EDITORIAL – Quest for Excellence not really quest

The soccer teams have to travel off campus to Harmarville, Pa. — roughly 14 miles from the… The soccer teams have to travel off campus to Harmarville, Pa. — roughly 14 miles from the William Pitt Union — for home games. The track team has no outdoor track and spends most of its practice time at Carnegie Mellon’s track, depending on that school’s schedule. This is not the shape that an NCAA Division I program like Pitt’s should be in.

When Athletics Director Jeff Long spoke on Feb. 10 at the Petersen Events Center about a new program to raise $45 million for Pitt athletics, the underlying message was simple: Pitt needs to catch up to its competition.

The program called Quest for Excellence is part of a University-wide fund-raising effort to generate $1 billion total in donations. From the $45 million that Quest for Excellence is projected to raise, $25 million will go to capital projects, $15 million to annual scholarship fund support and $5 million to an endowed scholarship fund.

According to a Feb. 17 University Times article, Pitt had an annual athletics scholarship cost of $6.6 million in 2003–2004, but only raised $3.8 million. Senior Associate Athletics Director Mike Pratapas says Pitt does not perform as well as its competitors in funding scholarships for its athletes.

An independent survey of Division I university athletics development programs for the last fiscal year revealed that Pitt’s total private support for athletics was 46 percent below the average. The study conducted by a Chicago-based management consulting firm Grenzebach Glier ‘ Associates, Inc. also found that Pitt’s annual scholarship fund and the department’s development budget were below average.

No one would consider the current condition one of excellence or even acceptability.

Referencing programs such as those at Syracuse or the UConn where non-student seats for both football and basketball games require donations, Pitt plans on expanding the donor-based seating plan applied to the Petersen Events Center and Heinz Field. Season ticket-holders will have to support the Panther Athletic Scholarship Fund to keep their seats.

The athletics department sacrificed itself for basketball, and this is not a basketball town. Putting up the Pete after razing Pitt Stadium wasn’t a popular decision. Then, to appease people, low ticket prices were offered for games at Heinz Field. It doesn’t matter how cheap the ticket, is it worth it to see the Panthers take on Youngstown State?

The athletics department needs to develop a non-student fan base and offer comparable prices and a quality product. The Quest for Excellence is by no means a bad idea, but this quest for cash comes after years of poor planning on the department’s part.