Q: How severely are the cuts going to hit the athletic department?

A: I’m sure that the cuts will be spread throughout the college, and athletics will take their share. Any cut is severe at this point, because we have been cut already.

Q: What is the specific number, as far as the amount, that will be cut from the department budget?

A: I don’t know yet, I was just in a meeting about that. I thought we would hear something about it at the board of trustees meeting, but nothing has been said yet.

Q: Will cuts limit the amount of recruiting that Fresno City College can do? And will it make FCC less attractive to possible incoming athletes?

A: We don’t have a recruiting budget, so as far as dollar amount, it will not affect us. All the recruiting we do is coaches going out there and hitting the pavement, our program speaks for itself, if they know about the program. In terms of courses available, that hurts, because if we have a recruit that is a throwback from Division-I they usually come late, so that recruit arrives and there are limited courses available, so in those terms it will affect us.

Q: Is there the possibility that we could see some athletic programs cut entirely?

A: I have not heard that, but I think everything is on the table. Every single program, pretty much everything at this college is on the table. I know that as far as a district we are in a better situation than most because of the fiscal planning that many of our business managers have done through the past couple of years. I think that if there are cuts, they will be felt across the board, and they will be well thought out.

Q: What are the changes that will be easily seen going into next semester?

A: Course offerings I would say is one of the main one’s, because that is what is really out there. I know that athletically we are fundraising like none other; we are anticipating that we will have to do more with less. So we are doing what we can to pinch every penny and cut costs where we can.

Q: Would the budget cuts affect the way that the teams here at FCC formulate their preseason schedules?

A: Absolutely, FCC has made good fiscal decisions in the past. We may not be hit as hard as other colleges, but those other colleges are the ones that we have to play. So in a way it does affect us, because now they can’t come to play us, and we may have to find someone closer. It affects us as far as preseason and scheduling go. Now not only are we looking at preseason and conference scheduling, we are looking at the postseason now too.

Q: Are budget cuts going to be an important issue for athletic programs in the Central Valley Conference?

A: Yes, and it’s those schools that don’t have any other place to cut that will take the big hits. No one is really looking at eliminating teams, they are only looking to suspend them – in essence a furlough for this year. Maybe if they fundraise they won’t cancel the season, just the funding for the sport.

Q: If the budget cuts are severe, what will the department do to offset them?

A: In our department we are committed to taking any kind of hit across the board. We feel that our programs service a part of the campus, a different part of the campus community. We are committed to taking cuts across the board in order to save all of our sports programs.

Q: How do the cuts to the athletic department affect FCC as a whole?

A: I think that the cuts would affect the department a way that would bring the campus community onboard. An example would be that we would be limited to what we could do at homecoming, and what we could do to spark interest in giveaways and all of the little things that we do in order to get the campus community involved in the athletic program.