FAMU looks to get athletic program out of the red


SUjagTILLiDIE

SUjagTILLiDIE

Well-Known Member
FAMU looks to get athletic program out of the red
One strategy is to recruit local athletes
By St. Clair Murraine
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

If indeed it takes a village to raise a child, then Florida A&M President James Ammons might be on to something to help his athletic program get out of the red.

While FAMU has made great strides during the past year to reduce its athletic department's deficit by almost $1 million, Ammons believes that if coaches recruit more local athletes they'd eventually help gate receipts that could put more bodies in the Lawson Center and Bragg Stadium on game days.

http://rattlernews.tallahassee.com/article/20100709/FAMU08/7090342
 
This is NOT TRUE!!!!! FAMU is bringing in more many than University of Texas and the ACC, Big East, and SEC is knocking the door down to get them in there. Tim Tebow even applied there first but FAMU told him thanks but no thanks. :retard:
 



They are doing a fabulous job. To knock almost $1 million of the deficit in a year and increase booster contributions from a mere $1300 to over $550,000 in a five year period is amazing. True leadership gets results. All this during the worst economy in over 80 years and when many of our alumni and supporters live in areas that have lost 20-50% of their home values and a loss in the stock market.

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:
 
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PsychoJag said:
This is NOT TRUE!!!!! FAMU is bringing in more many than University of Texas and the ACC, Big East, and SEC is knocking the door down to get them in there. Tim Tebow even applied there first but FAMU told him thanks but no thanks. :retard:
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:lol: and according to them, they dont need the Legacy Bowl Charity.

A large portion of the department's $9 million budget is spent on travel, which Ammons said is now being monitored in a fashion that will save money.
http://rattlernews.tallahassee.com/article/20100709/FAMU08/7090342

Interesting
 
Originally published July 10, 2010
Ammons wants FAMU athletic facilities upgraded
Improvements planned to give FAMU better chance to win
By St. Clair Murraine
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

After running non-stop through a long list of new constructions or renovations projects that will take place on the campus of Florida A&M, university president James Ammons finally took a breath.

Then, he went on with another list that's just as important.

ADVERTISEMENT

The swimming pool, baseball field, tennis courts and Bragg Stadium. All of them need upgrading, and Ammons doesn't want it to be patchwork. The multimillion-dollar Lawson Center, where FAMU's basketball and volleyball teams play is his benchmark.

"All of those facilities need attention," Ammons said during an interview with the Democrat. "As we look at where we're going in athletics, that next mountain to climb is the facility mountain. We've got to bring all of the other facilities up to the Lawson Center."

Improving the facilities is a must-do project because they could translate into championships in the long run, Ammons said.

"We want to make sure that every program leader has a chance to win," he said.

Reminded that despite having a new gymnasium men's basketball, in particular, hasn't been drawing large crowds, Ammons said that could be changed with more competitive teams.

"Winning cures a lot of ill; brings a lot of excitement so you've got to win," he said. "You've got to win."

So Ammons' plan seemingly is to give each sport a better chance to do just that. An assessment team led by interim athletic director Mike Smith and CFO Teresa Hardee has been put in place to determine feasibility and timeline to begin. But in the meantime there is an earnest push to make the field at Bragg Stadium a priority.

FAMU officially launched a campaign Thursday to raise $750,000 to add artificial turf to the stadium in time for the Rattlers' first home game Oct. 2.

FAMU football coach Joe Taylor and FAMU vice president Carla Willis are leading the fundraising, which they said could be a success if 1,453 people each donate $516.

http://rattlernews.tallahassee.com/article/20100710/FAMU08/7100315
 
FAMU CLIFF said:
We dont need it nor want it.
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Dude, you and your alumni were on that other board bragging that you all didn't have a deficit. Come to find out, you guys are nearly five million dollars in the red.
You guys know you can fabricate about having generated revenue when all you have is a five million dollar deficit.
 
You dont have to lie. We discussed the deficit and the source of it. Cholly specifically mentioned what he termed the republikkkan stooges in charge at the time of the deficit and I noted the deficit was not caused by the move up, but our quick move back down ahead of the transition period, where we left millions of guarantee games on the table, particularly from OU, VT and Illinois. OU and VT were signed contracts for over $1 million per game and IL was above $750,000 if I remember correctly. When we moved back down, OU canceled us and VT and IL payed us a greatly reduced amount. So losing almost $2 million in one year of those games, not to mention future years. And the current conference make-up is causing us to lose revenue by playing so many conference games. We miss out on classics annually, plus guarantee games against UGA, UF and UM. We also lose out by not playing contracts against ASU and SU which are top home draws. I have typed the above facts so many times it is ridiculous.

Quick accounting lesson.

Revenue-expenses=net income/loss. A loss or a deficit does not represent the absence of revenue, but expenses in excess of revenue.

Also noted from the article is that the deficit started 5 years ago, when we have a $3 million surplus. If we are knocking the deficit down, that must mean we are currently operating in a net income situation on an annual basis.
 
Missing out on payments from those games is a poor explanation of how you all ended up five million dollars in the red.

If that is the case, you guys were spending money that you wouldn't receive until some time in the future. Which suggests leadership incompetence and mismanagement.

While you're giving "lessons" in accounting, maybe your leadership should take some lessons in common sense: Don't count your chickens before they hatch.
 
msp1911 said:
Missing out on payments from those games is a poor explanation of how you all ended up five million dollars in the red.

If that is the case, you guys were spending money that you wouldn't receive until some time in the future. Which suggests leadership incompetence and mismanagement.

While you're giving "lessons" in accounting, maybe your leadership should take some lessons in common sense: Don't count your chickens before they hatch.
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Are you saying that your current 2010 budget is NOT based on revenues anticipated from scheduled games in 2010? If so, your budget must be based on revenues earned in excess of expenses in 2009 and prior. Meaning if your budget for 2010-2011 is $5 million, you have the $5 million sitting there now before one ticket is sold to pay every expense for the 2010 school year.

Budgeting is a different course, but I would be happy to teach that one as well.
 
I'll pass. I don't anyone would want to take money management or "accounting" lessons from you all.

What kind of idiots would spend five million more than normal and then change conferences before getting paid 2.7 million (according to you) that would have alleviated some of that overage?

Incompetent.

No voodoo economics can save you here. Somebody made some incredibly poor decisions. Period.
 
msp1911 said:
I'll pass. I don't anyone would want to take money management or "accounting" lessons from you all.

What kind of idiots would spend five million more than normal and then change conferences before getting paid 2.7 million (according to you) that would have alleviated some of that overage?

Incompetent.

No voodoo economics can save you here. Somebody made some incredibly poor decisions. Period.
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That is why the people in charge during that time were forced out. We worked our azzes off to get Jeb Bushes stooges off of our campus. They made a poorly researched decision to move up and made an even more poor move to go back down. The amount we have up in revenue were well documented on tdo.com.
 



Terrell_SU said:
:lmao: interesting...where's my popcorn!

Seems like 1+1 = 5 in oh tally-ho!
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No. I didnt post the article. Someone else did to show we have a deficit, but the same article needed to show that demonstrates we are currently making an annual profit on athletics in order to decrease the deficit. You can't use an article to support one assertion then say the rest is a lie. If part is a lie, all of it is a lie.
 
FAMU CLIFF said:
That is why the people in charge during that time were forced out. We worked our azzes off to get Jeb Bushes stooges off of our campus. They made a poorly researched decision to move up and made an even more poor move to go back down. The amount we have up in revenue were well documented on tdo.com.
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And another one of you (on that other board) dared me to produce evidence showing that the state of Florida had to force you to get your finances in order or else it would withhold specific funds from FAMU. Now you're over hear willingly admitting it. LOL!!

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!":idea:
 
FAMU CLIFF said:
No. I didnt post the article. Someone else did to show we have a deficit, but the same article needed to show that demonstrates we are currently making an annual profit on athletics in order to decrease the deficit. You can't use an article to support one assertion then say the rest is a lie. If part is a lie, all of it is a lie.
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The problem is that you guys are still nearly five million dollars in the red, but you STILL want to again move up to D-1A without conducting appropriate planning for the immediate and long-term future, knowing that you don't have the means to do so.
You seem to think that money will fall from the sky, when in reality it won't.
You'll be left holding the bag again and begging to rejoin the MEAC.....again.
 
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JayRob said:
The problem is that you guys are still nearly five million dollars in the red, but you STILL want to again move up to D-1A without conducting appropriate planning for the immediate and long-term future, knowing that you don't have the means to do so.
You seem to think that money will fall from the sky, when in reality it won't.
You'll be left holding the bag again and begging to rejoin the MEAC.....again.
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Who said we were moving to D-1? Participation in the FCS playoffs is NOT D1A (FBS)?
 
JayRob said:
And another one of you (on that other board) dared me to produce evidence showing that the state of Florida had to force you to get your finances in order or else it would withhold specific funds from FAMU. Now you're over hear willingly admitting it. LOL!!

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!":idea:
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You said a BUNCH of incorrect stuff. You stated the folks from the state of FL had to get our books in order. Which is false. They didnt do jack, as that was not the real reason Jeb put them there, nor Casthell Bryant. Ammons did when be brought in his own finanical team. We received clean audits from the State of FL under Humphries and Ammons. Gainous or Bryant FIRED a great deal of the financial staff, so the people who replaced them did not know our reporting process nor how to create our financial statements. Any financial statement audit risk assessment, requires one to look at the continuity of staff and knowledge of financial staff. Please see Statements of Auditing Standards 99, 105-109. They can be found on the AICPA website.


I also had to teach you about reading audit opinions the other day as well. Can you start paying me please?
 
FAMU CLIFF said:
So much they any objective person reading the articles THEY posted show Ammons has a plan and vision for athletics and is increasing revenues and raising more money through the booster club.
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This has nothing to do with hate. When they criticize other HBCU's for wanting to make money by not attending a second rate FCS playoff game, then they've opened themselves up to criticism as well.

I simply stated that the state of Florida had to force FAMU to get it's books in order. Someone from FAMU challenged me to prove that this happened.
I posted the article clearly showing that the state of Florida had to put out a mandate that if FAMU didn't get it's books in order, it would be susceptible to state funds being cut. That had nothing to do with hate, but with facts.

Nevertheless, FAMU folks still have the nerve to criticize the SWAC and MEAC schools for accepting a 3 million dollar payout for one game.
They don't make that much the whole season, and are in financial straits, but still feel the need to criticize their fellow HBCU brothers for taking "guaranteed" money when they're struggling to keep their head above water. This is what I don't understand one bit.
 
MightyDog said:
How can you have a deficit when the bills are paid every year?
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It's very possible.

What went up in price?
What equipment had to be replaced?
Who on the staff fired/quit/replaced?
What new crap did you buy that you had no business buying?

If that is the case, you guys were spending money that you wouldn't receive until some time in the future. Which suggests leadership incompetence and mismanagement.
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This might help exmpalin Msp's point from earlier.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/64531867.html

This is how DISD got into is budget crisis years ago-

So when, for example, the district planned in 2006 to use an anticipated $50 million revenue increase to hire hundreds of new teachers to reduce class sizes, nobody realized that "in reality, that money had already been spent in 2005," Mr. Wesson said.
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The audit, to be completed today, cited the district for five "material weaknesses" - the most serious findings auditors can issue - for such things as loose internal controls, inadequate grant monitoring and slipshod accounting.
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For example, when a school lost a considerable number of students due to enrollment shifts, teachers were supposed to be transferred to schools with growing enrollments. However, principals at the growing campuses were allowed to reject the transfer teachers and hire educators of their choosing. The rejected teachers often were sent back to their original campuses, even though they were no longer needed there.

Another example: Each winter, teachers give notice of their intent to retire or leave the district. In the spring, the district hires new people to replace them. At times, though, teachers changed their minds and decided not to retire, but DISD would keep the replacement teachers on staff.
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So when you don't hire the right folks-you can think you are doing fine and in reality be in the red.

Money was being spent for the future that was already gone.
 
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