Brown’s Million-Dollar-a-Year Sports Bet Has Been a Bust
The Biz of Sports
Brown’s Million-Dollar-a-Year Sports Bet Has Been a Bust
It has been five years since Brown University President Christina Paxson promised to improve the performance of varsity athletics at the school. During her first eight years as president, Brown sports had declined from the top half of the Ivy League to the bottom half.
But since then, the results for the top men’s sports programs have been even worse than before Paxson's shake-up.
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Not one of the six major men's teams had a winning record in the Ivy League this academic year.
Reboot Fails
In 2020, Brown University slashed sports, faced federal Title IX litigation, canceled athletic schedules due to the pandemic and saw the departure of the long-time athletic director Jack Hayes.
Paxson reportedly came under alumni pressure and rebooted the athletic department.
In May of 2020, Paxson announced the school was slashing eleven sports and transitioning some from varsity to club. Faced with backlash, she recanted on cutting some of the sports, but she continued to claim she would move to make Brown more competitive.
But over the past five years, women's sports have ebbed and flowed, but the major men's programs have continued to decline on the field, ice, and hardwood.
On March 5, 2021, Brown announced a new AD — M. Grace Calhoun, the former director of athletics and recreation at the University of Pennsylvania. Calhoun was tapped to lead athletics at Brown University as vice president of athletics and recreation, beginning April 19, 2021.
Calhoun came with a big price tag, with a salary more than twice that of her predecessor, and hundreds of thousands more than her peers in the market.
Calhoun is paid $1,064,933, according to the most recently filed IRS 990 filing by the University.
Her $1 million-plus package was $400,000 more than former Providence College Athletic Director Robert Driscoll's comp in the same fiscal year and nearly $700,000 higher than the AD at URI, Thorr Bjorn.
“She has the experience and drive to fulfill Brown’s vision for improving the competitiveness of varsity athletics teams, enhancing the strength of club sports, and upholding Brown’s commitment to providing equal opportunities in athletics for women and men,” said Paxson in naming Calhoun in 2021.
Performance
Not one of the six major men's programs at Brown — football, soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball, and lacrosse — has a winning season in the Ivy League this year.
On Saturday, Brown men's lacrosse, once a national power, lost its final game and finished 0-6 in the Ivy League. It was only the second time in 40 years that the team went winless in the conference.
The last time the Bears' football team had a winning record in the conference was 2013. Barack Obama was President, Lincoln Chafee was Governor of Rhode Island, and the biggest news story was the Boston Marathon bombing.
The men's basketball program has not made the NCAA tournament in the past 40 years.
Brown Men's Sports Records - None of the Top Six Programs Recorded a Winning Record in the Ivy League
Cumulatively, Brown has the worst record and even a lower winning percentage than the ultimate bottom dweller, Columbia University.
Columbia does not field team in two of the major men’s sports — hockey and lacrosse — but the cumulative head-to-head records between Brown and Columbia gives the Lions the edge.
Now, every major men's sports team is in a rebuild.
The big bet has been a bust.