Navy AD Chet Gladchuk hopes by cutting athletics costs now, the school can avoid a budget crisis GETTY IMAGES
Navy athletics has "undergone an unprecedented cost-cutting process over the last four to five months," according to Bill Wagner of the Annapolis CAPITAL. Both the men’s and women’s basketball head coaches have been told they "cannot replace assistants who departed," while other jobs in Navy's athletic department "have been eliminated." Head coaches have been "directed to earmark a percentage of summer camp proceeds to the Naval Academy Athletic Association and each sport’s budget was sliced" by 15%. Multiple individuals who attended a mandatory meeting of all varsity head coaches have said that Navy AD Chet Gladchuk cited a $5M deficit as the "reason for the belt-tightening." Gladchuk "denied there was a deficit and spoke instead about a reduction of cash reserves." He said the Naval Academy Athletic Association "maintains a certain amount of funds for security purposes and a steady depletion of that account set off the alarm bells." Gladchuk: "Our cash reserves had dwindled to the point we needed to address spending. It’s as simple as that. This is a normal exercise in business responsibility. We are merely going through a course correction." Gladchuk explained that the athletic association must basically be "self-sufficient as it receives 'a couple million' dollars from the U.S. government and a small amount of student fees collected by the Naval Academy." By cutting costs now, Gladchuk said that he is being "proactive rather than reactive in order to avoid a budget crisis" (Annapolis CAPITAL, 7/10).
