New ULM athletic director Scott McDonald is not using the lack of money as an excuse for not having success. The latest USA Today report says ULM’s athletic budget ranks last among the 130 FBS schools. McDonald, who was interim AD for nine months before getting the job full-time, says he understands the challenges.
“We’ve been pretty effective in focusing those resources, where we really needing support and I think our programs are starting to show that’s the right approach,” said McDonald.
McDonald says the school plans to invest in making the sure the student-athletes are getting the proper nutrition.
“We believe if we can continue to enhance our nutrional program, it’s going to benefit our student-athletes, not only why they are participating, but also later in life,” said McDonald.
McDonald says they’ll also spend more resources on strength and conditioning, academic support and two new housing centers for the student-athletes are under construction. He also likes the direction of the football and men’s basketball programs.
“We were bowl eligible this year in football as we continue to make progress there, in men’s basketball we went all the way to the quarterfinals in the C-I-T, we were second in the conference in home attendance,” said McDonald.