Hathaway ready for Hofstra challenge
Jeffrey A. Hathaway speaks to the assembled guests and media as he is introduced as the new athletic director for Hofstra University. (May 15, 2012) Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin
Hofstra is not UConn.
And Jeff Hathaway, newly hired director of athletics for Hofstra, understands that.
Big state schools with big athletic budgets tend afford athletic directors a little more leeway. The University of Connecticut certainly fit that bill. With a student body of nearly 30,000 and an entire state behind it, the Huskies have become a dominant name in college sports.
Even UConn’s football team has made a BCS appearance.
Things are going be different for Hathaway at Hofstra. Hofstra president Stuart Rabinowitz talked about the importance of fundraising at a private school. He also talked about how large state institutions have bigger budgets for their athletic departments.
Hathaway said he is up for the challenge.
“I was very interested in coming here because it is a private school and I’ve spent 30 years in college athletics all in state universities,” said Hathaway, who was AD at Connecticut from 2003 through 2011. “So the new challenge and the new environment were very appealing to me.”
Hofstra doesn’t have an exclusive TV deal with SNY like Connecticut does and certainly doesn’t have the athletic budget the Huskies do. But Hathaway says every institution is looking for ways to develop revenue streams independent of the school’s general fund.
Said Hathaway: “We had a $65 million budget [at UConn], but an awful lot of that was generated by the athletic department. I think it’s the same everywhere on campuses throughout the country. Everybody is struggling to generate revenues. Everybody is working hard to manage expenses and quite frankly everybody’s trying to balance a budget each and every year.”
The size of the school doesn’t make a difference, according to Hathaway. He believes everyone is in the same predicament.
“I think the challenges, whether they’re at a state school in New England or in California or Texas or whether it’s a private school here, I think the financial challenges are every in college athletics today,” Hathaway added.
In the end, the former UConn AD had no doubts about his decision.
“It was a very easy decision to be here,” said Hathaway.
With a few other commitments still around the corner, Hathaway, who’s served as chairman of the NCAA Division I Basketball Committee the last five years, won’t likely start to dig in until June.
