Tina Kunzer-Murphy to decide in October if she will stay at UNLV
UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said Thursday she will decide in October whether to return after her three-year contract expires at the end of the year.
Kunzer-Murphy said at a media luncheon that served as a state-of-the-athletic department update that she and university president Len Jessup have discussed her future.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot,” Kunzer-Murphy said. “I’ve had several conversations with Len, and I told him I would get back with him on my future. I love UNLV. I love this athletic department. I feel like Las Vegas is my town, and I’ve been thinking very seriously about having that discussion, and I bet you by the (presidential) debate (Oct. 19), I’ll have some clear answers for you.”
Attempts to reach Jessup, who is attending the University of Nevada Board of Regents special meeting in the Lake Tahoe town of Stateline, were unsuccessful.
Kunzer-Murphy, a Las Vegas native and UNLV alumna, is responsible for relatively new hires in the most visible programs — second-year football coach Tony Sanchez and first-year men’s basketball coach Marvin Menzies. Though the search to ultimately hire Sanchez was smooth and well-received, the one that eventually landed Menzies was rocky and brought negative publicity to the athletic department.
How those coaches perform over the long haul will be most of what determines whether Kunzer-Murphy’s time as athletic director is termed a success.
In her meeting with the media, Kunzer-Murphy touched on several topics:
• UNLV met its $35 million budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year, but expects to fall short in this current one. Kunzer-Murphy said three factors will create the shortfall — the lack of a big-money football game, a reduction in university support and a commitment to increasing funds for full cost of attendance, which is money that goes beyond a traditional scholarship.
The football program has played (Michigan last season) and scheduled (Ohio State in 2017, Southern California in 2018) games that pay at least $1 million.
As for university support, athletics had received $1.2 million for the general fund. Now the university instead will provide $800,000 to help fund the full cost of attendance for more sports. Only football and men’s and women’s basketball received full cost of attendance last fiscal year.
• Football season-ticket sales are up from this point last year, but men’s basketball sales are down.
As of Thursday, 4,238 tickets had been sold for football season, which begins Sept. 1 against Jackson State at Sam Boyd Stadium. The number was 4,158 at the same point last year.
Men’s basketball, which opens Nov. 11 against South Alabama at the Thomas & Mack Center, is at 5,198, down from 6,058 last year. The trend line has been down the past four years from 9,411 season tickets for 2012-13, but Kunzer-Murphy said there has been a recent surge.
“We have made up a lot of ground in the last 60 days,” she said.
• Kunzer-Murphy said about $7 million has been raised for an on-campus facility that will cater primarily to football. The total cost will be $28 million to $30 million, and she was optimistic groundbreaking would occur early next year. Construction would take about 18 months.
“There are more gifts than what’s been reported,” said Kunzer-Murphy, who noted many donors don’t want publicity.
• She was asked about conference realignment but offered no update. UNLV has applied for membership in the Big 12 Conference but is viewed as a long shot.
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow on Twitter: @markanderson65
