Softball and men and women's soccer may be added to The University of New Orleans athletic program during the next five years, according to a Strategic Plan for Athletics that was recently released by the University.

 

The plan was developed by Carr Sports Associates of Gainesville, Fla., which was authorized by the Sun Belt Conference to help the University chart its restoration to NCAA Division I standards.  The University suspended nine of its 15 intercollegiate sports in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and is currently operating under a five-year waiver of the NCAA requirement that Division I institutions that do not play football sponsor a minimum of 14 sports. 

 

Carr Sports proposed two options of sports to be restored or introduced distinguished by expense.  The preferred option would restore the men's and women's tennis programs, the women's golf program and the women's cross-country program and would introduce men's swimming and diving and men's soccer along with women's soccer and softball. This option, according to the report, "meets a broad criteria:  creating centers of excellence, community-regional interest, post-season success, quality facilities, compliance with Title IX, adequate funding, revenue potential and [Sun Belt Conference] sports competition.”

 

The second option, which would cost about $1 million less to maintain annually, would restore men's and women's tennis, women's golf, women's track and field and cross-country programs and men's cross-country. The only new sport introduced under the second option would be men's swimming and diving. 

 

The ability to generate sufficient revenue is the difference between the preferred option and the second option, which would meet minimal NCAA Division I standards. 

 

“This is an unprecedented opportunity to redesign our program to fit our students' preferences and the community's interests,” said UNO Director of Athletics Jim Miller. “The Carr report offers a solution to our current deficiencies and gives us confidence that our program can be restored and raised to a new level of excellence. The key to success will be the support we receive from our fans and the community as measured by ticket sales, donations and sponsorships.”

 

Funding issues and recommendations occupied a large portion of the report, which noted that the department has operated "with funding levels at or near the bottom of the Sun Belt Conference and with I-AAA peers.  The report termed as "unrealistic" the current practice of funding the athletic program largely through student fees: “Athletics’ revenues have primarily come from ... Student Fees, forcing the Department to manage by enrollment. This reliance, coupled with a modest State of Louisiana institutional funding cap for athletics, has created an unrealistic funding model of UNO Athletics, which has dramatically hindered UNO’s ability to compete in NCAA Division I.”

 

UNO Athletics receives a $100 per semester fee from each full-time student.  Pre-Katrina enrollment plummeted from 17,250 in fall 2005, to just under 11,000 in fall 2006, resulting in a 32 percent drop in fee revenue. 

 

The report made the connection between UNO’s last-place position in athletic spending and its perennial last-place finish for the Sun Belt Conference all-sports trophy, the Vic Bubas Cup. The report recommended the department develop new revenue streams using the re-opening of UNO Kiefer Lakefront Arena as the cornerstone as well as improvements in men's basketball and baseball -- the primary revenue sports.  

 

It also recommended that the department solidify its finances during the next two years by putting available resources into the existing “core” sports and add back no sports until the 2008-09 academic year. The University currently sponsors baseball, men's and women’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s swimming and volleyball.

 

The report also made the following recommendations: