Men's basketball expenses increase

By Chris Furnari

With the recent hiring of Kerry Keating, new head men's basketball coach, the Athletic Department plans to put more money into both the men's and women's basketball programs, Athletic Director Dan Coonan said.

The men's basketball team ranks last in the West Coast Conference in terms of total expenses. According to the Office of Post-Secondary Education, Santa Clara men's basketball expenses total only $1,205,360.

Gonzaga leads all schools with $1,935,491 in total men's basketball expenses. The closest school to Santa Clara in the WCC is Saint Mary's, which spends $1,260,982 in total expenses.

When shown the figures, Coonan said, "It doesn't surprise me."

Coonan said the expenses are allotted for scholarships, salaries, operating costs and recruiting.

According to Coonan, there are plans to increase the expenses for the men's basketball program for the upcoming year.

"We are going to enhance our recruiting budgets," said Coonan. "We will look at our strength and conditioning operations, our academic services operations, and we may add a support person to the basketball office itself."

While he would not divulge exact figures, Coonan did confirm that more money would be spent not only on the basketball program, but also the coaching staff.

Keating left UCLA's program to take the vacant head coach position at Santa Clara. Keating also left a contract worth roughly $160,000, according to the UCLA media relations department.

While Coonan did not confirm the exact amount Keating would be making as the head coach of the men's basketball program, he said Keating would be receiving a raise from his previous position at UCLA.

"I can't tell you what we are paying, but you can assume that he received a raise," said Coonan.

While Coonan confirmed that Keating would be making more than former head coach Dick Davey, he would not verify if the amount would make him the highest paid employee at Santa Clara.

Currently, the highest paid employee at Santa Clara is women's soccer coach Jerry Smith. In 2004, Smith made $276,519, according to university tax documents.

Should Keating become the highest paid employee, he would in turn become one of the highest paid coaches in the entire WCC. Jessie Evans, San Francisco's head coach, made $200,000 in 2004, according to USF tax documents.

University of Portland's Michael Holton, who has since been replaced by Eric Reveno, made $130,000 as the head coach of the men's basketball program.

Gonzaga's head coach, Mark Few, had the highest salary among WCC coaches with a reported $550,000 in 2004. He also turned down a position rumored to be worth as much as $700,000 with the University of Washington the previous year.

In addition to the university's plans to increase spending on basketball, Coonan said much of the aid will be coming from donors close to the program.

"There have been a lot of donors that we have been talking to over a period of time about contributing towards the overall infrastructure of the basketball program," said Coonan.

The number of donors contributing to the program is near a dozen, and Coonan hopes to double that by the end of the fundraising efforts.

"We are continuing the fundraising, and it will probably be a couple dozen when all is said and done," said Coonan.

Coonan said the goals of the fundraising efforts are to keep the Broncos as top contenders for a conference title every season.

The Broncos finished second this season behind Gonzaga, which failed to advance out of the first round in the NCAA tournament.

While Coonan said that a high-paid coach is not essential to winning, he added that it helps.

"Davey was probably one of the lowest paid coaches in the conference this year, and we competed for the conference championship," said Coonan. "I don't know that a high salary is essential, but it definitely can help, and it can help attract a better coach, which we have done."

Contact Chris Furnari at (408) 551-1918 or cfurnari@scu.edu.