x
Breaking News
More () »

WSU AD Pat Chun addresses athletic department debt

Chun says the five year debt recovery plan is on track. WSU athletics was projected to be $67 million in debt by the end of this school year.

KREM Sports Director Brenna Greene sat down with WSU AD Pat Chun last week to discuss a variety of topics that have come up in his first full year on the job.


Q: What is your plan for the athletic department debt?

A: Well, we've got a five year debt recovery plan so we're well on our way to staying on track with that. Obviously, we've made some changes because we made a decision about Coach Kent. So that impacts our debt load, but we're on track. We've retooled our entire revenue generation side of our athletic program. We've made personnel changes in our fundraising staff, our corporate sponsorship staff, our marketing staff, our ticketing staff. Our budget recovery plan is the right plan, we just got to make sure that we got the right people that can that can deliver on that plan.

RELATED: 'It's a build': WSU AD Pat Chun discusses firing Ernie Kent, hiring Kyle Smith

RELATED: Pat Chun reflects on first 15 months as WSU Athletic Director

RELATED: 'It was beauty to behold': WSU AD Pat Chun discusses his first Cougar football season

Q: So what exactly entails a plan? Are you are you cutting money in certain places? Where is that being made up?

A: Well, we we have the lowest amount of expenditures in all the power five so there's no where to cut. We have a revenue generation issue. That's why we've made wholesale changes in our revenue staff. Football, we're at 91% renewal rate for season tickets so that is a standard where a program should be like this.We have opportunities in all of our other sports and that's why we made wholesale changes in those places. Fundraising is always going to be a big opportunity for us as well. We have a different formula and different strategy and different people that we're going to be really focused on revenue generation.

RELATED: WSU AD Pat Chun discusses the impacts of Jason Gesser's sexual harassment violations

RELATED: WSU AD Pat Chun reflects on changes since loss of Tyler Hilinski

Before You Leave, Check This Out