Clemson, other SC colleges could use state planes for recruiting
Air Dabo soon could be cleared officially for takeoff again.
Clemson University’s head football coach, along with other athletics officials at S.C. colleges, would be able to use state planes for recruiting athletes if lawmakers reverse a ban put in place in 2013.
The full House budget-writing panel will consider reversing that ban this week. If the proposal to revoke the ban passes, schools would have to reimburse the state for using one of its planes on recruiting trips with money that does not come from state taxpayers – tuition money or athletics donations, for example.
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The ban was put in place after Clemson University, where Dabo Swinney is head football coach, came under fire for using state-owned planes more than the governor from October 2011 through September 2012.
Despite the recruiting ban, Clemson still uses the planes heavily, compared to other state agencies. The only agency with more travel “legs” on state-owned planes in 2014 was the Governor’s Office, according to flight log data.
Post-recruiting ban, Clemson athletics officials flying on state planes cite “ official Clemson University business” on flight logs, according to state records.
For example, Swinney flew on a state plane from Clemson to Rock Hill in April 2014 and to Darlington in July 2014. And, last month, Clemson athletics director Dan Radakovich flew on a state plane from Clemson to Charleston and on to Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Clemson officials did not answer questions Tuesday about the university’s use of state planes, operated by the state Aeronautics Commission.
Advocates of ending the recruiting trip ban say money the Aeronautics Commission is reimbursed by Clemson – or any other state agency – helps pay for fixed costs, such as insurance and maintenance, that the state has to pay even if the planes are sitting on the ground.
The Aeronautics Commission wants the planes flown, said state Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, who chairs a budget subcommittee that recommended dropping the ban.
“As long as the athletic departments are paying to use it, then I don’t see how that’s hurting anybody,” said Limehouse, a graduate of the University of South Carolina.
But state Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Berkeley, also a USC graduate, said using state planes for recruiting is a “colossal waste of money. ”
The use of state planes long has been scrutinized.
In 2012, for example, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley had to repay the state nearly $10,000 for using the planes to attend bill signings and news conferences – uses not deemed legitimate state business by legislators.
Afterward, Haley, a Clemson grad, said the state should sell the planes. But lawmakers moved to keep the planes but ban their use for recruiting athletes.
‘Fighting for ... the plane’
The University of South Carolina uses its own two planes for university business.
The school uses one plane primarily to raise money and pursue research grants. The university also owns a plane that is used by its athletics department and paid for primarily by the Gamecock Club, said spokesman Wes Hickman.
Like USC, Clemson owned two planes until 2011, when it sold one of its aircraft and began to rely more on state-owned planes, saying, in part, the move saved money.
But, when universities use the state planes for recruiting, conflicts can arise, Merrill said Tuesday. Other state agencies, such as the job-recruiting Commerce Department, could need a plane, but it could be unavailable because it is being used on a recruiting trip.
“Everybody is fighting for time on the plane,” Merrill said.
‘A win-win’
Merrill told the House budget panel Tuesday that allowing state-owned planes to be used to recruit high school athletes is an awful statement about priorities.
In addition, time is wasted when the state planes, based in Columbia, fly with no passengers to pick up coaches in Clemson and then, at the end of the trip, drop the coaches off in Clemson and return, without any passengers, to Columbia.
House Ways and Means chairman Brian White, R-Anderson, decided Tuesday to postpone dropping the ban on recruiting trips. White said he wanted the proposal rewritten to make it clear that costs incurred when a plane has no passengers, but is flying to or from a university, will be reimbursed.
The Aeronautics Commission has no problem with the use of state-owned planes on recruiting trips. “It really doesn’t do airplanes any good for them to sit,” said executive director James Stephens.
Using the state planes for recruiting also benefits the state as a whole, said commission chairman Delphin Gantt
Recruiting top athletes to S.C. schools can enhance sports programs, increase revenues for schools, and help hire quality professors and staff. “It’s just a win-win situation for all of us,” Gantt said.
This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Clemson, other SC colleges could use state planes for recruiting."