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Athletics director fights for funding, Division I status
Despite hard economic times, athletic director DeCarolis remains hopeful in face of potential program cuts, says alumni, fundraising will support threatened Division I athletics
Craig Bidiman
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: News
When times get tough, the tough get to work.
OSU's athletic director, Bob DeCarolis, released his latest A.D. Report last week in which he outlined the current status of the athletic department.
In the report, DeCarolis discussed how the department, much like the rest of the university, is in dire need of new donor support to enhance the growth of its programs.
DeCarolis outlined the introduction of the "Expanding Beaver Nation - 12,000 Strong by 2012" campaign, in which the department is encouraging current donors to begin recruiting new donors, in hopes of doubling donor base by 2012.
Currently, the department has roughly 6,700 donors, which is eighth in the Pac-10, up 230 donors from last year.
DeCarolis is confident the department can reach its goal.
"It's totally doable. Is it reasonable? Yeah, I think it is reasonable," DeCarolis said. "People thought working on the stadium was unreasonable, and it was a very lofty goal, but we accomplished that. I have faith we can meet our next goal as well."
The campaign is still in its early stages, as the department has representatives testing message statements and is gauging how to present this message to current donors so they can effectively enlist new donors.
"As I stated in the report, if you want to simplify it, we are asking each donor to try and recruit just one more person to donate," DeCarolis said. "If this were to happen, we would in fact go over our goal."
Some may wonder how this issue has presented itself. DeCarolis pointed to the fact that tuition goes up every year, and that covering room and board for those students as well as meeting payroll needs of the department makes it difficult to come out even.
"Staying even is very difficult with low revenue production," he said. "Selling more tickets is key.
"Our football team continues to grow as one of the best programs we've had in the history of the school, but donors continue to plateau. This is what we are trying to correct."
OSU's athletic director, Bob DeCarolis, released his latest A.D. Report last week in which he outlined the current status of the athletic department.
In the report, DeCarolis discussed how the department, much like the rest of the university, is in dire need of new donor support to enhance the growth of its programs.
DeCarolis outlined the introduction of the "Expanding Beaver Nation - 12,000 Strong by 2012" campaign, in which the department is encouraging current donors to begin recruiting new donors, in hopes of doubling donor base by 2012.
Currently, the department has roughly 6,700 donors, which is eighth in the Pac-10, up 230 donors from last year.
DeCarolis is confident the department can reach its goal.
"It's totally doable. Is it reasonable? Yeah, I think it is reasonable," DeCarolis said. "People thought working on the stadium was unreasonable, and it was a very lofty goal, but we accomplished that. I have faith we can meet our next goal as well."
The campaign is still in its early stages, as the department has representatives testing message statements and is gauging how to present this message to current donors so they can effectively enlist new donors.
"As I stated in the report, if you want to simplify it, we are asking each donor to try and recruit just one more person to donate," DeCarolis said. "If this were to happen, we would in fact go over our goal."
Some may wonder how this issue has presented itself. DeCarolis pointed to the fact that tuition goes up every year, and that covering room and board for those students as well as meeting payroll needs of the department makes it difficult to come out even.
"Staying even is very difficult with low revenue production," he said. "Selling more tickets is key.
"Our football team continues to grow as one of the best programs we've had in the history of the school, but donors continue to plateau. This is what we are trying to correct."
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