Here is a brief summary of the previous post.
The most recent Athletics Director at UL-Monroe resigned on Monday. John Hartwell’s background was incredibly solid.
He had been the AD at Utah State and Troy before coming to ULM in early 2023.
I recently watched a video in which John Hartwell explained that his previous work experience had come in the financial services industry. That certainly seems prudent if you are managing a college athletics budget worth millions of dollars.
ULM has suffered for years at the bottom of the FBS (large college) rung when it comes to the school’s annual athletics budget. Nearly $21 million sounds like a lot of money until you learn that some schools in the Sunbelt Conference have double or almost triple that amount available.
A goal of the Athletics Director is to improve school spirit with students and alumni with a successful athletics program while doing so in a fiscally-responsible manner.
How do you compete with schools with more financial resources than yours?
A 2024 report provided a list of the athletics budget for the 134 FBS (major college) and several FCS (small college) universities.
Surprisingly, UL-Monroe’s athletics budget was ranked #154. Yes, several smaller division FCS schools had a larger athletics budget than the Warhawks from northeast Louisiana.
The top group of financial giants contained some very familiar names.
Ohio State was #1 with $251 million followed by #2 Texas ($239 mm), #3 Alabama ($214 mm), #4 Michigan ($210 mm), #5 Georgia ($203 mm), #6 LSU ($199 mm), #7 Texas A&M ($193 mm), #8 Florida ($190 mm), #9 Penn State ($181 mm), and #10 Oklahoma at $177 million.
To no one’s surprise, the past six years of football champions have come from that group. Georgia (twice), Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama and LSU have all won the national title since 2019.
The smallest (?) athletics budget schools to win the national championship in football this century have been Clemson (#17 this year with $158 million), Florida State (#15 at $161 mm), and Auburn (#11 with $174 mm).
USC (2003) and Miami (2001) are both private schools. Their annual athletics spending was not included in the survey, but they are likely within the top 20 teams in terms of revenue.
The Idaho Vandals tried the big time. They went back to the FCS a few years ago
Idaho is well known for its potatoes.
The University of Idaho’s athletics department went from small potatoes (FCS) into the big potato league (FBS) starting in 1996.
The Vandals football team had been extremely successful in the smaller school FCS group. The Big Sky Conference Idaho Vandals qualified for the FCS playoffs in 11 of the 12 years prior to making the big leap into the larger school FBS group.
The University of Idaho was admitted to the Big West Conference in 1996. The Vandals then went southeast to join to the Sunbelt Conference (2001-2004).
They returned west to enter the Western Athletics Conference (2005-2012).
Idaho had one “homeless” independent season in 2013 and made a second appearance in the Sunbelt Conference from 2014-2017.
The Vandals racked-up some impressive frequent flyer points during those years!
This 21-year experiment of playing within the top football division brought the Vandals only five winning seasons and three minor bowl game appearances.
Idaho’s Vandals posted five other FBS football seasons with just one win on their record.
Idaho opted out of the major college football ranks in 2018 and returned the FCS Big Sky Conference.
University President Chuck Staben said at the time, “Our relevance will be complemented by our football program, not defined by it.”
On the positive side, the Big Sky Conference Idaho Vandals have now posted three straight winning football seasons and participated in the FCS Playoffs in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Let’s review the University of Idaho’s athletics budget for 2024/2025
The Moscow, Idaho-based school has about 11,000 students. The University of Idaho’s most recent athletics budget was made available to the public. It provided a very detailed look at the revenues and expenses for the school’s sports programs as the Vandals compete at the FCS level in the Big Sky Conference.
The most recent year’s $18 million annual athletics budget shows about 25% going toward administration and general expenses.
The Athletics administration received $1.3 million (7.2% of the total budget).
General expenses consumed $3.4 million last year (18.3% of the total)
Those expenses included the training room ($1 million) with the equipment room second at $335,000. Other general expenses at Idaho (in declining order of cost) were video support, media relations, strength & conditioning, the ticket office, and marketing/promotions.
There was a final line item for “all other costs” which was not itemized but represented $700,000 of the $3.4 million allocation of general expenses.
The remaining 74% of Idaho’s $18 million athletics budget (or $13.7 million) went to operate each of the school’s sports endeavors.
Men’s sports (five) utilized about 60% of that money. The seven women’s sports used about 40% of the remaining budget.
Let’s take a closer look at the University of Idaho men’s programs
Football (of course) checked-in as the most expensive sport for the Vandals’ athletics program at more than $3.6 million.
Men’s basketball ($1.2 million total) was next followed by track & field ($340,000), golf ($223,000), and tennis ($213,000). Scholarships for men’s sports totaled $2.6 million in the most recent budget year.
Travel expenses averaged 30% of the men’s non-scholarship total.
The total expenses directly attributed to men’s sports at Idaho were about $8.2 million.
Now for the details about the Idaho Vandals’ women’s sports
Women’s basketball ($1.1 million) was the most expensive item. The volleyball program ($560,000) was trailed by soccer ($520,000), swimming ($449,000), track and cross country ($340,000), golf ($217,000), and tennis ($212,000).
Scholarships for women’s sports showed a cost of a little more than $2 million last year.
Travel expenses represented about 33% of the women’s non-scholarship total.
Total expenses directly attributable to Idaho’s women’s sports were about $5.5 million.
Sports revenues at Idaho were a bit more complicated. Let’s review!
The money needed to operate the University of Idaho’s athletics programs comes from several different sources. The athletics endeavors alone provided $7.3 million of revenue in the most recent school year.
Ticket Sales: $657,500 (80% from football)
Away-game Guarantees: $1,397,000 (83% from football)
Athletics – Gifts and Donations $2,300,000
NCAA shared revenues $ 529,500
Big Sky Conference revenues $ 20,000
Licensing Royalties $ 340,000
Radio broadcasting (Learfield Comm.) $ 575,000
Stadium naming rights $ 500,000
Endowment and Investments income $ 630,500
Media Fees – Big Sky Conf. Television $ 77,500
Other revenue – Football parking fees $ 50,000
Other revenue – Ticket office $ 190,000
Total direct revenues – Athletics: $7,337,000
Additional sources of money are needed to pay for athletics programs.
The remaining funding came from:
General Education – Operating budget $4.3 million
Athletics Operation – Institutional support $3.6 million
Student Fees assessed by the school $1.9 million
Total revenues for Athletics: $17.137 million
Those student athletics fees equated to $173 per year for each of the 11,000 students at the University of Idaho.
The athletics program ran fairly close to break-even in the most recent year of operation at the FCS level.
The University of Idaho lost television revenues by dropping to the FCS but saved on travel expenses
Check out the highlighted line about the television revenues. Teams in the FCS Big Sky Conference do not receive very much revenue from the current ESPN+ TV contracts.
The University of Idaho earned more TV revenue when it was a part of the FBS Sunbelt Conference.
However, any lost TV revenue may have been eclipsed by savings from much lower travel expenses. The Vandals’ sports teams are playing against schools located much closer to Moscow, Idaho than those in the southeastern states of the Sunbelt Conference.
This plan worked for Idaho. Will UL-Monroe stay put in the FBS Sunbelt or return to the FCS in the Southland Conference?
That is a very tough needle to thread.
UL-Monroe must raise revenues significantly to remain viable in the Sunbelt Conference. It must also tightly control its expenses until the athletics department’s cash flow becomes positive.
The FBS Sunbelt Conference recently added ULM’s biggest rival, Louisiana Tech University.
ULM and Louisiana Tech are expecting significantly higher attendance for their match-ups in every sport.
The revived rivalry will spark renewed local fan interest and increase revenues going into the Warhawks’ war chest.
ULM needs Louisiana Tech to become part of the Sunbelt Conference ASAP
Louisiana Tech is negotiating with Conference USA and wants to begin play in the Sunbelt Conference next year in 2026. It is possible that C-USA may play hardball and force the Bulldogs to stick around for two more seasons instead of one.
The Louisiana Tech athletics budget of $29 million is nearly $10 million greater than their I-20 East rivals at ULM.
Regardless, the Bulldogs will enter the Sunbelt Conference as a relatively small dog (financially speaking, of course).
The Sunbelt’s BIG dog is James Madison University with its $58 million athletics budget.
JMU has more than 21,000 students. Did you know that JMU charges its students $2,456 (correct) per academic year for “Intercollegiate Athletics”?
Those fees generate more than $50 million per year!
James Madison is followed by Old Dominion ($53 million), Georgia State ($46 mm), Coastal Carolina ($45 mm), Marshall and South Alabama ($39 million each), Appalachian State ($38 mm), Troy University ($33.4 mm), UL-Lafayette ($33 mm), Arkansas State ($32 mm) and Georgia Southern at $30 million.
Arkansas State charges all students $23 per credit hour for “athletics fees”. ASU has about 11,000 students. This fee generates several million dollars per year for the Red Wolves’ Athletics Department.
Only Southern Miss ($28 million) and ULM ($20.9 million) trail Louisiana Tech in terms of their annual sports budget.
The ULM students agreed in April, 2025 to raise their annual athletics fees from $20 to $75 per year.
This will add about $600,000 to the Warhawks’ annual athletics budget.
Wanted: Sugar Daddies needed ASAP for the ULM Warhawks
Local giving to ULM’s athletics programs provide about $700,000 per year. Their regional rivals at Louisiana Tech University raise about $6 million in annual giving to support the Bulldogs athletics programs.
ULM must double down on efforts to attract new sources of athletic philanthropists if it wants be competitive in the FBS group of schools.
Still want that job as the new ULM Athletics Director?
Apply soon if you enjoy increasing amounts of daily financial and political pressures.
This may be one of the highest stress and lowest paying AD jobs in the nation.
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