Recruiting Budget Could See Increase Next Year

Unlike high school where coaches are given certain players, college coaches have to go out and recruit the athletes they feel will best fit their program.

As with most college programs, recruiting costs money. Currently each athletic team within the EMU athletic department is allotted $500 for recruiting. It is up to the coach to decide how the money is split between travel and postage. With the cost of gas and postage going up so often, EMU coaches can easily have difficulty recruiting quality players to join the Royal family.

As a result of not having a bigger recruiting budget, some coaches resort to using their own money to build a quality and competitive program. Head Track and Field Coach, Seth McGuffin, stated, "just because we run out of recruiting money doesn't mean there are quality athletes out there that we should stop recruiting." He went on to say that he "believes in EMU and wants to get the best athletes in the programs in order to build the entire athletic department up."

EMU's recruiting budget is on average five to six times less in comparison to other Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) schools. In some cases, it can be as high as ten times less. Even with this disadvantage, EMU sports have been highly competitive in recent years.

Besides the recruiting budget, EMU lacks in the ability to pay their assistant coaches with a sizable paycheck. EMU assistant coaches mainly work for the love of their sport, not for the paycheck, because of their desire to build a successful team. Most ODAC schools have a half-time paid assistant on each team. In comparison, EMU head coaches are half-time coaches and become full time employees by filling other smaller jobs on campus. Head coaches are given an allotted amount of money to divide between their assistant coaches and some work on a volunteer basis. The amount of money allotted for assistant coaches equals out to be roughly one tenth of a full time position here at EMU. Another route that other schools use to get assistant coaches is having a paid graduate assistance position. Graduate assistants do not have to be paid a great amount, but they are highly dedicated and are very knowledgeable of their sport.

There is hope in the future for coaches to have more money to recruit with. During the current prioritization process, the committee set forth a preliminary recommendation report. In the report, the committee called for an increase in athletic recruiting budget incrementally over the next three years. According to Dave King, EMU Athletic Director, the increases would start next year with the recruiting budget at $1,000 per team and increasing over the next three years to top out at $2,000 per team. With the increase, coaches will have to keep a certain number of players on their rosters.

The probable increase in the recruiting budget marks the first time in a number of years that the athletic department has requested to have an increase in budget other than inflation costs. McGuffin was excited to see the increase and said, "It is a step in the right direction. The increase will double and eventually quadruple our current budget. I do whatever I can to get the athletes I want and having the increase will allow me to become more creative in my recruiting methods."

Of the undergraduate students here at EMU, athletes account for roughly 25% of the student body. The pending increase in the recruiting budget will allow our coaches to actively recruit athletes who fit in with the EMU mission.