The Michigan athletic department's deficit for the 2015 fiscal year will be $342,000 — not $7.9 million, as originally projected — according to an audit released to the U-M Board of Regents last week.
When interim athletic director Jim Hackett announced a projected deficit of $7.9 million in June, it was stunning. The department would be in the red after years of surpluses in the millions — sometimes tens of millions ($17 million in 2014 and $11 million in 2013).
But in July, Hackett told the Free Press he expected the number to be significantly lower than earlier projections, and the $342,000 figure was released to the Regents at their Oct.