The Iowa State Athletic Department did a complete financial turnaround in 1995.

Athletic Director Gene Smith said the department has surplus of $750,000 from this year’s Big Eight Conference fiscal budget. The excess came from the conference’s $2.2 million allocation to ISU. Smith had budgeted less.

The increase came in large part from funds generated by Nebraska and Colorado’s appearances in the new bowl coalition. Nebraska played in the Orange Bowl and Colorado competed in the Fiesta Bowl. Each Big Eight Conference school gets a portion of the revenue raised by its bowl-bound members.

ISU had anticipated money from only one bowl team.

Smith cautioned that the department was not out of the woods yet, but the surplus was a far cry from the financial woes of the department last winter, when officials considered dropping several sports.

With Big 12 competition beginning next year, additional money could be in the department’s future, Smith said.

“It’s guaranteed. Next year we go to the Bowl Alliance, and we are guaranteed to have our champion in the Bowl Alliance. Now if we get a second team in that bowl coalition, we get additional dollars,” he said.

Football season ticket sales also exceeded budget goals by more than $200,000 and $224,000 over the budget goal was raised by men’s basketball ticket sales.

Laurie Gustafson, the athletic department’s financial manager, said the surplus didn’t come as a surprise.

“As an additional team went to a bowl game, we knew we’d get additional dollars,” Gustafson said.

Smith said much of the money will be used to help take care of deferred maintenance at Cyclone Stadium. Two of the restrooms need improvements, some of the cement is cracked and the handrails need repairs.

Smith was made aware of a structural problem at the stadium during Tuesday’s Athletic Council meeting.

ISU’s faculty representative to the NCAA, Norman Boyles, told Smith a pipe had fallen onto the seats on the west side of the stadium on Sunday during Cyclone Team Day. The pipe landed several feet away from some fans, he said.

Smith said he would look into the problem and that preventive maintenance would keep similar problems from occurring.

“I haven’t had a chance to see what that was, but its those types of things where we don’t do any preventive maintenance that those things happen,” Smith said. “We have a full report on all the things we need to fix over the next four or five years, so they don’t become a danger problem.”