The Nebraska football program was in the spotlight for the wrong reason on Thursday as a new report claimed AD Bill Moos did a poor job at his old gig.
The Nebraska football world was shaken a bit on Thursday afternoon when an audit report was issued about the state of Washington State Athletics. The report found that there was “extensive mismanagement” in the department.
Among the problems were inflated attendance figures and the improper use of free tickets. So why is this a bit of a problem for the Cornhuskers?
The period of time where this mismanagement was going on was when Bill Moos was the athletic director of Wazzu. Some of the problems with the Cougars were known.
This is where context is important. We're delving into the entire Big Ten scanned ticket numbers as we speak. Folks, some announced attendance numbers aren't even close. One gap that I'll report later is bigger than the capacity of some stadiums.
— Sam McKewon (@swmckewonOWH) May 3, 2018
The department had spent more money than it had for a while now. That was dismissed as a necessity in order to get the Athletic Department to a place where it was competing in the Pac 12.
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The problem appears to be that it was more than spending more than the school had. It was spending the money in a way that wasn’t in the neighborhood of prudent.
While some, including the Omaha World-Herald, has focused on the attendance issues, it’s the “additional problems” such as contract management, ethics training, attendance data, benefits for athletic department employees and more that might furrow a few brows.
All of that is exacerbated by the fact that renovations to the Cougars football stadium and training facility has generated a deficit of $67 million. In return, Washington State has become a contender in that sport.
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Nebraska football fans are hoping Moos can turn the team into a contender here as well. It’s safe to say everyone hopes he can do it without running a deficit. It’s entirely possible that the “mismanagement” allegations are scapegoating more than anything else. It’s still not a good look for an AD that took over the Cornhuskers just a few months ago.