Issues that will affect this year's budget

Money matters

• Some ongoing issues from 2005-06 will have an impact on Southeast Missouri State's financial bottom line for 2006-07:

For the women's basketball program, the university will pay the three remaining coaches an additional $17,000 this year on top of their base salaries, and on top of the $37,500 former head coach B.J. Smith is receiving for not coaching the team from December through this May.

Also, the university is expecting a bill from the Ohio Valley Conference commissioner's office, which retained the services of The Compliance Group to conduct the investigation into potential NCAA violations by the women's basketball program during Smith's tenure.

Summer school

• Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman said there was an issue with summer school aid in 2006 that may have rankled some supporters of the women's basketball program.

"The issue with last summer, some members of the men's basketball that received support with housing expenses, but we didn't have that for the women's basketball team," Kaverman said.

"We're evaluating the whole process as we go into this summer," he added. "We simply don't have the funding to support what the coaches want. The basketball and football coaches want to keep their entire teams here."

Kaverman said a couple of factors come into play with awarding money for summer and post-eligibility aid, which is a different pool of money than the general athletic scholarships. The money is awarded based on participation rates among men and women athletes. In addition, preference is given for athletes who must attend summer school to maintain eligibility and then for students who are making progress and within 30 hours of reaching their degrees.

"We trying to graduate as many student-athletes as we can, obviously," said Kaverman, who added that the NCAA's new guidelines with an emphasis on athletes' progression toward degrees makes that a priority for aid. "Our student-athetes and coaches need to pay attention to progress toward graduation and academic eligibility."

After that, students who want to stay for the purposes of summer schoolwork are considered.

"Historically, our funding is inadequate to handle those requests," said Kaverman, who said 30 to 40 athletes typically receive aid. "Basically, it's what our budget can spare. A lot of student-athletes will stay around and take summer jobs. If we had funds, a lot more would stick around."

The women's basketball team also has had a number of foreign players, who cannot become residents and gain elibility for the lower tuition rates.

Kaverman said four women's basketball players who completed their eligibility in the spring of 2006 were among those who received aid to work toward completing their degrees.

"We've always been very proportional in awarding of assistance, historically, since I've been here," Kaverman said.

Indoor tennis, anyone?

• Kaverman said the university has signed a five-year agreement with Shawn McNally for use of the Class Act Fitness Center in Jackson. The university will pay $5,168 annually in the agreement for use of the courts from mid-January to mid-March and also has a contingency to schedule matches during the season if weather necessitates.

The agreement begins this year, but the complex has not opened yet. A grand opening has been set for early March. Southeast will pay a pro-rated amount this year.

Last year, the team traveled to Paducah, Ky., two to three times per week.

"I didn't like the idea of having our students make that trip two, three times per week," Kaverman said. "We're looking forward to the opening of the new indoor center in Jackson."

In the meantime, the team has been using an indoor facility in Carbondale, Ill.

Job vacancy

• The athletics department is searching for a business manager to replace Lee-Ann Wiggs, who resigned on Jan. 10 after 7 1/2 years with the university.

"It's a very critical position in our department," Kaverman said.

He said the position works with coaches on their budgets through the year, manages ticket operations, oversees and works on the budget and deals with "thousands of transactions per year."

The department is being supported currently by Laura Stock and other financial divisions at the university.