UL athletic budget gets $254k cut

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • January 9, 2009

As UL faces a mid-year budget cut of $4.3 million to help cover the state’s deficit, Ragin’ Cajuns athletics will be feeling a slight pinch in the spring semester.

UL athletics saw its state-appropriated budget of $5.5 million trimmed by $254,000. That’s a cut of approximately 4.62 percent – the same made to the university.

University president Joseph Savoie met Wednesday with director of athletics David Walker to discuss the cuts.

"What I’m going to attempt to do is look at this in a reverse way and make sure we don’t impact certain things," Walker said. "We don’t want to impact travel and those things that directly affect our student-athletes.

"And we’re trying not to impact scholarships and personnel, which would have a larger impact on us."

Walker said UL athletics, which has a proposed 2008-09 budget of just more than $10 million, would make most of the needed cuts by delaying maintenance for its facilities set for the spring. That included, among other things, the addition of ceiling fans to the Leon Moncla Indoor Practice Facility and general clean up and pressure washing of the administrative building.

"Those were things we planned to do in the spring," Walker said. "But if we have to put it off, that’s not going to be a major impact."

Walker said UL fans should thank the recent generosity of private donors for helping athletics make it through a difficult time.

"We’re in a good position right now because we’ve had some donors who have been generous to us in the past few years," Walker said. "We will be able to supplement the cuts with monies from our private donor funds.

"That should help lessen any impact on our student-athletes."

Walker said UL’s athletics department has filled all available positions for coaches and administrative personnel. He was not aware of any hiring freezes in athletics, saying such decisions are up to Savoie.

The cuts were needed as Louisiana universities face mandated budget reductions of $55 million to help cover the state’s $341 million deficit.

The original cut for higher education was $109 million, which would have been $7.3 million for UL. The university was saved from bigger cuts this year.

But it might be a different story if the state’s deficit for the next fiscal year grows as expected.

"I think the wise thing for us to do is to anticipate additional cuts in the future," Walker said. "Everything you’re reading says there will likely be additional cuts in the upcoming year. All we can do is hope things get better and that higher education is not cut more.

"No matter what happens, we’re going to maintain the philosophy to make sure there is a minimum impact on our student-athletes."