The increase in coaches' salaries at Colorado State has "contributed to a doubling of the athletic department budget" from $18M in '04-05 to $38.7M in '13-14, according to a USA Today analysis cited by Kelly Lyell of the Ft. Collins COLORADOAN. CSU during that time period "more than doubled its spending on coaches' salaries for its varsity athletics programs," as head coaches and assistants in the school’s 16 varsity sports programs were paid a combined $8.4M in '13-14, compared with $3.4M nine years earlier. Although athletics "accounted for just" 4% of the university’s operating budget of $952.7M in '13-14, it was "just" 2.9% of the budget a decade earlier. CSU football coach Mike Bobo's annual salary of $1.35M "ranks 64th among the 121 schools" in the FBS and makes him the "second-highest paid coach in the Mountain West." CSU basketball coach Larry Eustachy was the "highest-paid men’s basketball coach in the MW when he agreed to an extension" in '13 that will pay him $946,764 this year. CSU Exec Associate AD Steve Cottingham said that coaches' pay "isn’t the only reason CSU’s athletics budget has skyrocketed," as the "costs of scholarships, recruiting, team travel, game guarantees and day-to-day operation of each of the school’s 16 varsity sports programs has increased, too." CSU spent $7.1M on athletics scholarships in '13-14, an increase of nearly 92% from the $3.7M it spent in '04-05 "because of the rising cost of tuition and fees." Cottingham said that game guarantees have "tripled in recent years, too." CSU "had to pay nonconference opponents $20,000 to $30,000 for a men’s basketball game five to six years ago but now must pay $80,000 to $90,000 for games that don’t include a return trip to the opposing school" (Ft. Collins COLORADOAN, 10/18).
PACKED HOUSE: CSU announced that Saturday's homecoming football game against Air Force is a sellout. It marks the fourth sellout in the last eight home games for Colorado State’s football program. Prior to the Oct. 18, 2014 sellout, CSU had gone nearly 10 years to the day since selling out Hughes Stadium (CSU).
