Two things now significantly harder ever since the start of COVID-19 are answering questions and making decisions, especially for people like Southern Miss Athletic Director Jeremy McClain, who has to do both, under the added pressure of mitigating seven figure losses in the budget.
He says planning for that uncertain future is like trying to pin Jell-O on the wall.
- two things now significantly- harder, ever since the start- of covid-19... answering- questions... and making - decisions.- especially for people like- southern miss athletic- director jeremy mc-clain... who- has to do both... under the - added - pressure of mitigating- seven-figure losses, in the - budget.
- he says planning for that un- - certain future... is like tryin- to- pin jell-o... to the wall.- - nat ---> "this is the payback!
Welcome to- the field, your golden eagles!"
"i can tell you jeff, it's zero flight.
That's not an option."
Taking flight... normally a - thing golden eagles do pretty - well... - but in this case... u-s-m's - - - - fight or flight response... has- the program grounded... due to- heavy turbulence.
- "we lost about a million dollar in ncaa distribution when the - basketball- tournament wasn't played, so- that's where most of that came- - - - from."
So far... about 1.5-million dollars in lost - revenue, due to - the corona-virus pandemic...- during the last quarter, of the- fiscal year alone.- and while other schools have ha- to pull the plug on entire- programs, just to make up the - difference... mc-clain says...- those ends... don't justify the- means.- "we have 17 sports, and the division i requirement is that- you have 16 sports.
- and so we're not in the - situation where our portfolio i- sports is large.
There are- - - - some programs around the countr- that maybe have 18, 20 or - 20-plus - programs that are making very - difficult decisions.
But it's - just not really in the cards- for us."
Baseball is a revenue sport - u-s-m simply can't afford to- lose... - ranking in the top 20 - nationally, in attendance.- not to mention a new school - record, in season ticket- holders... most of which paid i- forward... in the wake of a los- season.
- "about 75 percent of our season ticket holders, suite holders,- roost holders chose - to give that back as a donation- so that really helped us kind o- get through what was a- - - - tough time."
Still more tough sledding ahead- for southern miss... but a shot- - - - in the arm, this week... with - football players starting to- return to campus... for - voluntary workouts.
- and then if all goes according- to plan... a home opener versus- south alabama... on september - 5th.- "we are planning to be fully go right?
We are planning to start- on time, we're- planning to have people in the- stands, but there are - - - - contingency plans - some that - we're still working through - - but we are moving in a directio- to address all- of the scenarios that may be- coming our way."
Mc-clain says football drives - the revenue engine, in any- athletic department... posing a- lot of questions that - still need to be answered... an- decisions that still need to be- made... in due time.- "we know it's going to be a difficult year.
The question- right now is just how difficult- from- a financial standpoint?
Is it - something we're going to have t- make drastic measures or- - - - are we kind of going to be able- to cut around the corners and b- able to push- through?
And so we've got - several scenarios that we're- working on, and i - would relate it to trying to pi- jell-o to the wall from a - standpoint of exactly what it's- going to look like."
- - - - mc-clain says u-s-m is working- towards opening a second weight- room, on campus... as other - athletes from fall and- winter sports... make their - return to hattiesburg, in