In October 2020, I began my interim leadership of W&M Athletics. As I write to you today, we all have much greater awareness of the need to position W&M Athletics in a way that is equitable, more financially sustainable and in which we can excel. Let me share some tenets that we've discussed through these regular updates as we prepare to welcome our new athletics director in the coming weeks.
 
Gender Equity
 
William & Mary will demonstrate compliance with the requirements of Title IX federal law during the 2022-23 academic year. These requirements include participation, scholarships and operational aspects affecting experience by gender in intercollegiate athletics programs. We will engage in the planning work to achieve that end, following the completion this summer of a comprehensive gender equity review that has been underway all spring.
 
As I've shared, gender equity is a matter of federal law. It's also about respect, one of the university's core values. We respect every competitor by providing the most level playing field possible.
 
Financial Sustainability
 
We entered FY2021, which began last July, in a precarious financial position. Since FY2015, existing athletics reserves had been tapped each year to balance the budget, reflecting an ongoing structural budget deficit. In FY2020, the pandemic's onset devastated W&M Athletics' finances as the number of donors declined by 36% and expendable gifts received also declined by 36% – $1.5 million less than the prior year. As a result, our reserves were depleted at the beginning of FY2021.
 
During FY2021, W&M Athletics trimmed more than $5 million from a $28 million base operating budget, primarily through one-time cost reductions and austerity measures associated with the pandemic. We played fewer games, froze or eliminated vacant positions and found savings wherever we could.
 
In October, we examined our situation and recognized March 1, 2021, as the date by which we needed to hit a fundraising target to avoid "painful" decisions. Those decisions would have involved personnel actions, including furloughs and layoffs. Thankfully – and with sincere gratitude from every coach and staff member – we reached that target six weeks early in FY2021.
 
Thanks to your generous support, we raised $4.6 million in expendable funds to support the Tribe in FY2021. With a few days remaining before the books close, the amount of total expendable funds raised is on track to be the highest ever and the number of donors is back to the level seen in prior years. Combined with the department's frugal approach in FY2021, this year's fundraising will allow us to "refresh" – though certainly not "replenish" – reserve funds that had been on the decline for six consecutive fiscal years. We acknowledged sports that met their specific fundraising goals this year, returning a consistent percentage of their funds raised to their Athletics Foundation reserve accounts.
 
Although we were able together to cover our reduced expenditures in FY2021, serious financial challenges remain. As an auxiliary, W&M Athletics is required by state law to balance its budget each year. Though some frugality measures remain in place, W&M Athletics needs to raise $5.2 million in FY2022 in order to meet its operating budget needs. Our next athletics director will have some cushion due to refreshed reserves, but he or she may also have to determine when additional cost-saving actions might be necessary next year. We have to replicate our fundraising success each and every year, and the work is already well underway to secure the necessary funding for FY2022.
 
Our All In campaign establishes critical fundraising goals for every team. As President Rowe has said, "Every sports program annually depends upon generous support from alumni and friends in order to thrive." It's vital that we remain committed to sustain W&M Athletics each and every year, building on some programs' early fundraising success and bolstering the initial efforts of others.
 

Excellence
 
To date, I have been relatively quiet on this topic, one on which universal agreement is pending. What follows are my thoughts, written plainly in hopes that we might consider together what it means to be excellent in W&M Athletics.
 
In my last update, I shared an excerpt from a document written by a campus focus group of which I was part a few years ago. Allow me to share and explore another excerpt:
 

A championship experience for every student-athlete and every fan establishes a clear standard across all of Tribe Athletics: competing for and winning championships. Further, it emphasizes the experience of Tribe athletes, students, and fans, which is of paramount importance to William & Mary as a whole as well as to the athletic department specifically. Every Tribe athlete should graduate – and we rightly expect that every Tribe athlete will graduate from William & Mary – having won a conference championship or participated in NCAA championship competition during his or her four-year collegiate career. Every fan should cheer on the Tribe from a facility that is, at a minimum, capable of hosting NCAA postseason competition and providing the type of game day experience that enhances the reputation of William & Mary and Tribe Athletics.

 
William & Mary has won more CAA championships than any other member of the conference. This year, 2020-21, is the first in which no Tribe team won a CAA championship since the conference began in 1985-86. While it would be foolish to overemphasize the results of a pandemic year, it would be equally foolish to ignore the end of a 35-year streak. One team, men's gymnastics, advanced to NCAA championship competition, finishing in the top-12 of the 15 varsity programs in the country.
 
Another measure of the Tribe's championship success is the Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup, which awards points based on reaching NCAA championship fields. For most teams, reaching those competitions is via a CAA championship, though athletes in track & field advance based on individual performance and gymnastics, for which the CAA does not have a championship, advances through regional meets or directly to the NCAA championship meet. In other words, the Directors' Cup gives a fairly standard measure of the Tribe's championship experience over time.
 
 
From 2006-07 to 2015-16, a span of 10 years, W&M Athletics averaged more than 158 points and four teams earning points by advancing to NCAA championships. In the seasons since, W&M Athletics has produced fewer championships.
 
Why? Therein lies the link between equity, financial sustainability and excellence. As I have said, how we address the first two will in large part determine the level of excellence we are able to achieve – in all sports that William & Mary chooses to sponsor.
 
A primary cause of atrophy in muscles that were once strong is poor nourishment. A tradition of excellence that is not well-nourished atrophies just like a muscle.
 
As alumni, friends and families of W&M Athletics, we have taken pride in overachieving – of doing more with less – and rightfully so to a point. Past that breaking point, trying to "do more with less" devolves into simply less. In other words, "excelling less from trying to do too much" is a risk for W&M Athletics.
 
For example, some view having fewer financial resources per student-athlete as a measure of efficiency. In reality, having fewer financial resources means telling coaches to recruit talented individuals with less than a full complement of scholarships, play less than a full schedule of games and ultimately to provide a student-athlete experience that is less than we expect of William & Mary.
 
In the past eight months, my conversations with alumni, friends and families of W&M Athletics have included language reflecting a spectrum of viewpoints on what matters to them deeply about W&M Athletics:
   
The excerpt referenced earlier envisioned providing an experience that was excellent, winning athletics championships with students capable of flourishing at William & Mary in facilities that reflect our commitment to those programs. Our student-athletes and coaches come to William & Mary seeking to challenge themselves at the highest level of intercollegiate competition – of competing for and winning championships while advancing to NCAA competition. This year, not one student-athlete or coach has expressed a desire for anything less.
 
Though understandable given the circumstances faced this fall, too often conversations with alumni and friends embraced existence as sufficient. If, as I believe and often say, we respect the competitor by providing as level a playing field as possible, then we disrespect our student-athlete competitors by perpetuating a lesser experience than we expect of William & Mary.
 
I hope William & Mary will never mistake existence for excellence in the experience we provide our student-athletes. At this institution, we should expect to excel in any endeavor we undertake. If that is what we expect, we should have the courage to reevaluate what and how much we can undertake to achieve this goal.
 
As my interim tenure draws to a close, I firmly believe the best approach for W&M Athletics to pursue for the university and our student-athletes is one that is equitable, more financially sustainable and in which we can excel. We do not yet have it, though I hope we now have the collective commitment to create it.
 
As always and in all things undertaken, Go Tribe!
 
All the best,
Jeremy