http://hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/SOUTHERNMISS/602260355/1050

You want luxuries? They aren't cheap

Athletic programs at the University of Southern Mississippi are not exactly a case of the haves and the have-nots. The situation is more likened to the haves and the have-got-a-little-mores....

... Football ($4,689,855), men's basketball ($1,395,712) and women's basketball ($855,800) have the three highest budgets in the athletic department. The baseball budget ranks No. 4 at $599,613....

...Hansen worries that those donating to individual sports will take away money from the overall athletic department. He explained that the Eagle Club is the school-wide booster club and its appropriations go to pay off scholarships in each sport. The Eagle Club and endowed scholarships currently bring in about $1.7 million and that goes to alleviating some of the $3.1 million scholarship budget.

The goal is to have the $3.1 million completely paid for by those methods, then the university can put the excess cash back into the general operating budget....

...He noted that booster monies are not taken into consideration when each sport's budget is being configured....