BleedGopher
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Adding in for UpNorthGo4 - the following is from Sid's column:
One thing that does not help the University of Minnesota is that its football budget is last in the Big Ten.
According to ncaafootball.fanhouse.com, Ohio State is the Big Ten leader with a budget of $32.3 million. Iowa is second at $26.90 million, followed by Wisconsin ($22.71), Penn State ($19.13), Michigan ($18.03) Michigan State ($15.86), Northwestern ($15.71), Purdue ($12.66), Indiana ($11.84), Illinois ($10.49) and then the Gophers at $9.25 million.
And it's no coincidence the lowest-spending teams in the conference are typically the second-division teams, while the big spenders generally finish at or near the top.
And one of the reasons the Gophers have won just one game against Ohio State since 1981 is that the Buckeyes football budget is 3 1/2 times that of Minnesota.
There has to be some reason why Minnesota hasn't won a Big Ten title for 43 years. Coach Tim Brewster, and Glen Mason before him, both complained about the budget. So did Lou Holtz, but he found a way to get more money and it paid off. In fact just last week Brewster said it would be easier to build a winning program if the budget was competitive with schools such as Iowa and Wisconsin.
However the big problem at Minnesota is that with the large gate receipts that Iowa and Wisconsin have allow the two schools to have the money to spend on football while the Gophers year in and year out have been near the bottom in football attendance and revenue.
But the lack of a big budget shouldn't be a reason why Minnesota can't beat a North Dakota State or South Dakota. Even Brewster will admit that.
And the Gophers will have a bigger task awaiting them Saturday when they take on Southern Cal, which is ranked 18th in the country.
U at disadvantage
Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi, while questioning the overall figures published by the website, did admit the $9.25 million figure was close to what the Gophers spend on football.
Maturi admits that the schools that spend more can have an advantage.
"There's no doubt it's a disadvantage to our football program," Maturi said. "I don't argue that at all. They have more income, they can do more things. We sponsor more sports (25) than Iowa. We sponsor more sports than Wisconsin. Some people are going to say we shouldn't, we can't afford it because it hurts our football program because the pie is only so big to spread around to so many pieces. I don't think there's any doubt about it.
"If I paid this staff more, is this staff better? That would be an argument. Coach Brewster would love to have another strength coach, he'd love to have some other assistants in the recruiting line and things of this nature, and I understand that. I hope someday I'm going to be able to help him out but right now I can't afford it.
"We don't spend as much as Wisconsin or Iowa. I'm not going to argue that. They do spend more than we do. But you have to figure out what you count and determine what you spend: Are they counting debt services on their facilities? Are they counting game-day management? Are they counting these things? We don't count those in our numbers, for example. So you have to make sure that it's apple versus apples. [But] they do spend more money than we, there's no question."
Maturi said the Gophers spend about $7.5 million on football but that does not count scholarships.
"I think I can get you the grant in aid too, football we spend about $2 million there, so there's about $9.5-plus million just on the operating expenses and the scholarships.''
Maturi said the cost of the football scholarships at Iowa and Wisconsin are about the same as that at Minnesota.
"Their salaries may be greater," Maturi said. "I'm not going to argue that. In fact, I know it's greater. [Iowa coach Kirk] Ferentz is making a whole lot more money than coach Brewster is, so it's a couple million right there just on his salary, let alone his assistants.
As an example of schools such as Ohio State spending more on football than the Gophers do, Maturi said OSU has four strength trainers while the Gophers have just two.
The disappointing thing is that there was only $1.5 million more in football revenue in the first year at TCF Stadium compared to the last year at the Metrodome, a figure that disappoints school officials.
So the only way to increase football spending is to cut the budgets of other sports or eliminate them.
That not going to happen under Maturi. But it may under his successor. I don't believe there is an athletic director in the country who treats the non-revenue sports as well as Maturi does.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/1...EyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUgOy9cP3DieyckcUsI
Go Gophers!!
One thing that does not help the University of Minnesota is that its football budget is last in the Big Ten.
According to ncaafootball.fanhouse.com, Ohio State is the Big Ten leader with a budget of $32.3 million. Iowa is second at $26.90 million, followed by Wisconsin ($22.71), Penn State ($19.13), Michigan ($18.03) Michigan State ($15.86), Northwestern ($15.71), Purdue ($12.66), Indiana ($11.84), Illinois ($10.49) and then the Gophers at $9.25 million.
And it's no coincidence the lowest-spending teams in the conference are typically the second-division teams, while the big spenders generally finish at or near the top.
And one of the reasons the Gophers have won just one game against Ohio State since 1981 is that the Buckeyes football budget is 3 1/2 times that of Minnesota.
There has to be some reason why Minnesota hasn't won a Big Ten title for 43 years. Coach Tim Brewster, and Glen Mason before him, both complained about the budget. So did Lou Holtz, but he found a way to get more money and it paid off. In fact just last week Brewster said it would be easier to build a winning program if the budget was competitive with schools such as Iowa and Wisconsin.
However the big problem at Minnesota is that with the large gate receipts that Iowa and Wisconsin have allow the two schools to have the money to spend on football while the Gophers year in and year out have been near the bottom in football attendance and revenue.
But the lack of a big budget shouldn't be a reason why Minnesota can't beat a North Dakota State or South Dakota. Even Brewster will admit that.
And the Gophers will have a bigger task awaiting them Saturday when they take on Southern Cal, which is ranked 18th in the country.
U at disadvantage
Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi, while questioning the overall figures published by the website, did admit the $9.25 million figure was close to what the Gophers spend on football.
Maturi admits that the schools that spend more can have an advantage.
"There's no doubt it's a disadvantage to our football program," Maturi said. "I don't argue that at all. They have more income, they can do more things. We sponsor more sports (25) than Iowa. We sponsor more sports than Wisconsin. Some people are going to say we shouldn't, we can't afford it because it hurts our football program because the pie is only so big to spread around to so many pieces. I don't think there's any doubt about it.
"If I paid this staff more, is this staff better? That would be an argument. Coach Brewster would love to have another strength coach, he'd love to have some other assistants in the recruiting line and things of this nature, and I understand that. I hope someday I'm going to be able to help him out but right now I can't afford it.
"We don't spend as much as Wisconsin or Iowa. I'm not going to argue that. They do spend more than we do. But you have to figure out what you count and determine what you spend: Are they counting debt services on their facilities? Are they counting game-day management? Are they counting these things? We don't count those in our numbers, for example. So you have to make sure that it's apple versus apples. [But] they do spend more money than we, there's no question."
Maturi said the Gophers spend about $7.5 million on football but that does not count scholarships.
"I think I can get you the grant in aid too, football we spend about $2 million there, so there's about $9.5-plus million just on the operating expenses and the scholarships.''
Maturi said the cost of the football scholarships at Iowa and Wisconsin are about the same as that at Minnesota.
"Their salaries may be greater," Maturi said. "I'm not going to argue that. In fact, I know it's greater. [Iowa coach Kirk] Ferentz is making a whole lot more money than coach Brewster is, so it's a couple million right there just on his salary, let alone his assistants.
As an example of schools such as Ohio State spending more on football than the Gophers do, Maturi said OSU has four strength trainers while the Gophers have just two.
The disappointing thing is that there was only $1.5 million more in football revenue in the first year at TCF Stadium compared to the last year at the Metrodome, a figure that disappoints school officials.
So the only way to increase football spending is to cut the budgets of other sports or eliminate them.
That not going to happen under Maturi. But it may under his successor. I don't believe there is an athletic director in the country who treats the non-revenue sports as well as Maturi does.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/1...EyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUgOy9cP3DieyckcUsI
Go Gophers!!
