supporter as anybody.

There is always a risk of us getting a school president to is luke-warm towards (or even totally against) athletics. The way it is now, they can be upset about it but can't in good faith say it is "costing the school money that they should be using elsewhere" because it isn't.

The second you start funding athletics with tuition fees you've got a ripe target for someone to come in and put and end to that, and possibly take the program out with it.

To protect the athletics from a future administrator, you need to keep it self-funding and with no tuition / tithing money going to it.