NCAA Division I swimming and diving coaches have voluntarily given back a combined $6.2 million from their 2020-21 school year budgets to host institutions, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America announced Thursday. The voluntary cuts are intended to preempt severe fallout (like cutting entire programs) due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In response to the financial impact COVID-19 is having on higher education and intercollegiate athletics, Division I swimming and diving coaches have banded together to slash costs and identify ways to make our sport more sustainable,” the CSCAA said.
According to the release, budget cuts have come from scholarships, roster sizes, salaries, and staffing. Some teams “swapped top-ranked national matchups for lower profile in-state competitions,” the CSCAA said, and other teams are “exploring virtual meets.”
Additionally, some coaches have given up preseason or winter training trips, and others have declined their bonuses.
In April, a head coach of a combined men’s and women’s Power 5 team reached out to SwimSwam to share how he voluntarily cut $150,000 from a $2 million budget to preempt cuts. That coach canceled a cross-country trip for a quad meet, requested no increase in his new contract, requested to delay filling a vacant assistant coach position on the staff, and will only order one tech suit per athlete as opposed to two.
Thursday’s CSCAA announcement is signed by 108 coaches, 30 of them anonymously.
| Coach name, school | |||
| Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Jeanne Fleck, Fresno State | Anonymous, FBS Head Coach* | Phil Hurley, Saint Francis (PA) |
| Augie Busch, Arizona | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Anonymous, FBS Head Coach* | Jim Halliburton, Saint Louis |
| Bob Bowman, Arizona State | Brian Thomas, George Washington | Hollie Bonewit-Cron, Miami (OH) | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* |
| Neil Harper, Arkansas | Amanda Caldwell, Georgia Southern | Michael Bottom, Michigan | Anonymous, FBS Head Coach* |
| Anonymous, FBS Head Coach* | Anonymous, FBS Head Coach* | Matt Gianiodis, Michigan State | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* |
| Mike Stephens, Boston College | Steve Schaffer, Grand Canyon | Anonymous, FBS Head Coach* | McGee Moody, South Carolina |
| Dan Schinnerer, Bucknell | Eddie Gillie, Green Bay | Andrew Grevers, Missouri | Jason Mahowald, South Dakota |
| Andy Bashor, Buffalo | Elliot Ptasnik, Hawaii | Dave Collins, Missouri State | Douglas Humphrey, South Dakota State |
| Rick Rowland, Cal Baptist | Ryan Wochomurka, Houston | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Geoff Hanson, Southern Illinois |
| Teri McKeever, California | Nic Askew, Howard | William Roberts, Navy | Dan Schemmel, Stanford |
| Bill Ball, Central Connecticut | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Anonymous, FBS Head Coach* | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* |
| Mandy Commons-DiSalle, Cincinnati | Susan Novitsky, Illinois | Braden Holloway, NC State | Matt Kredich, Tennessee |
| Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Caitlin Hamilton, Illinois State | Pablo Morales, Nebraska | James Winchester, Texas Christian |
| Woody Woodard, Colorado State | Tim Loeffler, Illinois-Chicago | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Matt Macedo, UC Santa Barbara |
| Jim Bolster, Columbia | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Ian Coffey, North Florida | Jordan Wolfrum, UCLA |
| Chris Maiello, Connecticut | Ray Looze, Indiana | Andy Johns, Northern Arizona | Elizabeth Lykins, UNC Asheville |
| Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Lisa Ebeling, Northern Colorado | Joe Dykstra, Utah |
| Chris Hansen, CSU Bakersfield | Nick Cavataro, Iona | Michael Litzinger, Notre Dame | Jeremy Organ, Vanderbilt |
| Jamie Holder, Dartmouth | Dane Pedersen, James Madison | Anonymous, FBS Head Coach* | Gerry Courmoyer, Vermont |
| Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Clark Campbell, Kansas | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Rick Simpson, Villanova |
| Alicia Hicken Franklin, Denver | Jim Dailey, Lafayette | Bret Lundgaard, Princeton | Andrew Bretscher, VMI |
| Dan Colella, Duke | Amy Burgess, Little Rock | John O’Neill, Providence | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* |
| Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Anonymous, FBS Head Coach* | Matthew Leach, Washington State |
| Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | David Geyer, Louisiana State | Seth Huston, Rice | Victor Riggs, West Virginia |
| Jeff Poppell, Florida | Brian Loeffler, Loyola (MD) | Matthew Barany, Richmond | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* |
| Randy Horner, Florida International | Patrick Malone, Manhattan | Stephen Fletcher, Rider | David Denniston, Wyoming |
| Neal Studd, Florida State | Larry VanWagner, Marist | Anonymous, FCS Head Coach* | Brad Smith, Youngstown State |
The release also notes that while swimming and diving is considered a “non-revenue” sport, its athletes paid $273 million in tuition and fees in the 2019-20 school year. Athletes in the Ivy League, where there are no athletic scholarships, paid the most at $26.2 million last year.
It also says that schools spent about $5,100 per swimmer last season, making swimmers more expensive than only rowers and track athletes in the realm of college sports.
I agree that some concessions are better than others if it allows the sport to continue. Travel is a high cost item that could provide savings in the coming year. Even freezing salaries for a year is not unreasonable. Cutting the only diving coach is significant.
It’s my understanding that Miami (OH) has elected to eliminate the diving coach to cut their budget. Where does this leave the divers, program, and recruits? A number of the options mentioned in this article would seem to be more cost effective. Someone still has to coach these divers.
I hear that they are hiring a swim coach who dived in high school.
That kind of move implies they have low regard for the diving portion of their team.
FCS vs FBS?
Division I-A and I-AA were renamed “Football Bowl Subdivision” (FBS) and “Football Championship Subdivision” (FCS), respectively
Is Bob Bowman’s contribution cutting the diving program??
Bob Bowman should be paying ASU to coach there with the poor performance of the team during his tenure and the high turnover in athletes and coaches under his watch. It’s been an embarrassment…
“They don’t hate the good ones. They hate the great ones.” -Kobe Bryant.
You’ve got to be kidding… Bowman’s record coaching college TEAMS speaks for Itself. His performance at Michigan was below average and at ASU, it’s been disgraceful. I’ll give him credit for Phelps. He’s a good personal trainer and a lousy coach when leading actual teams.
In Bowman’s 4 NCAA championship meets, Michigan was 6th, 8th, 7th, and 6th. In the 4 years prior, under Jon Urbanchek, they were 5th, 9th, 9th, and 10th (reverse order).
If four top-8 finishes at NCAAs is “below average” then I’d love to be “below average.”
*Mic drop.
Pfff…