A&T's athletics programs lack financial support

[AggieWJM]

GREENSBORO -- George Small left the N.C. A&T football program involuntarily Monday with impressive facilities, a relatively recent MEAC title and one thought-provoking caveat.

Asked to speculate on his successor, Small said, "I don't know. It could be anybody. But until the program is supported, it won't matter."

By "supported," Small meant financially. In terms of financial support for athletics, A&T is where it has been for several years in the MEAC -- in the vast monetary middle, but outspent considerably by the top programs. It is not certain if or when the Aggies' relative position in the league will change.

In the past five years, the university has constructed a field house with locker room, weight and training facilities. And in August of this year, a $1 million scoreboard with video replay went up in front of the Bryan Center.

But the program's full financial standing among its conference foes remains unclear, as Florida A&M, Delaware State and South Carolina State have ignored repeated requests from the News & Record to disclose basic but telling financial data concerning their football programs. The MEAC's private football-playing institutions -- Howard, Hampton and Bethune-Cookman -- are not required to answer Freedom of Information Act inquiries.

Some facts have become apparent:

• The A&T football program's recruiting budget stands at $40,000 in the current fiscal year. Former coach Bill Hayes, fired after the 2002 season, said the last budget he had was $18,000.

Dee Todd, who left a position as assistant commissioner of the ACC to become A&T's athletics director June 15, acknowledged that at least three MEAC schools have more than twice the current recruiting budget available to the Aggies. At least two of those programs are believed to spend more than $100,000 in that area.

• This academic year, A&T will spend 55 percent of the money it could conceivably spend on football scholarships under NCAA rules. While the maximum is predicated on the implausible assumption that all players would be from out of state, the 55 percent figure is almost certainly near the bottom of the MEAC.

Norfolk State (70 percent of the theoretical maximum) and Morgan State (74 percent), two programs known to have smaller recruiting budgets than A&T, both fund scholarships at considerably higher levels.

• Only this year were all A&T coaches fully liberated from teaching a class in addition to their football duties. The number of coaches in the classroom has gradually declined to zero, but Small's contract, signed Jan. 14, 2003, said he could be required to teach.

Small said he took the job when A&T's athletics director at the time, Charles Davis, suggested improvements were likely in the near future.

"That's something I addressed with the AD coming in. 'What are the plans?' " Small said. "They had these grand plans laid out. I said, 'Let's go for it.' "

Small said he spoke with Davis again in the spring of 2004.

"He stated it would be a vast improvement within a year," Small said. "But he didn't last that long."

Davis was fired Nov. 12, 2004, for unspecified reasons. Attempts to reach him Monday were unsuccessful.

Todd said a study of A&T's budget she undertook three years ago as a consultant to Winston-Salem State in its impending move from Division II to I-AA, placed the Aggies in the middle of the MEAC. But she said finances should not necessarily compromise a coach's ability to win, a point she will make to candidates during the search process.

"We'll try to come up with an understanding that says, 'This is where we are. Are you able to work with that?' " Todd said.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or [e-mail]

[bluehaze]

Pot shot as he's walking out the door. SMH

[dj98]

(But she said finances should not necessarily compromise a coach's ability to win, a point she will make to candidates during the search process.)

Thank You,

Dee Todd is right money does not equal wins, great coaching does. Bill Hayes had 18,000 to work with, Smalls had a 40,000 to work with almost twice as much and he still could not put together two winning seasons. Money should not be a reason the team is losing. Smalls needs to stop telling everyone that money is the reason he's gone. If Smalls was so worrried about money he should have given up some of his six figure salary towards the program, but all that is too late now.

[DOOMS]

I don't read it that way. It's so piecemeal it's ridiculous. I'm willing to bet money those quotes were taken over a period of years. It's been proven on this site in the past that Mr. Daniels has taken years-old quotes and inserted them into articles as if they were new.

George Small simply isn't the kind of man to take potshots as he's walking out the door.

As far as "support" (by Mr. Daniels' definition anyway), I would expect all the private schools to spend more money on their programs, because they are private. I would expect the Florida programs to spend more money on their programs because of travel costs. I would bet anybody that we spend more than SC State does, and the last time I checked they were second in the conference and just missed the playoffs by a whisker.

If I was forced to guess what two schools supposedly spend over $100,000 in recruiting, I would say Del State (because they have to) and Hampton (because they can).

I get the feeling that Mr. Daniels was rather fond of Coach Small. That's why the article reads as a "poor George" kind of piece. What Mr. Daniels fails to realize is that he is not helping Coach Small's case. If anything, Mr. Daniels appears to have not done much research.

He left out the fact that the Aggie Club gives a ton more money than any other hbcu booster club. A ton. Whether it was because he was unaware, didn't care, or felt it didn't go with the spirit of the article is beyond me.

I guess we'll be reading a good week's worth of crap comprised of ancient quotes and innacurrate theories.