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ULM has faced an uphill battle from the day it joined the rank and file of Division I college athletics. The latest financial data released by USA Today tell the same old story. In 2014, ULM was once again dead last among FBS schools in athletic revenue and budget. It's not just the "Power-5" the Warhawks lagged behind financially. ULM ranked last in the Sun Belt Conference and in the bottom third of schools in the UL System in athletic subsidy — the percentage a university contributes to the athletic department's budget — at just 39 percent. Every school but two in the UL System gave a higher percentage than ULM to athletics, including those that receive less state funding. The 36 percent the athletic department received in 2013 was the lowest in the system. ULM President Nick Bruno cited the continuous budget cuts to higher education at the state level for the university's frugal approach to athletics. "It's not that we don't want to put money in it, but in our situation it just comes down to dollars and cents. We're still probably $20 million below where we were when the cuts began," Bruno said. "I think our programs continue to improve, but with our resources, for our coaches to be successful they have to out-coach other coaches." Keeping up A portrait of the Sun Belt's membership circa the late 2000s hangs in Wickstrom's office — a memento of sorts from his predecessor as AD, Bobby Staub. Five of those schools are gone. Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, North Texas and Western Kentucky all made a mass exodus for the financially greener pastures of Conference USA in a two-year stretch from 2013-14. ULM's former conference-mates spent the money institutionally on athletics and then made more of it. The results were facility upgrades, increased fundraising, bigger budgets and more lucrative television revenue. The dated portrait serves in some ways as a reminder of the possibilities of college sports, but also how far ULM has to go. "Dr. Bruno has to balance the budget for the university ever year and in that process tough decisions have to be made," Wickstrom said. "In our situation, we aren't in a conference with a big television contract, we rely on private dollars, fundraising and ticket sales. That's our lifeblood." read more: http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2015/06/18/ulm-bottom-college-sports-athletic-support/28934097/