Auburn athletics director Jacobs talks finances, football, future

When you’re the athletic director of one of the country’s largest athletic departments, there is no such thing as an offseason.

In just the past couple of months, Jay Jacobs has seen one of his associate athletic directors, Mark Richard, leave for Gannon University in Pennsylvania, and not be able to hire a replacement because of budget constraints. There were also coaches to hire, one head coach and a handful of assistants for the Auburn swimming and diving program, and another top dog for the men’s golf program.

When he finally got the final vacancy out of the way, bringing in Central Florida’s Nick Clinard to oversee the struggling golf team, Jacobs had two days’ worth of Board of Trustee meetings, where his 2009-10 budget got the final seal of approval.

Even when it appeared an easier week was on the horizon, Jacobs was bogged down with meetings, such as Wednesday’s two-hour-long presentation of the graphics that will be displayed in Auburn’s new basketball arena, which is set to open for the 2010-11 season.

Jacobs made some time for Opelika-Auburn News Auburn beat writer Andrew Gribble earlier this week and sat down with him in his office for an exclusive interview.

Here are some of the excerpts:

Opelika-Auburn News: What is the current financial state of the athletic department?

Jay Jacobs: The economics of everything has touched everybody. Fortunately, we’ve been able to put some money away on reserve to get us through this tough spot because that’s what the board of trustees required us to do for days when you have an economic downturn, or a losing season or both. Season tickets aren’t where they have been in the past few years, but we feel like by the time the season starts, we’ll have sold all our season tickets.

OAN: Are there any cutbacks in the foreseeable future?

JJ: Just like the rest of the university, administratively, we haven’t been able to give raises for the second year in a row. We’ve done level budgeting for all our departments in sports. We have minor increases only where it’s completely necessary, where it impacts the academic success or overall success of our student athletes. We’re having to tighten up in every area. Mark Richard left and I’m not going to replace him. We’re just going to have to divvy up more responsibility under a tighter budget.

OAN: Other schools have had to put workers on furlough and have even had to lay off employees. How fortunate do you feel that it hasn’t come to that?

JJ: You always have to anticipate and look at what others are having to do. Fortunately, the Board was able to get a tuition increase, which was moderate in my opinion. I think the way that the Board and the president’s office and us here in athletics have managed our fiscal affairs has put us in a spot where we don’t have to consider that. People’s livelihoods are our second-most concerns. Our first-most concern is our student athletes.

Who knows what tomorrow holds, but we just have to sit where we are right now and we feel good about it.

OAN: How much did the new, billion-dollar TV contract the SEC signed with ESPN help in your planning?

JJ: It’s very positive. It gives us the opportunity to pay off some of the deficit with the new arena immediately. Gives us a chance to build on what we’ve started here and compete and give our program a chance to compete for SEC and National Championships — what the people expect.

OAN: To the surprise of many, you hired Gene Chizik as the new football coach. How do you feel six months later?

JJ: I feel the same as I did six months ago. He’s the right man for the job.

OAN: Were you surprised at all by the types of coaches he was able to corral for his assistant coaching staff?

JJ: No, because he pretty much laid out a plan in the quality people he could bring in, not specifically in names, but he was going to bring in one of the best staff’s in the nation here. That’s what he’s done.

OAN: When do you expect the football team to be where you’d like it?

JJ: We’re a couple years away. We were preseason to win the West last year and won five ballgames. That, alone is tough. It’s tough for the players, tough for everybody to get back to that winning side when you’re picked to win the West. Then, you have a coaching change and it’s tough for everybody. To have those two things together makes it more difficult. The competition in this league is the best in the nation.

But I can tell you this, the way Gene and his assistant coaches are working, hard and smart, and the kind of football players we’re recruiting, it’s going to take a couple years, but we’ll be back where we should be not only on the field, but we’ll continue to represent Auburn University in a positive way; by the caliber of the young men we bring in here and the caliber of men we produce when they come out of here. We’re going to continue to grow them physically, mentally and spiritually and that’s what Gene’s staff is doing.

OAN: What about the people who want to be satisfied NOW?

JJ: That’s the business we’re in. Nobody knows anything about delayed gratification—that’s the business we’re in. One of the greatest things about all of us as Auburn fans is our passion for Auburn. We want to win and want to be successful. I had the opportunity to be on successful teams and I expect this team to be successful. I just know because I’ve been here over 20-something years and I’ve seen this program, I just know that we’re a couple years away from being the caliber team that we should be — what all of us as Auburn people expect and deserve.
But I know we have the right guy and the right assistant coaches getting us back to where we want to be and doing it the Auburn way.

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