Fresno State coaches get a warning about what future holds because of coronavirus

With a projected $1.3 million less coming in from Mountain West Conference and NCAA distributions due to coronavirus-related cancellations, Fresno State has told its coaches to be prepared for cuts to their 2020-21 budgets.

“You had to let everybody know that the NCAA distribution is going to be less,” athletics director Terry Tumey said. “It’s a national trend, everybody knows that. Without March Madness, it’s just a given, so we had to let everybody know that things were going to be different.

“Leaner times are going to be coming ahead. The COVID-19 is going to affect everyone that way. We’re not immune to that and we have to have an understanding that there are some things we’re going to have to do in order for us to support our student-athletes and give them the best experience possible with less resources.”

Any cuts are not insignificant when already behind Mountain West Conference rivals and it all gets worse if there is no football season, which is the primary revenue driver for an athletics department that struggles under the weight of 21 sports programs.

Fresno State, with a $42.9 million budget, funds its programs at a lower level than many of the schools in the Mountain West, according to figures reported to the U.S. Department of Education.

Comparing with San Diego State

San Diego State, a conference rival that’s also in the California State University system, is just one that is well ahead of the Bulldogs in operating (game day) expenses for spring and Olympic sports.

Operating expenses for men’s and women’s golf at Fresno State were a combined $194,683 in 2018-19, the most recent figures available; at San Diego State it was $473,641 in the same season.

In women’s lacrosse the Bulldogs’ expenses were $213,765 and the Aztecs’ $302,246. In volleyball, the gap was $209,164 to $304,983.

Fresno State was more than $250,000 behind in operating expenses for its baseball program ($542,723 to $828,635) and more than $80,000 behind in softball ($323,648 to $408,920).

The Aztecs have 19 sports programs, two fewer than Fresno State. San Diego State also generates about $5 million a year more in athletics revenue, according to USA Today.

Tumey since his hire in 2018 has been trying to stabilize budgets through scheduling, travel and other areas – the university had for years been covering year-end deficits in seven figures.

But the uncertainty ahead stemming from coronavirus is an issue, primarily for Group of Five conference programs.

The NCAA distribution in 2020 was cut from about $600 million to $225 million, primarily due to the cancellation of the NCAA basketball tournament. Fresno State receives roughly $4.5 million annually in Mountain West/NCAA distributions – it was budgeted at $4.8 million in 2019-20.

“We as an institution have really done a great job of trying to get the most out of what we’re doing, but we understand that we have to be fiscally minded,” Tumey said. “Our revenues have grown, but they’re still not to a point where they can really have us be outlandish in what we do.

“Now that COVID-19 has hit, we have to be better than what we’ve been. At the end of the day, it does have an effect on us in so many different ways and we have to prepare for that.”