Robbins: No U of A coaches will be cut and he doesn't want to cut sports

Expressing an aim not to cut Arizona’s sports or their coaches, UA President Robert Robbins instead says he’s focused on helping the school’s athletic department “bridge the gap” until a potentially more lucrative future in the Big 12 Conference arrives.

Arizona’s athletic department has still not repaid any of a $55 million internal loan from the school, Robbins told the Star after an Arizona Board of Regents meeting Thursday. The loan is being amortized over a 25-year period, so depending on the underlying interest rate, the athletic department could be on the hook to repay about $3 million to $4 million per year.

“You can’t just cut it to the quick right now,” Robbins said. “You’ve got to do it over the course of years.”

UA’s athletic department is already paying about $10 million per year in debt service for capital projects, Robbins said, but he added that the $55 million loan was for athletics operations.

Robbins is now under pressure to resolve a $240 million university-wide miscalculation of projected cash on hand. During Arizona Board of Regents and UA Faculty Senate meetings earlier this month Robbins discussed the $55 million loan, saying at one point that the loan has not been repaid “fast enough.”

“Athletics — it’s the same for everybody,” Robbins said. “How do we generate enough revenue, increase ticket sales, increase contracts with people like Learfield for advertising, our Nike contract, all those kind of things. Philanthropy is really gonna have to kick in. And of course, we’re dependent on our media deal. That’s a big part of the budget.”

Arizona is expected to receive $31.7 million in media rights revenue in the Big 12 starting after its move in the 2024-25 academic year. Robbins said that’s slightly more than UA is receiving now in the Pac-12. In 2021-22, the Pac-12 distributed $37 million per school in combined media rights and postseason revenue; while the Big 12 distributed $43 million combined per school.

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“We’re trying to bridge this gap in the transition to the Big 12 and get through those years,” Robbins said. “I think the commissioner (Brett Yormark) has got some very innovative ideas of how to grow the number even more than what we’ve been promised.”

But without a significant increase in media rights dollars over the near future, UA is also focusing on reducing costs. Robbins said UA Athletic Director Dave Heeke and school CFO Lisa Rulney need to work on solutions, including hiring freezes and administrative cuts, but indicated sports and their coaches are off limits. (Heeke has not been available for comment).

“We’ll have to take a look at all of those things to see if there are any staff positions that would be cut, but we’re not cutting our coaches. You can’t do that,” Robbins said. The school is looking at “transportation costs, food costs, 5980 (supplemental academic aid) costs. There are a lot of things and I think we’re going to look across the whole university.

“The main thing is replenishing our reserves. That’s where I’ve been focused, and really tightening our belts and see what we can do in terms of being more efficient.”

Of UA’s $116 million in athletics-related expenses during 2021-22, according to its filing with the U.S. Department of Education, $19.6 million went to the head and assistant coaches for men’s sports while another $6.6 million went to women’s head and assistant coaches. But UA’s coaches are under contracts for at least one year each and head coaches of major sports are under multi-year contracts approved by the regents.

This year, UA men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd is due $4.1 million, which includes $3.7 million in compensation from the UA; the remainder comes from agreements with athletic department partners Nike and Learfield. Head football coach Jedd Fisch is earning $3.25 million combined from all sources. The Wildcats’ football success suggests he soon might have leverage for more. UA women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes is under contract for $1.1 million.

Football and men’s basketball are the only of UA’s 23 sports that make money. According to the school’s U.S. Department of Education filing, the Arizona football team posted a net profit of $20.1 million in 2021-22 while men’s basketball cleared $11.1 million. Women’s basketball lost $3.6 million while all other UA sports lost a combined $17.5 million.