Gaucho Manifesto #5

Today, it's all about dolla's and cents baby! Just like my homies Fat Joe and Lil' Wayne, we're gonna make it rain tonight with all the dollar numbers we're dropping.

Making it rain is more 2007 than 2008, but here it goes.






As part of The Gaucho Manifesto's mission, we believe that UCSB has the goods to take the Big West title every year and be a staple of the NCAA Tournament, much like Gonzaga is to the WCC. As a result, I do some research to back up my opinions.

Clearly, today is a big day in Gaucho Nation since Gary Cunningham retired. No longer are we stuck with a crusty ol' dude in the AD's chair. Here's hoping that Chancellor Yang can get fired up for something other than championing UCSB's academic reputation and trying to refute UCSB's party school image (For the record, TGM thinks you can have your cake and eat it to. In other words, both can co-exist), and hire one bad-ass AD. This is a post for another day, but I already have an excellent candidate in mind.



Now on to the real post. Clearly, we can all agree that UCSB should be the class of the Big West in basketball, but they haven't been. What's the cause of that? We may never know, but I think once you see these numbers, you are going to fighting mad.

EDITOR'S NOTE: It has been called to my attention that I have again been incorrect on some numbers. UCI didn't actually have expenses of only $100,000+. I've changed this post to reflect that. I was relying on the website www.bbstate.com. The site that was referred to me was http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial_reports/revenue_stat/show . I'll go ahead and assume this is correct because it makes way more sense. You can disregard the UCI bashing below for their "shoestring" budget.

First, I'm going to list some numbers. Try to think what these numbers are:

$1,612, 923
$1,505,592
$1,141,893
$1,012, 697
$965,993
$964,009
$905,706
$871,565
$684,576


These numbers are the 2007 fiscal year basketball budget for each member of the Big West Conference. Below are the numbers matched up with each school.

$1,612, 923 - Pacific
$1,505,592 - UCSB
$1,141,893 - LBSU
$1,012, 697 - Northridge
$965,993 - UCR
$964,009 - Irvine
$905,706 - Cal Poly
$871,565 - Fullerton
$684,576 - Davis


The first thing that popped into my mind was the amount of money UCI spends on their program. I quadruple checked that number because I was almost certain that it was incorrect (by the way, these numbers come from www.bbstate.com). It's correct, which is pretty ridiculous.

EDITOR'S NOTE: See above, bbstate is wrong.

Now, what irks me is that UCSB has the second highest budget in the conference and the highest of the public schools, yet we always seem to find a way to lose in the semis of the Big West Tournament. To me, this is a travesty. UCSB has the second highest budget, yet we've only been to the NCAA Tournament once during the last ten or so years.

Someone is not doing their job. It's either Bob Williams or Gary Cunningham. I know that money doesn't necessarily translate into success (see: NY Yankees), but there is something to be said for having a much higher budget than most teams in your conference. After all, the Big West's NCAA berths since 2000 have gone solely to the 4 highest budgetary teams.

Below is a list of the Big West NCAA berths:
2007: LBSU
2006: Pacific
2005: Utah State, Pacific
2004: Pacific
2003: Utah State
2002: UCSB
2001: Utah State
2000: Utah State
1999: New Mexico State
1998: Utah State
1997: Pacific

Does anything stick out to you? Of the remaining Big West teams, UCSB, with the second highest budget has only 1 appearance in the NCAA tournament. Pacific spends $100,000 more than us and they've been three times over the last five years.

A budget isn't indicative of how successful a program can be. However, comparing budgets is useful when you compare them to others in your conference. When other teams with the same or less money than our team are making the tournament with more frequency, some questions need to be asked. We shouldn't sit on our asses and always look off to the greener pastures of next year. UCSB clearly has more resources than everyone but Pacific, but we routinely come up short.

Someone is not using our money wisely (after all, the taxpayers of California pay for this mostly). If you were in any other job and you had the second highest budget, but your department kept underperforming year after year, what do you think your boss would do to you? Your ass would be fired. Unfortunately, Bob Williams may have the cushiest job around. An AD who doesn't give a shit. A fan base who doesn't really give a shit. A chancellor who doesn't give a shit about athletics. Without any expectations, he has nothing to worry about. If we keep giving him money and he keeps giving us the same result without any consequences, he assumes it's ok (you know the old story, "If you give a mouse a cookie"). Well it's not.

This money needs to be spent more wisely. Use it to bring in better recruits, to play a tougher non-conference schedule. Do something, but please don't lose in the Big West Tournament.

Lastly, I'm trying to procure an expense report of the men's basketball expenditures for last year to see exactly how this money is being spent. If anyone has access to this, please drop me a comment.