New York Times says US Ski Team pinched everywhere but top

Mon, Apr  19, 2010 - By Katie Thomas and Andrew W Lehren, NYT

Thanks to Aaron Tarnow for finding this story.

The United States Ski and Snowboard Association continues to revel in its record-breaking success at the Vancouver Olympics, where 17 Americans took home 21 medals, the biggest haul in the organization’s 100-year history.

But below the surface, discontent is simmering among skiers who say budget cuts have sliced too deeply into athlete financing, forcing elite competitors to pay for everything from airline tickets to training camps even as the organization’s top executives are among the highest paid in the Olympic world.

In conversations and on ski-themed Web sites, several athletes focused on the compensation of Bill Marolt, the chief executive of the association, which oversees star athletes like Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso. During the fiscal year that ended last April, Marolt earned nearly $652,000 — more than the chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee and most other leaders of Olympic sports.

“I don’t know where that’s justified, especially when every single one of our coaches took a pay cut last year,” said Jake Zamansky, an Alpine skier who competed at the Vancouver Olympics in February. “I don’t think the people who are making as much money as they are — the executives — deserve it.”

In a series of cuts announced in January 2009, Marolt joined the organization’s more than 200 employees in taking a 10 percent salary reduction. But a large portion of Marolt’s compensation in recent years has been based on bonuses, which were not affected by the austerity measures and are one reason his overall compensation declined 1 percent compared with the previous fiscal year.

“We’re quite frankly really pleased with Bill’s leadership,” said Dexter Paine, the chairman of the association’s 21-member board, adding that Marolt was likely to earn his $250,000 bonus again this year. “Given the performance at the Olympics, it was certainly extraordinary.”...

...Tom Kelly, a ski association spokesman, said the association tried to cut other areas before trimming athletic programs. But, he said: “We are a business, and just like any other business, we have to make decisions on spending. Anyone can advance their own position by simply moving up the athletic pipeline. And as you have more success and you move up, you will have more program costs covered.”

But winning races was no guarantee of financial support. After the association eliminated $12,000 in prize money, the cross-country skier Colin Rodgers, ranked as high as eighth nationally last year, lost out on $3,000 for winning the sprint category on the SuperTour racing series last year. “Not getting awarded that money was huge, especially going into the Olympic year,” he said.

Read the rest of the article from the New York Times...

More about Bill Marolt, President/Chief Executive Officer:

Bill Marolt, a 1964 Olympian who was the U.S. alpine skiing director during some of the U.S. Ski Team’s most successful years before taking over as the University of Colorado’s athletic director, came back to the USSA in the summer of 1996 as president and chief executive officer. An Aspen, CO, native, Marolt won three U.S. championships – the 1963 downhill title, slalom in 1964 and giant slalom in 1965.

Following his retirement as an athlete in 1968, he returned to Colorado as head ski coach in 1969, winning seven NCAA titles from 1969-78. He then served as director of the U.S. alpine program from 1978-84. U.S. skiers won five medals, including three gold and two silver, at the ’84 Olympic Games in Sarajevo.

At the end of the ’84 season, Marolt resigned to accept the athletic director’s post at his alma mater. Under Marolt, the Buffaloes put together one of the strongest Division I collegiate sports programs, including a national football title (’90) and several more NCAA ski championships. Marolt has two daughters, Katy and Shannon. He and his wife Connie live in Park City.