SEC athletic department budgets are impressive, and I’m sure you’ve heard random academic types complain about it. However, all those academics who complain about the big salaries need to shut up. The University of Florida’s athletic fund is being asked to provide $6 million to the help the university deal with a shortfall. The Orlando Sentinel reports, “UF faces potential layoffs and the elimination of some academic programs in order to absorb a $30 to $90 million slash based on the Senate and the House’s versions of the budget.”
According to the report, Florida’s athletic fund has provided almost $50 million in funds to the university since 1990. That is a strong track record of helping out academics.
From the perspective of Alabama athletics, the University has raided the football fund for big projects in the past. In fact, all those anti-Alabama people at UAB should be thankful to Alabama football—it was football money that procured dorms for medical students at the medical college in 1945.
“Through the influence of Dr. Raymond Paty, president of the University, the school’s big athletic fund, built from football profits and kept inviolate for years, was tapped for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to buy dormitories for students at the medical college. It marked the first time that anyone had dared dig into the big fund for other than sports purposes.” (Irving Beiman, 1947)
History shows that athletics contributes substantially to academics. Why is it that all we hear from academics are complaints about big salaries?
You can read more about SEC budgets on our SEC athletic department budget page.
4 thoughts on “Athletics bails out academics”
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Interesting story… too bad you had to pull the “knock UAB” card. And on top of that, it was a real stretch to make the point; UAB didn’t come into existance for another 24 years and those dorms are no more. It’s 2009.
I didn’t knock UAB; I knocked UAB people who make a career out of hating UA. And I didn’t really knock anyone. I said it would be best if people remembered history. Not to put too fine a point on it, but UAB wouldn’t exist without the medical college. To deny the important role Alabama football played in making the medical college a success would be wrong.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, but UAB wouldn’t exist without the medical college. To deny the important role Alabama football played in making the medical college a success would be wrong.”
It’s roundabout comments like this that continue to stoke UAB supporters’ animosity. Most “UAB people” do not care about football, and especially not Alabama football. To play Two Degrees of Separation to make the slight point that UAB’s existence is partly due to Alabama football IS a stretch.
UAB supporters are mostly Auburn fans who pretend to be UAB people. Most UAB students don’t care about college athletics other than Alabama and Auburn football.
How do I know? I matriculated there and hold a degree from the place.
UAB fanatics want to deny the Alabama association at every turn—pointing out the important role of UA football in making the medical college a success in its early days upsets them. I’m going to continue to do it at every opportunity since history is the greatest antidote to the spin that comes out of Southside.