Van rental, gas, food and uniforms are only a few items that go into an athletic budget for coaches at Ottawa University.
Wendell Smith, head golf and assistant head football coach, said the process of putting a team’s athletic budget together is somewhat lengthy.
Smith stated that general expenses include tournament fees, meals, hotels, van rental and gas. “Then we fundraise outside of that,” he said.
When the golf team decides to fundraise, they do it for personal things for their players.
“(This) generates money to go towards extra things like rain gear and golf bags,” Smith said.
“If we had a higher budget, we would travel farther,” he said. “Right now we are playing a backyard schedule. With a higher budget we could expand our schedule, which would help us become more nationally known.”
Smith also wants the team to play in more competitive tournaments so the team can add variety to their schedule.
“It would be nice to take us out of our comfort zone,” Smith said.
Smith knows he has to make do with what he has, but he only wants what is best for his team.
Head cross country and track coach Kirk Wren said a significant portion of his athletic budget is directed towards travel expenses.
“We are allotted so much money for meals and the vans,” Wren said. “We have 27 to 31 people on the team, so we’re almost ready for a bus.”
Wren said managing meals can be difficult with such a large team and lengthy meets.
“Throwers may be done at noon, and the meet is going on for eight more hours,” he said. “With a higher budget it would be nice to have … support staff and be able to take another vehicle, but I would really like to buy more food and have it on the bus ready to go.”
Wren said the coaches work to condition the athletes to do their best in any given situation.
“We discipline our athletes to be the best student athlete on that specific day,” Wren said.