Albany State athletics working with a tight budget

ALBANY — As expected with the merger of Albany State University and Darton State College, there will be some growing pains.

Such is the case in the athletic department. While the coaches were named for each sport, the university is still searching for an athletic director, leaving a lot of questions unanswered, particularly in the matter of budgeting.

Lea Henry, Darton’s current athletic director, said the two schools are currently acting as separate entities in terms of budgeting for athletics. Darton athletes will be able keep their scholarship status until the 2017-18 school year.

“We want the current student athletes to not be affected,” she said. “So for example, the Darton softball players that are interested and academically eligible will have the opportunity to come back next year at the same scholarship level they were at the previous year and be a part of the new Albany State team.”

Darton took steps to reduce athletic spending in 2015 by transitioning its wrestling, cross country and swimming teams to club sports, a move that was estimated to save close to $200,000.

Meanwhile, the Rams are having to cut back on spending after enrollment decreased, affecting the amount within the budget drastically. Head volleyball and women’s basketball coach Robert Skinner said they’ve had to work with an even tighter budget than usual.

He explained that scholarships are directly tied into the cost of attending a particular institution and on average, NCAA Division II programs have eight scholarships per sport.

Skinner said coaches have been working with anywhere between 3.2 and 4.3 full ride scholarships a year.

He said the primary question is when the two schools merge completely, what will the athletic budget be? He said the school hasn’t received answers and not having an athletic director further complicates things.

“We don’t know how that’s gonna work, that’s the part that everybody’s trying to figure out,” he said. “What if there’s some additional money that’s left over? Where does it go? Who gets it? How do we spend it? We don’t have an athletic director right now, so nobody knows.”

For right now, ASU coaches have had to shift their recruiting efforts.

“There’s fewer dollars to recruit with and in most cases that means fewer talented ball players,” Skinner said. “We won’t be able to recruit as many talented ball players as we could’ve gotten had we had more funds to operate with. Fewer players all together.”

Men’s basketball coach Michael Moore said while he feels he’s in a holding pattern in terms of the next move is, the budget tightening really hasn’t phased him.

“I only had four scholarships to begin with,” he said. “I’m used to working within whatever my budget is. It hasn’t affected me. I’ve been recruiting out my own pocket since day one, I bought my own equipment since I’ve been here. I operate on my own, so it hasn’t affected me.”

Both schools will merge into the new Albany State starting in January 2017.