After painful year, Coburn sees brighter days for FSU Athletics' finances

After perhaps the most challenging year in Florida State athletics department history -- one that saw salaries reduced, furloughs imposed, travel restricted and positions eliminated or frozen -- there is hope that the worst of the Seminoles' financial storm has passed.

During a sit-down interview with Warchant.com and the Tallahassee Democrat, FSU athletics director David Coburn said he was elated to tell the school's coaches this summer that he was, "beginning to see the light at the end of this financial tunnel."

"It’s a good feeling," Coburn said. "We are not going to be furloughing, we are not going to be cutting salaries … unless things fall apart again."

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FSU was already struggling to balance its budget when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all of college athletics -- and most of the accompanying revenue streams -- in March 2020.

Right off the bat, the Seminoles lost expected profits from that year's NCAA men's basketball tournament. Then the entire 2020-21 academic year saw drastic decreases in revenue due to limited attendance in every sport, while health-related expenses skyrocketed.

"We ended up cutting the budget by about 25 percent last year," Coburn said. "I think the good thing was we were pretty much able to contain the damage to the one fiscal year. We didn’t have to take out loans or anything like that, that would encumber us over the long haul. The budget for this year is around $106 million, which is not as high as it would have been, say even last year before we were hit COVID. But it’s way better than it was last year."

With the financial forecast looking brighter for 2021-22, Coburn said FSU is beginning to "strategically" fill positions once again. Travel restrictions, related primarily to recruiting and scheduling, are becoming a little looser.

"The objective was to try and stabilize the budget situation without damaging the sports programs. That was the line to walk," Coburn said, pointing to FSU's 16th-place finish in the national Directors' Cup standings as proof that the Seminoles succeeded in that mission.

But he knows there is more work to be done.

One of FSU's keys to digging out of the financial hole will be filling Doak Campbell Stadium again this fall, beginning this Sunday when No. 9 Notre Dame comes to town.

For the first time since 2019, the Seminoles will look to pack in 70,000-plus fans for a home football game. Of course, attendance for games later this season likely will be dependent on how well Mike Norvell's squad performs against the Irish.

FSU posted a 3-6 record in Norvell's first season as head coach, but Coburn said he is confident the program is heading in the right direction. He said that improvement is evident in recruiting, where the Seminoles currently have the nation's No. 3-ranked class for 2022, and also when he visits the practice fields.

"We are better," Coburn said. "I am looking for improvement, and I am seeing improvement. It’s a difficult schedule, but I see improvement. I think we definitely helped ourselves in the [transfer] portal. We have a really good group of freshmen. He’s running very hot right now in recruiting for next year. I am very optimistic.

"I am comfortable we got the right guy. I like our assistant coaching staff a great deal. I think they are making a tremendous difference for us, both in recruiting and in teaching. Love the strength staff. Will he get it done? Absolutely."

As optimistic as he is about the future of FSU Football, Coburn admits it might not be reasonable to expect a major jump in the Seminoles' win total this fall.

FSU is scheduled to face five teams ranked in the top 15 of the preseason Associated Press poll -- No. 3 Clemson, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 13 Florida and No. 14 Miami. And the Seminoles are still in the midst of flipping a roster that was decimated by attrition -- the kind that comes with having three head coaches in four years.

"You have to look at the wins and losses. We all do," Coburn said. "The objective is to win. But I think you have to evaluate in the context of, 'Are we getting better?' That’s the question. All the fans I’ve talked to … that’s what they are looking for. I don’t think there’s anybody out there who is terribly naïve about this.

"They know it’s a tough schedule. They know what we went through last year. But everybody is looking for improvement. I think they are going to see it."

Winning games and selling additional tickets will help Florida State's bottom line today, but Coburn also maintains a sharp focus on the finances of the future.

It's no secret that FSU and other programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference are generating millions and millions of dollars less each year than schools in the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten. And that disparity figures to get even worse now that the SEC is adding traditional college football powers Oklahoma and Texas.

That expansion not only will provide SEC schools with additional television money, but it could result in even bigger paydays down the road by landing more teams in the College Football Playoff.

In the wake of those moves, the ACC has announced a working "alliance" with the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences. While details haven't been ironed out yet, the three conferences are expected to work together in scheduling -- which could lead to larger television deals -- while also vowing to support each other's interests in other negotiations.

"What that generates to me is hope," Coburn said. "Right now, it’s aspirations. A lot of details to be worked out. I think we have a good group of athletic directors from all three conferences working to flush out the details of this thing with the three commissioners. But we’ve got commitments from the three commissioners, from the chairs of the three boards of directors of the three conferences. That’s three presidents, or chancellors, the chairs of those conferences.

"I think it will help stabilize at least the Power 5 piece of the NCAA for a little bit. I think it helps align us with like-minded schools, conferences on NCAA issues, hopefully on Congressional issues ... there’s hope."

Coburn likely won't be in the A.D.'s chair when all of that plays out over the long-term. When he was hired initially as FSU's interim athletics director in August 2018, the plan was to help the department get on better financial footing before turning things over to a new university president and athletics director.

Richard McCullough started his tenure as the new president a couple weeks ago, and he ultimately will decide who he wants on his senior leadership team. But Coburn said he has no immediate plans of passing the baton just yet.

"I have no set timeframe in mind," Coburn said. "Just going to be how I feel about where we are and how I feel about where I am."

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