FYI/TCU

[50's PONY]

Can TCU afford to win at all costs?

By MITCHELL SCHNURMAN

"We couldn’t, especially a school our size, afford to buy the publicity we’re getting for the football team," Chancellor Victor Boschini told CNBC. "It’s hard to put a price on that, because you could never afford it."

The success is almost intoxicating, which is why university leaders should have their guard up. Is this really the new normal for TCU — or a bubble in a different uniform?

In the national economy, much of the pain of the past decade came from expansions that couldn’t be sustained. Companies, organizations and individuals acted as if the boom times were the baseline, and they overbuilt stores, factories, homes, second homes and more.

If TCU falls from the top in football, it can eventually jettison the high-priced coaches. In effect, they’re a variable cost that can be reset. A renovated stadium is a fixed expense, with or without debt.

TCU doesn’t draw big crowds, not compared with traditional football powers, and rarely sells out its 44,000-seat facility.

It has fewer than 25,000 alumni in North Texas, and it plays in the low-profile Mountain West Conference, whose nearest member is in Albuquerque. If attendance drops — a standard risk in the sports business — a half-filled pricey stadium would be twice the insult.

For a school with 8,800 students, TCU already plays large. It has a tradition of big-time football, and as a member of the former Southwest Conference, TCU regularly hosted the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies. In addition to paying prime-time salaries to coaches, it has made big improvements for football, including an indoor practice facility and a south end zone project at the stadium.

But it has also improved the commons, dorms and classrooms that serve all students. So far, spending on sports doesn’t seem to be starving other areas.

The opportunity costs are worth pondering, though. While TCU celebrates its top-five ranking in football, it sits at No. 110 in the college ratings by U.S. News & World Report. It has no ambitions to become a Tier One research university, either, a push being made by three other colleges in North Texas.

If TCU launches a $100 million campaign for a stadium, how much donor money will be available to recruit new faculty, strengthen academic programs and boost financial aid? TCU is in a strong spot now, especially compared with colleges in distressed parts of the country. It could make a play for some leading academics, if it had the war chest.

In general, university presidents say that contributions to athletics are separate and distinct.

Some donors, Del Conte says, are interested in sports, while others care more about academics, and they contribute accordingly.

My take is that boosters care most about the institution, period. And they’re sympathetic to the big need of the moment — or at least the big campaign push.

TCU sits at a crossroads, trying to keep the good times rolling without letting the tail wag the dog. It’s done a fine balancing act so far, but one of sports’ most enduring lessons applies here: Staying on top is a lot tougher than getting there.

Mitchell Schnurman’s column appears Sundays and Wednesdays. 817-390-7821

[HollywoodMustang]

Haha, say what you want about the programs. SMU's donors can out donate TCU's any day.

[Charleston Pony]

Haha, say what you want about the programs. SMU's donors can out donate TCU's any day.

yes, they can. Now, if they would only come watch our games