Charlotte 49ers, Davidson athletics directors dealing with uncertain times

Charlotte 49ers athletics director Mike Hill has heard Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney’s optimism and the more cautious tone coming from ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

Hill understands it’s anyone’s guess when college athletics might return to normal after the coronavirus pandemic is brought under control. Some, like Swinney, say they fully expect to be playing in the fall. Others, like Herbstreit, say they would be shocked if college football or even the NFL would have a season.

“We certainly have an awareness of where we’re going to be over the next couple of months,” Hill said. “Beyond that, nobody knows. You read a lot of speculation, and people are entitled to that. But that’s all it is, speculation.”

However things eventually work out, life at Mecklenburg County’s two NCAA Division I athletic departments has been different this spring. The Observer talked to Hill and Davidson’s Chris Clunie — the athletics directors of Mecklenburg County’s two NCAA Division I programs — about how they’re making the best of a bad situation.

How the Charlotte 49ers are dealing with break

Concerns about the virus ended the basketball season during conference tournaments and wiped out the remainder of the spring sports season.

“Right now, we hope and expect to start fall sports on time,” Hill said. “But we’re also smart enough to know that might change depending on what the world looks like.”

Hill stressed that Charlotte won’t allow athletes back to practice or competition until there is consensus from university, state and federal officials that it’s safe.

“There are conversations going on now in the NCAA about the possibility of pushing seasons back, if required, but we’re not there yet,” Hill said. “We don’t want to be put in the position of putting our athletes in harm’s way if they’re not feeling safe, or if they’re not conditioned enough yet.”

Hill said he’s in constant contact with his staff and coaches. Communication, in the form of group texts or video calls, has been vitally important.

“Since we’re spread apart in our own little silos, it’s easy for information not to make it to somebody else,” Hill said. “Because things are moving so rapidly, more communication is important.

“I was on a Conference USA athletics directors’ conference call the other day, and as soon as it was over, I texted my staff and said we have to get on a call here because everything that was discussed was relevant to all of us. If you don’t do it right then, everybody goes on to the next thing. There are so many new developments, so the majority of my time is spent communicating.”

Hill is also focusing on the athletic department’s $33 million budget, which is taking a hit.

Revenues from the canceled NCAA basketball tournament (distributed to schools through C-USA) of about $1 million aren’t coming in. An annual fundraising auction that raised $265,000 last summer has been canceled. Student fees of about $900,000 from canceled on-campus summer school classes will also be missed (60 percent of the 49ers’ athletic budget comes from student fees).

Hill said ticket sales and annual giving for the football program were on a fast pace, but that will likely slow down.

Another chunk of revenue could also be potentially imperiled if football season is held up: the 49ers’ season opener at Tennessee includes a $1.3 million guarantee from the Volunteers.

“We’re OK for now, but we certainly don’t have enough contingency to withstand a full year if we don’t have some kind of sense of normalcy returned to campus,” Hill said. “We’re in a better position than a lot of ‘Group of 5’ (conference) schools, because of the good stewardship of our financial team and athletic foundation.”

The NCAA recently voted to allow athletes from spring sports an extra year of eligibility. Hill said Charlotte will spend about $100,000 on scholarships for athletes who want to play that added season.

Hill also said the release of a $40 million-plus plan for the improvement and construction of athletics facilities has been put on hold.

“It’s not an ideal time right now to try and raise money to build facilities,” Hill said. “It’s my expectation we’ll press pause on that for a while until we get a sense of where we are as an economy nationally.”

A planned brand reassessment of 49ers athletics will continue as planned.

“The branding rollout is still on track,” Hill said. “We’re just not there yet for a number of reasons. But we’ll continue to move that forward.”

There are some savings attached to canceling of the spring seasons. Also, money from recruiting budgets isn’t being spent.

How the Davidson Wildcats are dealing with break

Davidson’s Clunie is in agreement with Hill on not making decisions yet, based on the volatility of the times.

“The hardest part is dealing with the uncertainty,” Clunie said. “What we’re trying to do right now is to plan as if we’ll have a full fall sports slate and that there will be some level of normalcy.

“But we’re building in being flexible and adaptable. We have a contingency to that plan — what if this or that happens. Then when we get more information, we’ll know what to do.”

Davidson is a private college and doesn’t release how much it spends on athletics. But Clunie said its men’s basketball program provides the highest amount of revenue for the department. Davidson plays in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision and doesn’t offer scholarships for that sport.

“We’re always building in contingencies, but our margins are so small anyway,” Clunie said. “That’s neither a good nor a bad thing. It’s a good thing became we can be a little more nimble. Most of our athletes aren’t on full scholarship.”

But that also means missing income — from the NCAA basketball tournament, for example — will have a greater impact on Davidson’s finances.

“That’s a significant hit,” Clunie said.

The NCAA ruling on adding spring sports scholarships won’t have much of an impact at Davidson, which doesn’t have a graduate school. Clunie said most of the Wildcats’ senior spring athletes were on schedule to graduate this spring and couldn’t have used that year of eligibility at Davidson anyway.

“None of our spring sports have full scholarships to begin with,” Clunie said. “And the seniors were already planning on moving on and had job offers after graduation. So you can’t slow that train down.”

Clunie said there will continue to be discussions at Davidson, the Atlantic 10 and throughout the NCAA on new ways to keep costs down coming out of the pandemic.

“Maybe it’s time to start to limit air travel; bus as much as possible,” he said. “Limit travel rosters. We need to talk about all these things within our guiding principles. But everything should be on the table.”