Florida A&M athletic director Kortne Gosha told members of the Board of Trustees on Wednesday that he is confident that the department’s budget will be balanced by the end of the fiscal year.
Gosha also talked about wanting to make renovations to Bragg Memorial Stadium, which has not had any new work done on it since the 1983.
“When we start talking about recruiting coaches and students to mom here that’s what they’re going to look at. Our stadium hasn’t been updated since the ’80s, so when you go in it, it looks out-dated. We have some infrastructure issues we have to address,” Gosha said.
In 2018, the first major improvement made to the facility was the installation of synthetic field turf.
“Prairie View A&M and Alabama State are what we are competing against. When we start talking about recruiting coaches, this is what they’re going to look at. We don’t even have a sound system in Bragg stadium — we’re renting one,” Gosha said.
Gosha made a point that for a corporation to want to put its name on a facility it has to be at a certain standard, and there has to be an interest. FAMU is nowhere near that point, he said.
“We’re in conversations right now with a variety of high corporations. I can share privately because we are in negotiations as we speak. There is a high interest in athletic programs and now education programs that we have,” Gosha said.
This was given in response to a question posed by new Trustee Kristin Harper: “Benchmarks you shared around the other schools and I’d love to know, as you’re speaking sponsorships, what type of ROI do you normally see? Or does the state of the faculties have an impact on your ability to secure sponsorships, etc., and what does that mean financially?”
Gosha told the trustees’ Special Committee on Athletics that he anticipated ending the fiscal year on June 30 with a $48,000 balance. The athletic department has accumulated a deficit of more than $8 million during the past 12 years, and it has come under scrutiny with the Board of Governors.
Gosha acknowledged that FAMU still owes the NCAA in excess of $300,000 as part of its penalty for academic progress rate short-comings.
“At the end of the day we’re trying to make sure we are front facing; Being able to be open with our community, university, donors, and student-athletes and ask people for feedback. We urge people to join the Rattler Athletic Fund and ask people to come out and support our student athletes,” Gosha said.