UA to hire outsider to fix sports crises
By Craig Harris - The Arizona Republic
Jun. 25, 2003 06:30 PM

Taking a cue from big business, the University of Arizona's athletic department has hired a crisis management consultant to help the school deal with problems that could hurt its multimillion- dollar sports program.

Corporations commonly bring in outsiders to help manage negative situations and protect brand names. Yet, it is rare for college athletic departments to employ crisis consultants.

That could change, however, as more scrutiny is being placed upon big-time college sports programs that are paying some coaches salaries in excess of $1 million a year to be the public face of their institutions.

The University of Washington and the University of Alabama, for example, recently were thrown into a public relations nightmare after their millionaire coaches were fired for suspected indiscretions. Such controversies can crimp outside financial contributions, which are needed to keep athletic programs afloat.

"We want to make sure our staff is communicating if we had a crisis situation. We want to see how we would handle that situation and to see if there is a model that can be developed for a college," Athletic Director Jim Livengood said.

Atlanta-based Inocon Group plans to run Arizona's athletics staff through simulated crises in July or August. Scenarios could range from a top alumnus not having the proper tickets to coaching problems to academic fraud to evacuating an arena because of a bomb threat, Inocon CEO Dan Donovan said.

The UA could pay thousands of dollars to Inocon, which has developed crisis plans for the Olympics, the NCAA and the Six Flags amusement parks.

"The objective is to have a proactive plan in place so you can manage incidents before they become a crisis," Donovan said.

Livengood said a contract has not been signed, but Donovan said the cost could range from $20,000 to $100,000, depending on what crisis plans the university already has in place.

The UA last year had its own publicity problem when about 50 football players complained to President Peter Likins about coach John Mackovic's heavy-handed style. Mackovic apologized, and he was retained.

That situation had nothing to do with bringing in Inocon, Livengood said.

Livengood instead said he was impressed with the work Inocon had done with the National Collegiate Athletic Association earlier this year in developing plans to run the men's basketball tournament if problems broke out because of the Iraq war.

The money would come from the university's $32 million athletic budget. On July 1, the UA's athletics department will stop receiving a $1.2 million cash subsidy from the university and will be responsible for nearly all of its funding.

Arizona , like Arizona State University, still will receive from the state 315 athletic tuition and fee waivers, worth about $2 million.

ASU has not hired outside consultants to deal with potential crises, said Mark Brand, ASU athletics spokesman.

"We have had our share and handled our crises," Brand said. "It's not done a lot because you have so little funds."

ASU has a $32.6 million sports budget, and the athletics department receives $560,000 from the university.