It’s been a rough spring for South Carolina State on the court and on the field. Its men’s and women’s basketball teams combined for two wins during the regular season. The women had to bow out due to COVID-19. And last Saturday, the football squad lost its opener 31-7 to Alabama A&M.
But there is a much bigger problem in Orangeburg than a few losses, even though the two are likely related to some extent.
A drastically reduced budget over the last decade has put SC State behind its MEAC peers, and now the athletic department is in need of help. It is requesting $1 million from the South Carolina State University Board of Trustees for women’s sports, personnel and scholarships.
Stacy Danley, Director of Athletics at SC State, says that the Division I school is more than 50 scholarships short of being fully funded. He has requested $239k for that.
Then there are the coaching vacancies. Danley asked for $485k to cover those.
“We do not have full-time coaches for a number of our non-revenue sports and administrative positions, specifically in the business administration,” he said via the Times and Democrat. “We don’t have anyone there, and we are missing some of the basic revenue-generating positions, whether that’s marketing, sales, things of that nature, as well as a staff operation of basic revenue-generating activities.”
And last, but certainly not least, there is Title IX. The law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in education has several areas of non-compliance. It will need $276k for that, the AD says.
The Times and Democrat article also mentions the fact that while the average MEAC budget has risen from $10.4 million to 12.5 million since 2013, SC State’s budget has dropped from $12.7 million to $7.9 million. Thats a nearly 40 percent decline.