Harvard's budget is relatively lean, but the University has mandated that all Faculty of Arts and Sciences departments cut their budgets by 4 percent, according to Francis Toland, assistant athletic director and business manager. Toland says his department is meeting those demands.

"We rarely fly anymore," Toland says. "We purchased two vans, because chartering buses is very expensive."

Other plans include sleeping athletes three to a room on the road, charging the Harvard non-student community for use of the MAC and scheduling opponents closer to home to reduce travelling expenses.

"We're looking through every facet of the budget to see what we can do without penalizing people," Cleary says. "I'm going to look at all the programs."

Bleak Future?

For now, Cleary's vision remains a reality, but there is a distinct possibility that more budget cuts are on the way. In that case, the athletic department may have to consider cutting personnel and making teams rely on outside funding.

The bulk of an athletic department's budget goes towards coaches' salaries. Most schools choose to provide large funding for certain coaches, thus limiting the number of overall varsity programs they can sponsor.

Harvard subscribes to a different philosophy, Cleary says.

"There's something wrong [with other schools' practices]," Cleary says. "While we want to get the best possible coaching, our motto is 'Athletics for All' and we spend accordingly."

But many question how long Harvard can continue to provide high quality coaching without sacrificing programs.

One solution offered by Toland is the hiring of part-time and volunteer coaches.

"The cost is the people," Toland says. "We have a part-time coach for the freshman football team, and the trend is probably heading that way."

The other major trend is to pressure programs to raise money themselves.

The athletic department has an extensive "Friends" endowment network for each team. The list of alumni and willing donors in often the first step for a tea seeking to raise money.

This, of course, is the coaches' preferred method to beating the budget crunch.