Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 13, 1993 TAG: 9302130033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
ATHLETICS PLAN UP FOR VMI TO ADOPT
VMI's BOARD OF VISITORS is expected to give the OK for a five-year plan that would keep the Keydets competing in Division I.\ A proposal expected to be adopted today allows VMI to continue competing in Division I athletics while a five-year fund-raising drive kicks in.
In a four-minute joint meeting in VMI's Lejeune Hall on Friday, the Cadet Affairs Committee and the Audit, Finance and Planning Committee recommended that the VMI Board of Visitors accept a five-year plan for the funding of the school's athletic program.
The board meets this morning and is expected to adopt the measure.
The proposal's goal is for VMI "to continue fielding teams in 13 intercollegiate sports with the present VMI needs to play Division I sports and we must have wide participation. Both the level of play and the extent of play are essential to everything we're doing here. Major Gen. John W. Knapp VMI Superintendent large participation by the Corps of Cadets."
In a Nov. 6 meeting of the VMI Board of Visitors, board members vehemently and nearly unanimously insisted that the Keydets retain their Division I membership in all sports.
The joint committee met three times since November to formulate a plan to back the passion - a plan which presents a balanced operating budget contingent upon the success of a five-year athletic fund drive seeking $9.2 million.
Bill Berry, board vice president, briefly outlined Modified Case B-2 and recommended, on behalf of the joint committee, that it be approved by the board. There were no questions or comments by committee members.
"Somebody asked me, `Is this going to be a short meeting?' " said Berry as he adjourned. "I said, `If it isn't, we're in big trouble.' It looks like we're not in big trouble."
The proposal essentially keeps VMI athletics financially afloat until drive funds are available. Among its major components:
The five-year, $9.2-million athletic fund drive.
A July 1 lump sum payment of $1.18 million to the athletic program from the VMI Development Board, a six-member organization which coordinates school fund-raising activities and manages the spending of VMI assets. The development board then will phase out its annual "emergency pay" - from $452,000 in 1993-94, to $253,201 in 1997-98, to nothing in 1998-99. The proposal calls for drive money to offset the development board's yearly payment in five years.
The Development Board will continue to pay the debt service payments on athletic facilities.
Small increases in operating expenses, revenues for football gate receipts, concessions and cadet fees.
Money for approximately 100 athletic scholarships. According to VMI athletic director Davis Babb, VMI awarded 105 scholarships this year, down from "about 122 two or three years ago."
"We're going to try to hold the line at 100," Babb said. "Any precipitous drop would affect our ability to compete."
Babb said coaches in all sports, football in particular, would have to intensify their in-state recruiting because they are all now "recruiting off dollar amounts."
VMI Superintendent Major Gen. John W. Knapp agreed with committee members that Modified Case B-2 makes the best of a tough situation.
"Everyone is in full accord. All the questions that remained after the November meeting have been answered," Knapp said.
"VMI needs to play Division I sports and we must have wide participation. Both the level of play and the extent of play are essential to everything we're doing here."
Berry said he thought of the proposal as a "pathway."
"We had to find a way to get from here to there," he said. "There was a very strong feeling among alumni that they wanted to raise the money, but we had to find a way to survive the campaign period."
VMI board members think the fund-raising target is well within reach. The 12-year, three-phase "VMI Campaign," which ended in 1990 after the institutes 150th year, raised about $150 million, including nearly $75 million in a four-year span.