UConn must be realistic on athletics future

What’s not acceptable is yearly bailouts of money-hemorrhaging programs at the expense of students and taxpayers.

The University of Connecticut has an Athletics Department problem, and it has nothing to do with a maybe-not-as-dominant-as-usual women’s basketball team.

Geno Auriemma is right that winning nearly every game is nothing to apologize for, but he’s in a rare position where fans’ biggest concern is that the team is somehow not winning by enough. Neither is the problem with the school’s other marquee sport, men’s basketball, which has taken some lumps in the past few years but seems to be on a path to renewed relevance under head coach Dan Hurley.

UConn’s athletics problem is all-encompassing, and it takes the form of a huge and growing deficit. The school recently reported a $42.3 million budget deficit, the third straight year its shortfall topped $40 million, with the school once again covering the gap by using student fees, some $8.8 million to fill the gap.

To no one’s surprise, the biggest culprit is the school’s moribund football program, which generated $3.3 million in revenue compared to $16.6 million in expenses. What was once a competitive endeavor has bottomed out under the second run of coach Randy Edsall, with the team regularly blown out on the field and subsequently generating much-reduced interest from ticket buyers.

It’s not a viable path, of which UConn administrators are aware. In 2017, the school’s senate Senate University Budget Committee called the deficit “unsustainable” and pushed for a strategic plan to reduce it to 2010 levels by 2022. That now appears out of reach, with students and taxpayers left to bail out a flailing money-loser at the state’s flagship university.

But there is reason for optimism.

UConn last year announced its coming departure from the American Athletic Conference, a group of schools left behind by conference realignment who otherwise share virtually nothing in common. It’s a Southern-centric group of which UConn was a member by default, and after trying to make it work for a few years it has wisely thrown in the towel. A return to the Big East next year will mean a reintroduction of local rivalries and, just an importantly, reduced travel expenses with more Northeastern opponents.

There’s a price to be paid for switching conferences, and UConn is in the midst of some short-term pain that should lead to longer-term solvency. The Big East doesn’t play football, so UConn’s team is slated to begin life next year as an independent, which could be to its benefit.

But UConn also needs to be realistic. The school does not have a long history of top-level football, and though some fans would be disappointed, a move to the less expensive Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-AA, as opposed to its current Football Bowl Subdivision could be a possibility down the road if conference independence doesn’t work out. UConn lived on that lower level of football for decades, and it could be in its future, as well. But the school isn’t there yet.

What’s not acceptable is yearly bailouts of moneyhemorrhaging programs at the expense of students and taxpayers. The state cares deeply about UConn athletics and will come out to support a winner. But it can’t be expected to foot endless bills for no return.