Director of Athletics William J. Cleary '56 directs a multi-million dollar annual budget. He oversees 40 intercollegiate sports and hundreds of student-athletes.
But the athletic department's methods for doling out funds to those teams remains a mystery to coaches and players. And Cleary and his top two lieutenants say they want it that way.
Athletic department official say that all the intercollegiate sports they organize receive relatively equal amounts of funding and support. But the only evidence they offer is their word.
In fact, Cleary and Francis J. Toland, who administers the department's finances, are so secretive about the budget that its numbers are unknown even to the members of the faculty committee overseeing the department.
"It has always been our policy not to divulge those numbers," Toland says.
"It's a longstanding policy, it's worked and if it ain't broke, don't fix it," says Cleary.
Cleary and Toland's close-to-the-vest handling of the budget is indicative of how they manage a department that has a small staff but enormous scope. Harvard has more student-athletes than any Division I school in the country.
While they have no figures to verify their claims, many coaches and players say that high-profile sports like football and men's hockey receive more funding and greater support from the Department of Athletics than other sports do.
Many coaches and students acknowledge a hierarchy among sports and say that certain teams enjoy luxu- Men's water polo, on the other hand, rarelytravels farther south than Providence, R.I. Andthey take vans. Even more dramatic a case of inequity concernsthe national championship teams of men's hockeyand women's lacrosse, in 1989 and 1990,respectively. Under President Bush, NCAA champswere regularly invited to the White House aftertheir win. When then-Coach Cleary led his hockey team toan overtime win in the national finals, theathletic department paid for the team to travel toWashington. The lacrosse team, however, was toldthat there weren't enough funds to bankroll theirtrip. They did not go. Cleary insists that he and his predecessor,John P. Reardon, have treated teams fairly withregards to budgeting. When pressed on details,however, he won't elaborate. "I think a lot of what you hear about budgetingis perception, not reality," says Patricia W.Henry, senior associate director of athletics. But, without budget details, perception is theonly reality for many coaches and players. Coaches and players say the hierarchy manifestsitself in access to choice practice times and tothe training room, as well as in the size ofalumni donations. "Definitely, for one, we don't get priorityover the swim team for pool time," says CliffordH. Chen '95, a goalie for the water polo team. "Wehave very little money, very little funding. Wehave to do all our fundraising on our own." "It hasn't gotten really bad, but we've beenclose to broke," adds Chen. Some athletes say the department's prioritiesare most visible when they seek medical attention. "You see it in the training room," says RachelL. Schultz '93, who has played both lacrosse andsoccer at Harvard. "You have to wait for thefootball and hockey players to leave first." Athletic department officials acknowledge thatthey spend more money on some sports than others.But they attribute this, largely, to theadditional employees required to workwell-attended sports such as men's hockey andfootball. Still, constructing a detailed picture ofathletic money-flow is complicated by the factthat Harvard's teams receive funds from outsidethe Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS). According to a three-year-old published report,the Department of Athletics has an annual budgetof nearly $10 million. But Toland and Cleary alsomaintain control over money received from"Friends" groups informal alumni organizationsthat make donations to the University earmarkedfor specific sports teams. While these groups have specific names--Friendsof Harvard Hockey, for example--they have no legalstatus. Each sport has a Friends' group, althoughnone exist as legal entities, according the stateof Massachusetts. Because there are no records of Friends'groups, their administrators are difficult toidentify. For that reason, no Friends' groupscould be contacted directly for comment. Discrepancies in Financial Support Coaches and administrators acknowledge that theFriends give in varying amounts. While the women'sswimming team collects $20,000 from Friends'groups, the women's tennis team gets $2,000,according to coaches. Department administrators say that anydiscrepancies in financial support arise fromdifferent levels of contributions by the alumni ofdifferent sports teams. Coaches say women's teamsare particularly disadvantaged because manywomen's programs are new and, thus, have feweralumni. "I'm very fortunate because we have a greattradition here," says Ronnie R. Tomassoni, coachof men's hockey. "Last year, we had our 1000th winand only one other program [the University ofMinnesota] has done that." Tomassoni uses funds from his Friends' group topay for recruiting--a key element in assemblingthe team, which is currently ranked third in theUnited States. But athletic department officials say they areworking hard to help Friends' groups that receiveless in contributions increase funding for theirsport. Henry, the senior associate director ofathletics, says the Harvard-Radcliffe Foundationfor Women's Athletics has helped level thefinancial playing field for women's teams. "We're working with individual Friends' groupsto help build others," says Henry. "But it'ssomething that happens over time." But not all coaches are satisfied with thisexplanation. "They hide behind the Friends count," saysWomen's Lacrosse Coach Carole Kleinfelder, anoutspoken critic of the department's treatment ofwomen's teams. "[The Friends are] used to justifyour inability to have the same things. While acknowledging an unofficial hierarchy,many coaches say the department does a good jobtreating teams fairly. "They philosophically tryto treat all the sports equal," says StevenLocker, coach of the men's soccer team. "Butcertain sports demand certain resources." One resource doled out to the men's heavyweightcrew team is exclusive use of a training facility,called Red Top, in Gail's Ferry, Conn. Cleary and Toland are officers of thenon-profit corporation Red Top, Inc., which isfunded entirely by the University. Harvardprovides $30,000 a year for the upkeep of thecomplex, which is used just two weeks out of theyear. According to tax records, directors of Red Topinclude former General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54,Men's Crew Coach Harry L. Parker and Nathaniel T.Dexter, a longtime judge at the finish line of theHarvard-Yale regatta. Red Top, however, isn't the only "perk" forathletes which is apparently paid for with fundsoutside of the athletic department's budget. According to tax records, the Harvard VarsityClub, a non-profit corporation, spent nearly$200,000 last year to provide varsity athleteswith letter sweaters at a sharply reduced cost,publish a newsletter and sponsor award dinners. The club's revenues come from gifts, membershipdues and revenue from a series of low-riskinvestments. According to documents obtained byThe Crimson, the club holds stock in ninecompanies, including Coca-Cola and Time Warner,Inc., and bonds in six other corporations,including Revlon and Chiquita Brands. Charles L. Coulson, who earned $45,000 lastyear as executive director of the club, did notreturn phone calls last week. Toland says that the varsity club serves as a"clearinghouse" for the Friends' groups. Hecredits varsity club officers with helping smallerFriends' groups increase contributions. According to the office of Dean of the FacultyJeremy R. Knowles, the athletic department makesan annual report to Knowles which details thedepartment's expenses. Knowles himself did notrespond to repeated requests to be interviewed forthis article. A staffer in his office told TheCrimson that "individual departments' budgets arenot public information and the athletic office isjust like any department." McKay Professor of Computer Science Harry R.Lewis, who chairs the Faculty's Standing Committeeon Athletics, says that the issue of thedepartment's accountability to the Faculty ismurky. "That's one of those legalistic questions thatnever get answered in the Harvard context," saysLewis. But he adds that he believes thedepartment's relationship to the Faculty is notmuch different from that of other parts of theUniversity. "There's a standing committee on admissions andfinancial aid, but the committee does not reviewthe budget," Lewis says. Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, whoalso sits on the committee, says he is "veryactive" in keeping the athletic departmentaccountable. But the committee meets just once a month for alittle more than an hour, and its power is onlyadvisory. In addition, members of the committeesay athletics department officials generallypropose the topic of conversation for eachmeeting. And committee members say they do not seethe department's budget. Committee members say that while they havestudied issues like the first-year footballprogram in detail, they have not talked about anypossible discrepancies in funding or support fromsport to sport. "We haven't had much discussion with regards tothis, which suggests it's being handled within thedepartment," Jewett says. Faculty officials say the athletic departmenthas been as hurt as much as any department bycost-cutting measures. In the wake of multi-million dollar FASdeficits, the athletic department has cut theequivalent of two full-time jobs and will have tocut two more next year, according to Toland. Cleary says that any further cuts will impactall sports equally. "If we're going to have to make cuts, we'regoing to make cuts across the board," Cleary says. Kathy Delaney-Smith, coach of the varsitywomen's basketball team, says that cuts have beenmade in areas like recruiting and traveling, whichhave less of an impact on students. "I think it has affected the coaches more thanthe athletes," Delaney Smith says. Athletic administrators say that while theirdepartment is not perfect, it is ultimately verysuccessful. "Take a look at the success overall of Harvardathletic teams," says Henry. "You're not going tofind many Division I programs with our kind ofrecord of winning and losing. That's not what lifeis all about, but it helps." Steve Engle contributed to the reporting ofthis story.
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