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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1986)
Wednesday, December 17,1986/The Battalion/Page 9 Sports thletic Department doesn’t eat our tax dollars Budget of $7.8 million produced completely within department i Thom I irch lomi aid (from) Bn Taylor's tea: ve creating m optial nm communicatH feasibilin measure tese ields. program is s he end of Ad ■ would liked ts and hopeq mewed. )0l$ kies mconstitutiot jetted, I'm® nges," Pittle rately trying: istitudonal, mr people ert with the Union s “kind of a s it open to old cost the of dollars® ole," said Jim legal (l»; studentsslwy Bible overt 1 read the t 1 By Doug Hall Sports Writer There’s a misconception around texas A&M these days that state-ap propriated tax dollars fund Texas , A&M’s Athletic ——— Department Viewpoint and the “enor- m—mmmmmm—mmmammm mous” salary paid to Athletic Direc tor and Head Football Coach Jackie Sherrill. I Fact: The Athletic Department re ceives from the University a $750,000 grant that is designated for women’s athletics. Other than that, the department’s entire $7.8 million budget is produced within the Ath letic Department. ■ On the eve of this year’s A&M vs. Texas Thanksgiving matchup, a let ter to the editor of The Battalion “In a time of budget cuts, continues to put huge [mounts of money into athletics. . . . If we want a world-class university, we should cut back drastically in ath letic expenditures and use the money to attract more high-quality faculty. I have one suggestion for (A&M President Frank) Vandiver: Give A&M Athletic Director Jackie Sherrill the option of taking a big salary cut or going to coach at an other school.” Don’t think, however, that the au thor of this letter is alone in the opinion that the Athletic Depart ment eats up our collective tax dol lars. Countless times — especially be fore the Cotton Bowl became a New Year’s Day tradition for Aggies — I have heard fans and non-fans alike mutter and mumble about paying for Sherrill’s salary, the special treat ment toward athletes and the cost of “major college athletics.” The facts, however, don’t substan tiate the complaints. In fact, even with university budgets shouldering state-directed cuts due to the fall of oil-related revenues, virtually all as pects of athletics at A&M are hold ing their own. The letter also referred to a com ment from Vandiver in which the president defended sports in the academic world by saying sports en courage former students to contrib ute to the school. Predictably, the letter said if the only reason former students give money to A&M is because of the football team, then we obviously don’t deserve to be a “world-class university.” But is there really anything wrong with sports in the academic world or with former students making dona tions to the athletic programs at a particular school? The two largest sources of reve nue for the Athletic Department are ticket sales, which produce $4.25 million, and scholarships and gifts funded through the Aggie Club which bring in $1.7 million. Both ticket sales and contributions produce money that people willingly part with. No one makes alumni buy season tickets year after year or do- Jackie Sherrill nate a permanently endowed 12th Man scholarship. No one makes stu dents line up for Cotton Bowl tickets three days in advance or consistently pack the east side of Kyle Field for football games. But both things continue to hap pen. And when the Athletic Depart ment at A&M, unlike other schools such as the University of Houston which is the unhappy owner of a $4 million deficit, continues to pay its own way, then why fix something that isn’t broken? The most common attack to this question is to say that college athlet ics is indeed a broken product. This argument is perpetuated by saying collegiate athletics is a corrupt busi ness that exploits athletes and wastes time and money. Many colleges, including A&M, have been accused of scandalous ac tivities. Some, such as TCU and SMU, have even been punished for illegal activities. But those wrongdoings can be rectified. Athletics provide a school and a community with a sense of identification, a source of pride or remorse and an outlet for a large number of students. Although they don’t receive the publicity or the fanfare of the Ath letic Department, the Intramural Department and the Department of Health and Physical Education also are areas of athletics at A&M that af fect the everyday student. Like the Athletic Department, these two departments were affected by the budget cuts mainly because the employee pay increase was put on hold. But unlike other depart ments that lost sizeable portions of their budgets, these departments rolled out of the way of the falling hatchet without affecting the serv ices they provide the University. The P.E. department offers over 300 sections of 33 different activities to A&M students through its P.E. 199 programs. Despite the budget cuts that have affected other areas of the department, these programs have not been hindered because they are funded through a $12 fee that enrolling P.E. students pay. The Intramural Department funds its 27 club sports and intramu ral programs through a portion of the $65 student services fee that each student pays at the beginning of the semester. This fee, which in turn finances 15 areas of student ac tivities, has a state-mandated ceiling of $90 that most other Southwest Conference schools already charge. Dennis Corrington, director of the Intramural Department, per haps summed up the role of athletics best by saying, “Our goal is to spend the money we have available to pro vide each student at A&M with a rec reational outlet.” The end result: Athletics at A&M affect thousands of students in a positive manner every day and, with minor exceptions, cost the students only what they are willing to pay. Landry says Collier probable starter for Sunday’s game against Chicago IRVING (AP) — Dallas Coach om Landry said Tuesday that Hhird-string quarterback Reggie Col lier, who has thrown only six NFL asses, probably will start for the owboys against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. || “We’ll probably get him in right off,” Landry said. “We’ll probably ■tart him.” i A three-year starter for the USFL’s Orlando Renegades, Collier has completed four passes for 52 lards and one touchdown. I Collier’s start “will take some of the pressure off Steve Pelluer. We’ll |»robably use both of them but it’s an opportunity to see a player. We’ll have Steve ready as a backup,” Landry said. Landry said Chicago will be a se vere test for Collier. “You learn a lot about people when you play the Bears,” he said. Collier, who was a sixth-round draft choice in 1983, “has a lot of work ahead of him and he knows it,” said Landry, who has criticized the player for sloppy work habits. “He might be a player some day but he’s not as dedicated as he should be,” Landry said. “We’ll have to cut our offense down to plays we think he can handle best. He’s more comfortable back there when he’s moving.” Collier rushed for 606 yards and scored 12 touchdowns during his last season with the Renegades. For Dallas, he’s run one time for 21 yards. Pelluer has waded through a rol ler-coaster season as the starting quarterback after Danny White suf fered a broken wrist in the ninth game against the New York Giants. He’s thrown 16 interceptions and only seven touchdown passes. “It’s not Steve’s fault we’re down where we are,” Landry said. “His confidence may be down a little, but he made the play that got us ahead against Philadelphia. Then the de fense let down.” Paul McDonald, a former Cleve land Browns quarterback who was obtained as a free agent, also is avail able. “McDonald could play if needed,” Landry said. “He’s a smart quar terback.” The Cowboys, 7-8, are faced with the possibility of their first losing season since 1964. Their 20-year streak of winning seasons ended Sunday with a 23-21 loss to the Phil adelphia Eagles. “This is an important game for us,” Landry said. “You want to win it if you can. A win gives you a better outlook for next year. We don’t want to start next season on a downslope.” Southern Cal talks to Teaff about head coaching job LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ath letic Director Mike McGee ex pressed hope Tuesday that a suc cessor to head football coach Ted Tollner at the University of Southern California will be se lected early in 1987. “I think in the first third of January we would hope to have a coach aboard,” McGee told the Associated Press. “We don’t want to put artificial time constraints on ourselves. It’s too important a decision.” According to published re ports, McGee has talked with Baylor Coach Grant Teaff, Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson, and Dave Levy, an assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers, concerning the Trojans’ coaching job. The dismissal of Tollner as the Southern Cal head coach was an nounced on Dec. 8, nine days af ter a 38-37 loss to Notre Dame. Teaff, who has been Baylor’s head coach for 15 years, con firmed that he met with McGee last week for nearly two hours in Dallas. “They called and asked for permission to visit with me and Baylor gave them permission,” Teaff said. “The only thing I can say is my commitment and loyalty to Baylor runs very deep.” It also has been reported that McGee wants to interview Paul Hackett, an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys. Help for the high cost of higher education. If you want to go to college, First Federal Savings & Loan Association wants to help. We offer Federally Guaranteed Student Loans administered by the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corp. to qualified students. The interest rate is currently 8%', far below current market loan rates, and you have up to 10 years to repay your loan. Plus, with our new application and processing procedures, we can now provide three day approval on your loan. Learn more about our guaranteed student loans. Infor mation and loan applications are available now at First Federal. First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Beaumont 409/268-8675 3608 East 29th St. Bryan, TX 77805 An equal opportunity lender. SPRING RUSH ■■ PHS-VER January 22-26 Alpha Phi International Sorority is rushing into spring to find a pledge class full of energetic Aggie women who want to be more involved at Texas A&M University. Many opportu nities in leadership and friendship are available to women who choose to grow with us in 1987. cfifonci Please Call 693-2146 for details and information rotii s? fcr PANNING FOR GOLD? Try our Battalion Classified!!! 845-2611 Sefl it in Battalion Classified Spark Some Interest! CIse the Battalion Classifieds. Call 845-2611