pandemic.
"We have to do some work on our budget," Smith said. "We've got a lot of work to do as we ultimately make some decisions."
While 2020 budgetary information is not publicly available yet, according to an article written by Joey Kauffman of The Columbus Dispatch back in February, Ohio State Athletics brought in more than $210 million in 2019. There is a discrepancy in total expenses among two reports, but an internal management report stated the department ran at a $624,359 deficit last year - not a $10 million deficit as was being reported elsewhere.
“There’s no way I would be sitting here with 36 sports if we had a $10 million deficit,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told Kauffman. “It just wouldn’t happen. I’d be dropping sports and ticket prices would go up.”
While that information was presented back in February before the coronavirus brought college athletics to a screeching halt, it's still fair to point out that even one of the highest-revenue-generating schools in the country has to deal with a tight budget. It's fair to assume that the department, like any other business, has had to cut back spending.
The current situation is certainly fluid. Revenue might never be harder to project than it is now, without knowing what to expect from a football season. But at a time where good news is hard to find, it was reassuring for Buckeye fans to hear that the department is planning to move forward with all of its programs at this time.
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