OZARKSFIRST

SEATTLE (AP) Washington is reducing its overall athletic department operating budget by 15% for the 2020-21 fiscal year and all the school’s head coaches have agreed to minimum 5% pay reductions.

Athletic director Jennifer Cohen announced the moves Friday and said they will save the school around $13 million. She reiterated that the school intends to continue offering all 22 of its athletic programs.

“Like most organizations this pandemic has taken a real financial toll on our athletic department. We’ve done everything we could over the last few months to manage the cost-saving efforts as best as possible,” Cohen said. “As we look to the upcoming year we see challenges ahead, and we know that we need to implement additional mitigation strategies. And so these actions we’re taking in salary reductions and operating expense reductions, they’re painful, but they are absolutely necessary for us to have a collective path forward as an athletic department, not just for this year but for years to come.”