The University of Texas Announces Layoffs and Pay Cuts

AUSTIN, TX – On Tuesday afternoon, the University of Texas-Austin athletic's department announced lay offs, pay cuts and furloughs among its staff in a series of “necessary” financial cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his weekly "Forty Acres Insider" newsletter, UT Athletics Director Chris Del Conte called the decisions, “heartbreaking, but necessary”. Del Conte added that the department expects the cuts to amount to approximately $13.1 million in savings for the department's budget for the upcoming 2021 fiscal year..

Here's a look at a few of the actions the University has taken to ensure financial stability:

• When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of our post-season basketball tournaments, as well as the remainder of the 2020 winter and spring sport seasons, Texas Athletics immediately put in place cost containment measures that mitigated the financial impact of COVID-19 related cancellations for the rest of the 2019-20 fiscal year. Those actions amounted to savings in excess of $19.9 million when compared to budgeted operating expenditures for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

• In preparing for the fiscal year 2020-21 and beyond, Texas Athletics' top priorities are focused on protecting the health and welfare of our student-athletes and maintaining the services and coaching that directly support their academic and athletics pursuits. Strong measures have been taken to mitigate expected revenue losses — such as reducing team and department operating expenses, regionalizing team travel, reducing capital project expenditures, fully integrating the Erwin Center operations within the department and deferring a principal debt payment that totaled savings in excess of $21.3 million.

• However, significant full-time personnel actions were still required to stabilize the financial health of the department. The actions taken on Tuesday are heartbreaking, but necessary to put Texas Athletics in a position for success moving forward. The full-time personnel action includes the following: beginning September 1, 2020 through August 31, 2021, 26 contracted coaches and administrators voluntarily agreed to take temporary salary reductions. Beginning October 16, 2020 through August 31, 2021, 273 staff members will receive temporary salary reductions, and 11 staff members will be temporarily furloughed with benefits. Temporary salary reductions are based on a marginal rate approach in the following manner: the first $50,000 of an employee's salary will be reduced by 2.5%, the next $50,001 to $100,000 is reduced by 10% and any amount above $100,001 is reduced by 15%. Also, beginning September 1, 2020, 35 staff members will be laid off and 35 vacant positions will be permanently eliminated. Texas Athletics is also suspending the performance incentive program at this time. These actions amount to a $13.1 million savings for the department budget.

• Although this is an extremely difficult time for our department, we fully expect to bounce back from this experience stronger and positioned well to continue to provide the best student-athlete experience in the country and strive to compete for Big 12 and National Championships in all of our 20 sports programs.

Del Conte went on to say, "These are unprecedented times we are in and all of us in college athletics are facing unexpected circumstances, a lot of change and very difficult decisions. None of it has been easy, and we recognize the impact it's had on so many and are deeply sorry for that. But we also know it's our responsibility to position Texas Athletics to remain solvent, steady and able to perform at the highest level. Those are our expectations, and we know they are yours, too. So, we must stay positive and unite as one as we take on the days, weeks and months to come with vigor, enthusiasm and resiliency."

To view UT Athletic Director Chris Del Conte's entire release click here.