Eric Hyman's Hat Trick
posted by Scott Hood on Wednesday, June 20, 2007
In my humble opinion, it's not enough.
We're quietly approaching Hyman's two-year anniversary as Gamecock athletics director. He started July 1, 2005. Hyman, as many of you know, was hand-picked by President Andrew Sorensen, who served as a one-man search committee, to succeed Mike McGee.
Hyman thought he was walking into a situation where USC's financial house was in order. He was wrong.
Instead, he discovered an athletic department hemorrhaging money. USC lost $5 million during the two-year period bridging the tenures of McGee and Hyman, and its reserves were dangerously low.
Hyman analogized the situation when he arrived in Columbia to a car overheating. But things have changed.
Hyman recently told the Board of Trustees that he expects the athletic department to conclude the current fiscal year with a $1.6 million surplus, and he anticipates a $1.8 million surplus by the end of the upcoming fiscal year (2007-2008) based on projected revenues of $60 million.
Not overwhelming numbers, especially when compared to some of USC's brethren in the SEC, but it's a start.
How did Hyman do it? By making unpopular decisions. He's raised tickets prices to football games. Also, fans will have to pay for parking beginning in 2007. But Hyman has also cut costs. In one infamous episode, he prohibited the cheerleaders and pep band from traveling to New York City for the NIT Championship.
In another controversial decision, USC bused to LSU for a weekend baseball series. But that was Ray Tanner's decision, even though Hyman took the heat.
Mike McGee did a lot of good things for USC during his 12-year tenure as athletics director. He expanded Williams-Brice Stadium and oversaw the construction of the Colonial Center. But Olympic sport facilities deteriorated badly (ask track coach Curtis Frye for his opinion of McGee) and McGee's philosophy of not raising ticket prices after a losing season cost USC millions of dollars while its SEC counterparts took a free market approach based on supply-and-demand and typically raised prices every year.
Hyman brought zero-based budgeting with him from TCU. Unlike his predecessor, who gave coaches more wiggle room when it came to expenditures, Hyman requires his coaches and staff to justify every expense.
In other words, Hyman has operated the athletic department like a business.
And not a moment too soon.
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Eric Hyman is paid a lot of money ($288,750, according to an on-line salary database) to serve the University of South Carolina as its athletic director.
In my humble opinion, it's not enough.
We're quietly approaching Hyman's two-year anniversary as Gamecock athletics director. He started July 1, 2005. Hyman, as many of you know, was hand-picked by President Andrew Sorensen, who served as a one-man search committee, to succeed Mike McGee.
Hyman thought he was walking into a situation where USC's financial house was in order. He was wrong.
Instead, he discovered an athletic department hemorrhaging money. USC lost $5 million during the two-year period bridging the tenures of McGee and Hyman, and its reserves were dangerously low.
Hyman analogized the situation when he arrived in Columbia to a car overheating. But things have changed.
Hyman recently told the Board of Trustees that he expects the athletic department to conclude the current fiscal year with a $1.6 million surplus, and he anticipates a $1.8 million surplus by the end of the upcoming fiscal year (2007-2008) based on projected revenues of $60 million.
Not overwhelming numbers, especially when compared to some of USC's brethren in the SEC, but it's a start.
How did Hyman do it? By making unpopular decisions. He's raised tickets prices to football games. Also, fans will have to pay for parking beginning in 2007. But Hyman has also cut costs. In one infamous episode, he prohibited the cheerleaders and pep band from traveling to New York City for the NIT Championship.
In another controversial decision, USC bused to LSU for a weekend baseball series. But that was Ray Tanner's decision, even though Hyman took the heat.
Mike McGee did a lot of good things for USC during his 12-year tenure as athletics director. He expanded Williams-Brice Stadium and oversaw the construction of the Colonial Center. But Olympic sport facilities deteriorated badly (ask track coach Curtis Frye for his opinion of McGee) and McGee's philosophy of not raising ticket prices after a losing season cost USC millions of dollars while its SEC counterparts took a free market approach based on supply-and-demand and typically raised prices every year.
Hyman brought zero-based budgeting with him from TCU. Unlike his predecessor, who gave coaches more wiggle room when it came to expenditures, Hyman requires his coaches and staff to justify every expense.
In other words, Hyman has operated the athletic department like a business.
And not a moment too soon.
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.