Coastal Carolina already had one of the smaller athletic budgets in NCAA Division I-A, and that was before a 15 percent spending cut was ordered because of projected declines in funding from the state of South Carolina and student fees stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
Facing the prospect of having to pay for virus testing for returning athletes and staff this summer, athletic director Matt Hogue went to work finding a way to defray costs. His 19-sport program includes about 450 athletes, and with individual tests costing about $100, testing could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars by the end of the 2020-21 academic year.