Could Budget Cuts Cost U Of Nevada D-I Status?

The Nevada athletic department is bracing for a $1.5 million cut in state-appropriated funds, a move Wolf Pack athletic director Cary Groth said would “change the face of the department.”

 The cuts, which are part of a proposed $59 million university-wide budget reduction at UNR, could threaten Nevada’s ability to maintain Division I status or force the department to cut another sport. The reduction is contingent on the state legislature’s final higher education budget and board of regents deliberations.

“I would say maintaining the integrity of a Division I program is our main focus right now,” Groth said. “We’re right on the line of a few things as is.”

In the past three years, the Wolf Pack’s state-appropriated funds have decreased from $7.054 million to an estimated $3.828 million next fiscal year.

The potential $1.5 million cut would amount to a 7.5 percent reduction in the department’s roughly $20 million annual budget.

The move comes at a bad time for a department that ran an $800,000 budget shortfall last fiscal year and will move to the more competitive Mountain West Conference in 2012-13.

“A $59 million cut for the entire university is pretty daunting,” Groth said. “For our individual department, it’s difficult to take when you’re dealing with a budget that barely makes ends meet as is. This will change the face of the department. We’re already pretty bare-boned as is. It’s hard to know where that money is going to come from.”

Groth said the department will have to resort to cuts among staffing and reductions in scholarships. But the Wolf Pack can’t cut too many scholarships.

To maintain D-I status, Groth said Nevada has to award at least $4 million annually in scholarships. The Pack currently spends $4.6 million, and Groth said she doesn’t want to get too close to the $4 million minimum.

“We’re pretty close to the edge as is and scholarships fluctuate every year so if you get too close you put yourself in a potentially bad situation,” Groth said.

Nevada also could cut a sport — it cut men’s and women’s skiing following the 2009-10 season — but those options are also limited.

The Wolf Pack is already at the D-I minimum of six men’s sports and only one above the minimum of eight women’s sports. So, Nevada could only cut one sport — and it would have to be a women’s program — but Groth said that would be a last resort and could pose issues from a Title IX standpoint.

“That’s a worst-case scenario and it brings a lot of risk along with it,” Groth said.

A couple of recent moves have helped improve the Wolf Pack’s financial situation.

UNR president Milton Glick decided last October to increase the amount of money the Wolf Pack gets in per-credit students fees from $2 per credit to $4.15 per credit. That is expected to raise an additional $200,000 annually.

Additionally, the disbanding of the ski program will save Nevada about $400,000 annually. However, Groth said the athletic department must maintain the scholarships of student-athletes in the ski programs until they have graduated, so Nevada won’t see those full savings for a couple of years.

Even with those savings, Groth said the Wolf Pack will have to make some tough decisions on how to balance the budget given the expected $1.5 million loss.

“It could really damage some of our programs,” Groth said.

While the cuts are only projections at this moment, Groth said the department is moving forward with the assumption that they will be minus $1.5 million in state funds in 2011-12.

“We have to prepare as if it is going to happen,” Groth said. “We were originally told that it would be a half a million dollar cut, but when the figures came out it was $1.5 million. We’re hoping it doesn’t come to that, but we have to prepare as if it will be.”