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www.HartfordBusiness.com • October 22, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 9 we trying to build a basketball program, we are trying to build a solid athletic program," Free said. Cost neutral Despite declining enrollment in re- cent years, the University of St. Joseph was able to grow financially from an increase in tuition revenues, grants, donor money and other contributions. From the 2012-13 to 2017-18 school years, USJ increased in-state tuition by 19.3 percent to $36,273. The school's enrollment declined by 24 percent over that time, according to U.S. De- partment of Education data. This fall, with the help of its newly accepted male students, USJ started to chip away at that enrollment back- slide, enrolling 901 undergraduate students, up from 810 a year prior. Stacey Brook, a sports economist and lecturer at Chicago's Depaul Uni- versity, said overhead costs are low for Division III athletic programs without football. On average, those schools report revenues of almost $1.3 million and expenses over $1.2 million, he said. USJ broke even on women's athletics in 2016-2017, with revenues and expens- es equal at $601,961 in 2016-17, Educa- tion Department data show. That school year, almost 25 percent of the women's athletics' budget, or $142,809, was spent on salaries for assistant and head coaches. An- other $134,828 was used for game-day operations, the report said. Calhoun will earn signifi- cantly less at USJ compared to his multimillion- dollar contracts at Division I UConn. USJ would not disclose Calhoun's pay package, how- ever, coaches and faculty earn about the same rates at the university. Brook said Cal- houn will help the school in other ways than just his penchant for winning games. The three-time national cham- pion will gain the school exposure and even encour- age an uptick in undergraduate applications. "Hiring Cal- houn is going to make people take a look at them athletically," Brook said. "Calhoun is a big name with years of experience and lots of network ties, and people get excited about that." Campus buzz USJ is already benefiting as a coed institution. More students are stay- ing on campus on weekends and participation at on-campus events has surged this fall, school officials said. Student bus passes are also being swiped more for undergraduates trav- eling to downtown West Hartford and Hartford, and venues like Westfarms mall and Dunkin' Donuts Park for Hartford Yard Goat games. The university's dining hall, the O'Connell Athletic Center and home sports games have also gained more foot traffic, officials said. This year's alumni event even drew a near-record crowd. Free says higher energy levels on campus give school officials confi- dence it can create a "game-night" at- mosphere when Calhoun's team takes the floor next month. Adding to the excitement, USJ recently announced it signed a one-year contract with Entercom to broadcast home men's basketball games on WTIC-AM. The former radio voice of UConn men's basketball, Joe D'Ambrosio, will lead the play-by-play. Men's basketball assistant coach Glen Miller, Calhoun's long-time assistant at UConn, is optimistic USJ's basketball startup can compete at the national level. Despite starting from scratch, Miller and Calhoun have been able to lever- age assets other startup programs are not typically afforded: A conference spot. The men's hoops team will com- pete in the 11-member Great North- west Athletic Conference (GNAC), meaning a conference championship gives the Blue Jays an automatic Divi- sion III tournament invite. Miller and Calhoun, currently the only coaches on staff, began practices Oct. 15 with a majority freshmen roster of 21 players. Other players transferred from Division I Central Connecticut State University and a West Hartford native transferred to USJ from Division II College of St. Joseph in Vermont. Miller, a Groton native, has seen how a successful Division III men's basketball team can excite a campus. As a head coach, he led Connecticut College's men's basketball team to a Final Four appearance in 1999. The 28-1 season sent the student body into a frenzy and the team even earned a positive segment on 60 Minutes. Creating a similar winning culture is important at USJ, but Miller says he and Calhoun are striving for some- thing even greater. "For us it's not just about building a men's basketball program, it's about building a men's athletic department," he said. "It is going to have an impact on the growth of the university." Former UConn men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun was named the head coach of USJ's first-ever men's basketball squad in September. Calhoun held the team's first practice Oct. 15. 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