Note from Friends of Whittier Lacrosse President Patrick Clifton:

(October 21, 2008) As I disclosed in my email of last week, due to budget constraints Whittier College is only able to financially support the men’s lacrosse program at a relatively modest level. The school’s contribution goes to cover Coach Watkins salary, field availability and related costs, and then they contribute an additional $20,000.00 towards the program’s budget. As you will see from the attached spreadsheet the team’s projected 2009 budget is $118,536.13…..this budget would allow us to take the program to the next level and would give our Coach’s the necessary tools to field the very competitive D III program we are striving for, that means then that we would have a projected budget shortfall of approximately $98,500.00. This will be our targeted fundraising goal moving forward.

The budget this year has gone up from years past, this is largely due to the new budget line items for the assistant coaches, recruiting, and conditioning/strength training. Whittier over the last couple of years has been extremely fortunate to have the caliber of assistant’s that have been affiliated with our program. Unfortunately they have not been paid anything close to what fair market value is for High School teams let alone a D III level lacrosse program. The Whittier Men’s lacrosse program is at a very critical juncture and we can ill afford to loose any of these very talented assistant coaches, a revolving door of coaches will only hurt the program……we need to take care of them…..if we don’t then due to financial considerations they will be forced to take some of the other lacrosse jobs that have been offered to them. I can tell you after speaking with them that that is the last thing they want to have to do……they love Whittier and want to continue to coach our young men to a NCAA berth!! Additionally the program has never had a formulated budget or approach to recruiting…..we’ve been fortunate that the Coaches have been able to assemble the talented team we have today by virtue of Whittier College’s reputation and relying on the relationships that they have with other High School lacrosse coaches and lacrosse organizations like Starz. Coach Watkins has 5 recruiting trips that he would like to make: Maryland/DC, New York, Connecticut, Seattle/Portland, and Arizona. The cost which is allocated in the budget is for primarily air fare related, he will be staying with friends while on these trips in order to save on any hotel expense. Due to NCAA rules this past Friday was the last day that Coach Watkins could work with the boys until after winter break, it is very important that between now and then the boys are tasked with keeping in shape for the upcoming season. As we saw in the Ithaca game last year, conditioning (as well as bench depth) is key to going toe-to-toe with the high level D III programs throughout the country. Coach Watkins and Assistant Coach Gerbarg have negotiated a price package with the former Whittier strength and conditioning Coach for a 5 week, 3 day per week program for the guys.

In the past there have been a select few that have helped bridge the budget shortfall gap……those parents have largely graduated out of the program and frankly as I said in my earlier email in order for this program to thrive we need to address the shortfall in a very different manner going forward. I’ve attached an additional sheet that reflects what we are proposing from a fundraising perspective. I would ask you to please consider contributing as much as you are comfortable with…..we understand that not everyone has the same resources available to them. Consider also your business or a business you work for contributing (they may have a matching funds program)…..Grandparents, other family members, friends, etc. We need to make this happen and we need to make it happen quickly…..tickets for travel need to be purchased soon, equipment, etc. Keep in mind that these contributions will be completely tax deductible!!!

One of our overriding goals for the club is to be able to move from the “hand-to-mouth” existence the team has had to live in the past. In order to do that we will need to raise additional surplus funds that we could then build upon year to year……we have decided that in terms of prioritization we will focus on that next year…..this year because of the short time frame we have to work within we have to focus only on what we need to run the program for 2009.

If you could, please get back to me by Wednesday, November 5th to let me know what you can contribute or secure through 3rd parties, I would greatly appreciate it.

The future of the program rests on our ability to raise the funds we need in order to operate the team, I appreciate all of your help and financial assistance you can provide the team. Please contact me with any questions of comments you may have, thank you.

Patrick Clifton
602-363-6957 cell