A fiscal year 2022 budget of $150,290,994 was approved by the University of Georgia Athletic Association Board of Directors as its annual two-day spring meeting concluded here Friday.

In presenting the 2022 budget, J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks thanked all UGA coaches and staff for adhering to the ‘’mission critical’’ mandate that prevailed through the 2021 fiscal year.  The approach enabled UGA to avoid many of the drastic fiscal measures taken by peer institutions.  The UGA Athletic Association was one of a handful of Power 5 athletic departments that did not implement staff layoffs, cuts or furloughs. 

‘’We’re talking about some big schools making massive cuts and laying staff members off,’’ Brooks said.  ‘’We had no layoffs, no furloughs, no pay cuts.  And we were able to still do a lot of things, like charter flights. The question was, whenever an expense came up, ‘Does it impact the life of the student-athlete?’

Brooks also noted the lessons that were learned in managing a large budget through the challenges of a pandemic.  Those lessons have been applied to the 2022 budget, which will feature a hybrid of the mission-critical approach from 2021, along with the beginning of a return to pre-pandemic policies.

Day Two agenda items included reports from student representatives Caroline Chipman (soccer), Kearis Jackson (football) about initiatives by the Georgia Way program. and Tori Ector (student body rep), who reported on student ticket policy for the 2022 school year.  The Student Wellness Committee, represented by Faculty Athletics Representative David Shipley, who reported on the initial stages of education UGA student-athletes in upcoming Name, Image and Likeness legislation.  UGA Vice President for Finance Ryan Nesbit also presented the Treasurer’s Report for the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years.

The tenures of all three student representatives expired at the end of the 2021 academic year.  Student-athlete reps on the Board for 2022 will be tennis player Meg Kowalski, a junior from Chicago, Ill., and outfielder Josh Stinson, a redshirt freshman from Lawrenceville.  Chosen through a vote of Board members, the student body representative on the Board for 2022 will be Brennan Cox, a native of Atlanta and recent UGA graduate in Finance who will begin study at the UGA Law School this fall.