Extra cost worth it for UTC

Matt Pope nailed it in three words: “Success is expensive.”

Pope, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s associate athletic director for internal operations and finance, was talking about the school’s several NCAA appearances this spring. Fortunately for UTC, most of its expenses will be covered by the NCAA, but not all.

The men’s and women’s golf programs had to pay their own way to NCAA regionals earlier this month. They were unbudgeted expenses for a cash-strapped athletic department, but they were bills UTC was happy to pay, athletic director Rick Hart said.

“There was some expense at the regionals ... but certainly not an amount where you would opt out of the opportunity to go,” Hart said. “It’s been manageable, and you easily get that much recognition and visibility to offset whatever expenses you do incur.”

The NCAA paid expenses for the softball team’s drive to a regional in Tuscaloosa, but softball regionals are a first step in the national tournament rather than a qualifying step as is the case for golf. UTC also is sending a few participants to a track and field regional this weekend in Louisville, Ky

The women golfers, in just their second season, competed in the Central Regional at Ohio State’s Scarlet Golf Course in Columbus, Ohio. The Lady Mocs finished eighth in the regional, claiming the final berth into last week’s NCAA finals at Owings Mills, Md., near Baltimore.

Pope said the women traveled by van to the regional and the trip cost around $7,500. The NCAA doesn’t pick up the tab for the regional, but it did the finals, where the Lady Mocs finished 21st.

The men’s team finished third at the Central Regional at the Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla., and will play in the NCAA finals starting today in Toledo, Ohio. Pope said the Mocs flew to Stillwater and the trip cost around $10,000.

“In a perfect world you would budget for (the NCAA trips) and if they didn’t happen that money would go unused or reallocated, but unfortunately we don’t have the luxury to budget for those types of things,” Hart said. “We just do our best, throughout the course of the year, to manage the resources that we do have to account for and allow for trips like these.

“Certainly we don’t ever want to be in a position where a team either can’t enjoy that opportunity or can’t get a conference championship ring or some of those things that you want to do to reward those achievements.”

Men’s golf coach Mark Guhne said his team traveled to the regional with a limited budget. The Mocs stayed at the tournament hotel, a Microtel Inn and Suites, but went their own way for meals and sought out the cheapest possible flights, even if they required long layovers.

“We ate cheaper and we shopped our airline tickets pretty good, and Sunday (May 17) was an all-day day trying trying to get home,” Guhne said. “From that standpoint, we do things that other teams don’t have to do.”

Guhne said as challenging as UTC’s budget restrictions can be — he said his recruiting budget is $1,500, while many top programs have a budget more than 20 times larger — there is a satisfaction that comes with succeeding despite the obstacles.

The most important thing, he said, is making sure the players and their play don’t suffer because of budget issues.

“We just want to let them play,” he said. “We don’t want them to feel like there’s anything they don’t have to compete and to win.”