Disparity between the Arkansas and Oklahoma schools

[BulldogLB]

Because I played at SWOSU, I know why the Oklahoma schools struggle to compete in the conference, but I wasn't sure if the Arkansas schools had the same issues.
At SWOSU, the football team gets almost no funding. The state government gives almost nothing to the Oklahoma schools, which really hinders the progress of the athletic programs.

To make matters worse, the SWOSU athletic director really has only shown support to the women's sports programs, and splits money up evenly between all sports. This means that the Women's Basketball program at SWOSU has the same recruiting budget that football does. I know this to be an absolute fact, because my position coach told us about this in meetings last year. SWOSU also can't even afford to give their football players team sweatshirts and sweatpants in the winter. It is an absolute joke.

For you guys on here that played at/know how the Arkansas schools football programs are run, do y'all have to deal with these same kind of issues?
I can really only speak on the issues that went on at SWOSU, but I'm assuming the other OK schools probably deal with the same things. Just curious to know what is really causing the difference in team results.

[OldBison]

[Mulerider]

As a fairly recent graduate of SAU (Class of 2016). I know that all students at SAU paid an athletic fee per credit hour to give the Athletic some funding. All public schools in Arkansas have it except U of A in NWA. Title IX has hurt alot of schools though. Women's sports don't bring in near the revenue as a whole.

[Ghost of the AIC]

[Tech Boys]

Like OldBison, I'm also from the NAIA days (1982-83) but here's a link to the 2017-18 ATU Operating Budget. I'm not able to give any additional information.

https://www.atu.edu/budgetadvisory/d...0Personnel.pdf

The Athletics sections are on pages 11-12 and 26-27. There are Athletics line items on pages 1, 4, and 19. These items are from page 11 which is part of Estimated Revenue:

Athletic ADHE Transfer - 1,766,651
Athletic ADHE Transfer Drill Team/Cheerleaders - 126,374
Athletic Student Fee - 3,866,201

The section on pages 26-27 includes a breakdown by sport of the Operating Budget.

[OBUGrad]

Success has a lot to do with those donations rolling in though. We all remember what OBU had before the nice new stadium!

All the other schools surely have deep pocket donors too. It's about getting them to donate. OBU's enrollment is tiny, if they have them, then so does everyone else.

[BulldogLB]

Man, Thank you guys for all this information. I was kind of worried that this was the case. I don't know how the Oklahoma schools are supposed to be competitive in the long-term unless they figure out how to get more funding.

[BulldogLB]

Success has a lot to do with those donations rolling in though. We all remember what OBU had before the nice new stadium!

All the other schools surely have deep pocket donors too. It's about getting them to donate. OBU's enrollment is tiny, if they have them, then so does everyone else.

Donations definitely are a huge help. I'm sure there are a lot of SWOSU guys who could make a difference by donating, but there is a lot of unhappiness with the direction of the program and decisions being made, so that might have a lot to do with it too. You are very right about success helping donations. It just seems to me like there will not be a whole lot of success by any Oklahoma team in the near future. Not consistent success at least.

[Bigworm]

I dont know about private having an advantage. I feel like if anything it's a disadvantage. Here is my reasoning. My son attends OBU. The cost is around 36,000 per year. Part of that is paid by athletic scholarship and the rest is through his hard academic work and other funding. My point is this. Let's say OBU offers 1/2 scholarship to a player. They still have an 18,000 dollar debt to the school. some of which will be taken care of by Pell grant or other funding I'm sure. But if that kid isnt a high achiever academically, he still may owe a substantial fee to attend Now let's say that same player was offered the same 1/2 scholarship at SAU for instance. he would probabaly wind up not owing a dime after the same grant and funding. With all that being said it would seem harder to recruit and almost impossible to have any walk on players. Anyway, to me its remarkable what HU and OBU are able to accomplish considering what I believe to be a disadvantage. I may be completely wrong about all of that though Haha.

[Mulerider]

I dont know about private having an advantage. I feel like if anything it's a disadvantage. Here is my reasoning. My son attends OBU. The cost is around 36,000 per year. Part of that is paid by athletic scholarship and the rest is through his hard academic work and other funding. My point is this. Let's say OBU offers 1/2 scholarship to a player. They still have an 18,000 dollar debt to the school. some of which will be taken care of by Pell grant or other funding I'm sure. But if that kid isnt a high achiever academically, he still may owe a substantial fee to attend Now let's say that same player was offered the same 1/2 scholarship at SAU for instance. he would probabaly wind up not owing a dime after the same grant and funding. With all that being said it would seem harder to recruit and almost impossible to have any walk on players. Anyway, to me its remarkable what HU and OBU are able to accomplish considering what I believe to be a disadvantage. I may be completely wrong about all of that though Haha.

That's one reason SAU has been able to recruit decent players. Even the AD at SAU said that has been a plus.

[OldBison]

[johnintx]

I dont know about private having an advantage. I feel like if anything it's a disadvantage. Here is my reasoning. My son attends OBU. The cost is around 36,000 per year. Part of that is paid by athletic scholarship and the rest is through his hard academic work and other funding. My point is this. Let's say OBU offers 1/2 scholarship to a player. They still have an 18,000 dollar debt to the school. some of which will be taken care of by Pell grant or other funding I'm sure. But if that kid isnt a high achiever academically, he still may owe a substantial fee to attend Now let's say that same player was offered the same 1/2 scholarship at SAU for instance. he would probabaly wind up not owing a dime after the same grant and funding. With all that being said it would seem harder to recruit and almost impossible to have any walk on players. Anyway, to me its remarkable what HU and OBU are able to accomplish considering what I believe to be a disadvantage. I may be completely wrong about all of that though Haha.

My son attends OKBU. My daughter is looking at going there to cheer after she graduates from high school in a year and a half. I am an alum. I can't speak totally for the athletic department, but I can speak to the school as a whole.

At OKBU, every freshman gets a minimum scholarship of $5,000. Next year, that minimum goes up to $7,000. A lot of students get more, based on HS GPA and ACT/SAT scores. In addition, depending on financial need, the school often kicks in a few thousand more dollars. These scholarships are renewable as long as the student keeps a 2.0 GPA. All of this is paid for out of the endowment. In addition, students are eligible for other scholarships. This is not a full ride by any stretch of the imagination. But, for us, it cuts the $36,000 price tag down to around $20,000/year. This is roughly the same price for in-state tuition and room/board at a state school in Texas. In-state tuition is slightly cheaper at the regional universities in Oklahoma. It's still a lot of money, but not as much as the initial price tag. The scholarship endowment at a private school serves the same function as state aid at a public school.

Once the student-athlete gets their financial aid package, the athletic department then offers athletic scholarships. It may or may not be a full ride (depending on the athlete), but the athletic scholarship is added to the initial financial aid package.

We're not rolling in money, but we're supporting 22 sports (counting cheer, pom, and stunt). It's a far cry from when we were running a small NAIA program with no football during my time there in the 80's.

[gr8ness97]

Because I played at SWOSU, I know why the Oklahoma schools struggle to compete in the conference, but I wasn't sure if the Arkansas schools had the same issues.
At SWOSU, the football team gets almost no funding. The state government gives almost nothing to the Oklahoma schools, which really hinders the progress of the athletic programs.

To make matters worse, the SWOSU athletic director really has only shown support to the women's sports programs, and splits money up evenly between all sports. This means that the Women's Basketball program at SWOSU has the same recruiting budget that football does. I know this to be an absolute fact, because my position coach told us about this in meetings last year. SWOSU also can't even afford to give their football players team sweatshirts and sweatpants in the winter. It is an absolute joke.

For you guys on here that played at/know how the Arkansas schools football programs are run, do y'all have to deal with these same kind of issues?
I can really only speak on the issues that went on at SWOSU, but I'm assuming the other OK schools probably deal with the same things. Just curious to know what is really causing the difference in team results.

i'd imagine part of the issue is the number of schools relative to the state's population. I've had the luck of traveling and working in OK. I wonder whether there would truly be any headway made with the state budget always a big question mark plus the relatively low salaries within the state. I'd imagine after OU/OK State/Tulsa that there isnt much money left for everyone else.

[Divisiontwo]

i'd imagine part of the issue is the number of schools relative to the state's population. I've had the luck of traveling and working in OK. I wonder whether there would truly be any headway made with the state budget always a big question mark plus the relatively low salaries within the state. I'd imagine after OU/OK State/Tulsa that there isnt much money left for everyone else.

Tulsa is private.

[LoneStarTiger]

The OK schools budget issues have been around for some time now. I was at ECU during our LSC days and the budget differences between the OK schools and the TX schools was quite large, and this often times was showcased with on the field results of the TX schools. It is very frustrating but is the result of the leadership/legislature at the state level.