Goss creates Athletic Dept. CFO position

The University Athletic Department announced yesterday that Athletic Director Tom Goss has hired an executive director of athletic business operations to handle the departments fiscal affairs.

Jason Winters will come into the position after two years as vice president and corporate controller for Ann Arbor-based Captec Financial Group.

"I am extremely excited to have Jason join our staff," Goss said in a written statement. "He will not just look at the financial picture but he will oversee all cost centers."

Winter's position is most similar to that of a chief financial officer of a corporation. The creation of the position comes on the heels of a controversy involving the Athletic Department's reported $2 million budget deficit for fiscal year 1998-99.

The Athletic Department maintains a budget separate of the University's general funds.

At the July University Board of Regents meeting, Goss announced there would be a budget surplus of $880,000 for fiscal year 1999-2000, with additional revenue coming from four more home men's basketball games and a non-student football ticket price increase.

In September, the department announced that an audit revealed an additional deficit of $756,000.

Athletic Department spokesperson Bruce Madej said the hiring was not in direct response to the shortfall, rather it grew out of advice from various consultants.

"This has been in the works for a while. We've been looking at different ways of finding revenue streams for the Athletic Department," Madej said.

The Athletic Department used its estimated $20 million reserve fund to cover the budget shortfall. The budget

is self sufficient and independent of the University's overall budget.

"His experience not only will help us with solutions to financial problems that exist in college sports but it will also help develop a business strategy for what we need to be doing in the new millennium," Goss said.

Before joining Captec, Winters worked at the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche in Detroit and the Southfield-based financial consulting firm of Jay Alix and Associates.

"I am extremely excited about joining the athletic department and helping shape its financial future," Winters said in a written statement. "While cost containment and a long term facilities maintainance plan will be challenges. I feel there are tremendous opportunities to strengthen the department's financial prospects."

Winters, a 1986 Business Administration graduate, will start full time in the position Dec. 6 at a salary of $115,000.

"You can't do business the way you've done business in the past," Madej said. "This has a lot more to do with what we plan on doing in the future."

- Daily Managing Sports Editor Rick Freeman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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11-30-99