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Morris: Paydays more than cash for small schools
Posted on 09.19.08
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THERE IS NO doubting a smile will cross Richard Johnson’s face soon when the check for $230,000 from the South Carolina athletics department rolls into the Wofford College bank account.
That is a significant chunk of change for any athletics department but particularly one whose budget for football is around $2.7 million. Still, Johnson, Wofford’s athletics director, says Saturday’s game at South Carolina is not all about the money.
“This game generates a lot of excitement among our constituents,” Johnson says. “So many people in the Columbia area are huge Gamecock fans as well as Wofford fans. I can’t tell you the number of people I will run into who are Wofford undergrads, went to Carolina law school or the Medical School of South Carolina or got their graduate degree at South Carolina. So, it’s kind of a dual loyalty, if you will.”
Wofford has scheduled alumni gatherings, pregame tailgaiting for friends of the college and various other social events surrounding the game. The same sort of activities will fly at Clemson on Saturday among boosters of South Carolina State.
While USC and Clemson have recently decided to keep games against Football Championship Subdivision schools in state — alternating opponents among The Citadel, Furman, South Carolina State and Wofford — the major beneficiary of those games appears to be the small schools.
The guarantee games came about in 2006 when the NCAA expanded the regular season to 12 games and ruled that a win against an FBS school would count toward bowl eligibility.
USC and Clemson are virtually assured of getting a victory in these games, moving their won-loss record one step closer to bowl eligibility. For the smaller schools, it is a matter of looking beyond the guaranteed loss and guaranteed paycheck.
It used to be that The Citadel would take the paycheck and upgrade the lights at its football stadium. S.C. State might have earmarked a paycheck for improved weight-room facilities. In the early ‘80s, Wofford once bought a van with its paycheck from Clemson.
These days, the Furmans and The Citadels include the guarantee-game paychecks in their annual operating budget. Then those schools go about using the games to help recruiting and fundraising.
Les Robinson, the former athletics director at The Citadel, uses a game at Texas A&M in 2006 to illustrate how a small school can use a guarantee game to benefit the entire athletics department.
Robinson says The Citadel recruits nationwide, and has done particularly well in the Southwest. Those high school prospects in Texas who grew up longing to play for Texas A&M, Texas or Texas Tech might never get the chance. So, Robinson says, Citadel coach Kevin Higgins promised many Texas prospects during recruiting that they would at least get to play against Texas A&M.
It was a similar recruiting tactic used by Robinson when he was The Citadel’s basketball coach. He sold recruits on the idea of playing against North Carolina and N.C. State every season in the North-South Doubleheaders in Charlotte.
Even though The Citadel lost the 2006 game in College Station, Texas, Robinson also used the game to entertain prominent alums, one of whom later made a $2.2 million donation toward the renovation of Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston.
“The other part of this, and maybe the most important thing for The Citadel, is we get to take our show on road,” Robinson says. “It helps recruiting, helps alumni giving. It’s called taking your show on the road.”
The Citadel’s road show even merited a five-page article in the Los Angeles Times in 2005. That kind of advertising for the football program and the school would have cost The Citadel thousands of dollars.
Other instate schools operate under the same line of thinking. Wofford has lined up games at South Florida in 2009 and Ohio University in 2010. The Terriers will go to Georgia Tech in 2014.
Like the others, Wofford would prefer to remain in state to play a big-name school, and the Terriers are scheduled to play at Clemson in 2011 and again at USC in 2012. The Citadel plays at USC in 2009, Furman is at USC in 2010 and S.C. State is at USC in 2011.
Since the team receiving a guarantee covers its own travel expenses, playing a game against Clemson and USC can be a huge money saver — or bigger money maker.
If you want to know the difference between the budgets and spending habits of a Wofford vs. a USC, consider Saturday’s game. USC will spend between $12,000 and $15,000 to house its team in a Columbia hotel Friday evening. Wofford, meanwhile, will save that much money by traveling from Spartanburg on Saturday morning and returning immediately after the game.
Listen to Morris Tuesday from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM.
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