The contract for Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tom Collins calls for a base salary of $160,000 and up to $20,000 annually for achieving athletic performance goals.
Collins, who came to Ball State University from Arizona State University in January, will have use of a car provided by the university, in which gas, maintenance and all other expenses are paid for. He also receives a university-paid membership to the Delaware Country Club.
On Collins' contract, there are five goals listed that will determine how much of a yearly bonus he receives. The first one is a 10% increase in donations to the Cardinal Varsity Club. Donations over the past five years have been up and down. For 2005, the CVC received $1.49 million in donations, a five percent decrease from the year before.
"We got to be sending out consistent messages," Collins said. "I got to go out there and talk to people and convince them why they need to give to the CVC and tell them how important it is that we have those funds in there that supplement our programs."
Along with that, there must be two capital gifts of $50,000 or more received by the athletic department each year. Collins said a way for that to happen is to find donors who have an affinity for a certain sport and if they were to give enough money, get something named for them.
"You look at a baseball stadium," he said. "You can name the press box; you can name the batting tunnels; you can name the locker room, and you can name the field. You have to look at all those array of things you got there. It's my job to figure out how to line them up the right way. If Ball Diamond is worth a million dollars and someone says they'll give you $100,000, you don't necessarily take it."
Also, the Ball State athletic program must win two or more Mid-American Conference championships. In the 2005-06 season, only two teams won championships, men's tennis and baseball. The men's tennis team won the regular season title, but fell to Western Michigan University in the conference tournament, while the baseball team won the MAC Tournament. It is unclear whether those championships are for regular season, post-season or both.
Along with those two stipulations, no major NCAA violations must be committed. The program is coming off serious textbook violations, in which 64 athletes were found to be receiving books the athletes did not need, with fines totaling $9,137.05.
In what could be the toughest goal, there must be an attendance increase in both football and men's basketball. For football a 10 percent increase is required. In 2004, there was a 2.7 percent decrease in per game attendance. However, in 2003, there was a 14.4 percent increase. In the 2004-05 season, men's basketball attendance rose 13.7 percent. In the 2003-04 season, though, there was a 11.4 percent decrease. Collins said the key to getting consistency, from a football standpoint, is to ensure the team plays six home games every season.
"Are we going to play Indiana every year? Probably not," Collins said. "Can we get a home-and-home with Army, Navy, or South Florida? Those are important games for us to play because those are similar-type teams and they help prepare the team to play in the MAC. But I think it's also important to our suite holders and club seat holders to deliver six home games and not have the inconsistency of one year having four [games] and one year having five."
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