Legally, money from the endowment cannot be spent on anything other than what it was designated for at the time of the donation. The notion that Pitt has a big endowment so Pitt has plenty of money spend whatever they want in athletics is another one of those things that people who don't understand this stuff say all the time.
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Legally, money from the endowment cannot be spent on anything other than what it was designated for at the time of the donation. The notion that Pitt has a big endowment so Pitt has plenty of money spend whatever they want in athletics is another one of those things that people who don't understand this stuff say all the time.
I realize that most of the money is given with strings attached. My point is if Pitt really wanted to increase its coaching or recruiting budget by 500k I'm sure they could find the funds. If that would propel either the bb team to the elite 8 or the Fb team to a major bowl the money would be returned many fold. Everyone has decisions to make on how to spend their money and I've come to believe that Pitt is happy with competive teams ,but have no desire to increase the budgets to compete for national championships. Your basically saying they don't have the funds and I'm saying if they really wanted to they'd find a way. I really don't have an issue with this ,they're pretty much a by the rules program and without a little black magic I'm not sure they can consistently recruit the type of players needed anyway.
All of the endowment is legally spoken for and obligated.
It would be great if athletics were endowed. Would solve our money problems so we wouldn't have to subsidize athletics by multiple millions per year from the general fund.
I believe the more fundamental point is that Pitt has mismanaged EVERYTHING related to sthletics including fundraising. Accordingly, anyone who bases past fundraising figures on athletics as a predictor of what can Pitt can do in the future as part of a well managed athletic program actually supported by the administration is just plain wrong.
We have an Athletic budget of around $50-60 million. Pitt does not disclose exact figures but some numbers can be determined from federally-required filings, albeit generally two or three years later.
You can Google various lists but that generally puts us in the bottom 20% of P-5 schools. The biggest spenders have budgets 3 times higher.
Where Pitt IS among the leaders is the level we subsidize athletics from the General Fund. Despite the hue and cry about Nordenberg "not caring" about sports, few P-5 schools find it necessary to spend the $7-10MM yearly that Nordenberg did and Dr. Gallagher has continued. The Administration has ALREADY been diverting monies meant for other purposes to balances the sports budget.
The escalation of costs and spending among the top programs has taken us into a realm where our budget is barely enough to be competitive, let alone be a national power. We'd need to DOUBLE or triple our football and basketball spending to level the playing field. The 2 to 5 million donated in the Golden Panther days was enough to make a difference then but is dwarfed by today's budgets like Oregon's $180MM this year. (Although year to year, Texas and Bama are more like $150MM). The ACC average budget is $79MM.
The money Pitt holds in endowments is simply NOT available for athletics, with the limited exception of money donated to endow athletic scholarships. Endowments are strictly controlled and very specifically targeted.
As I said in an earlier post: the money has to come from somewhere. And it's not going to be from the endowments.
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While I truly enjoy watching college bb I've felt for years that it's really a very large cesspool . What was once a game has become big business with universities and coaches reaping millions from it. It's no wonder that indivuals and schools are willing to go outside the rules to achieve success. All a coach needs to do is get one P5 job and he's financially set for life so why wouldn't you take the risk of compensating a kid , his parents ,coaches or advisors ,why not try and fudge his academic record and who really cares if he's able of doing college level work as long as he can rebound or score and you can keep them eligible. Once it's been determined a coach has cheated does he return any of his salary and it's funny how in a few years these outlaw coaches turn up at another university. None of this changes the fact that I enjoy watching the game ,but it's made me a bit cynical about it , but I still watch and root for Pitt . I've realized for years that if Pitt insists on playing within the rules it means they have no chance of consistently competing against the elite programs. I feel there's enough money to get things done if they do whatever needs to be done ( breaking the rules ,taking questionable kids etc ) ,but that's not going happen so I think one just needs to realize there's a limit to the success the universities teams can achieve. Others feel that if more fans donated they could then compete ,but I don't think so there's nicer places to go with winning traditions and much more involved fan bases. Whose right we'll never find out because I doubt Pitt will go to the dark side and nor do I think they'll raise funds like the PSU and OSU of the world.
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It sure was nice of Joe and Harve to continue explaining this to you for two pages when I quit trying, and also nice to see you are still sticking your fingers in your ears and refusing to listen.
Everybody has a blindspot. He is usually not so obtuse as he was on this subject. But, he was a duzzy on this one.
I don't think I'm being Duzzy 
There's no doubt the world revolves around $ and no I don't think Pitt could ever match what a Kentucky or any other elite program can spend on their teams. Do I think they have golden toilet seats in the chancellors office and use 100 bills for toilet paper ? No,and I'm not talking about volleyball and swimming etc I'm only talking bb not an entire athletic department. What's lacking at Pitt to compete in hoops at the highest level? They play at a great on campus facility ,they play in a great conference, they have a well respected coach much more nationally than locally, the university is a highly regarded institution of higher education, they only lack the athletes to compete and tradition. You can't buy tradition ,but you could buy the players if you were inclined to go in that direction which I'm not advocating . What would it take to get these kids to seriously consider Pitt and actually come here,? Great assistant coaches who can sell the program is the most logical solution . How much would that cost over their current staffs salaries? A million give or take a couple hundred thousand if that much. I believe It could be done if they wanted to and yes I don't think you change my mind on this subject.
There's no doubt the world revolves around $ and no I don't think Pitt could ever match what a Kentucky or any other elite program can spend on their teams. Do I think they have golden toilet seats in the chancellors office and use 100 bills for toilet paper ? No,and I'm not talking about volleyball and swimming etc I'm only talking bb not an entire athletic department. What's lacking at Pitt to compete in hoops at the highest level? They play at a great on campus facility ,they play in a great conference, they have a well respected coach much more nationally than locally, the university is a highly regarded institution of higher education, they only lack the athletes to compete and tradition. You can't buy tradition ,but you could buy the players if you were inclined to go in that direction which I'm not advocating . What would it take to get these kids to seriously consider Pitt and actually come here,? Great assistant coaches who can sell the program is the most logical solution . How much would that cost over their current staffs salaries? A million give or take a couple hundred thousand if that much. I believe It could be done if they wanted to and yes I don't think you change my mind on this subject.Similar threads
