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Dr. Aubrey Lucas speaks during a news conference after being named interim president of University of Southern Mississippi on Wednesday, May 2, 2012, in Hattiesburg Miss., at the Aubrey K. Lucas Administration Building on the USM campus. Lucas told reporters that he is expecting the search for a new USM president to take up to nine months. (AP Photo/Hattiesburg American, Ryan Moore)
The Hattiesburg American reports that an audit acquired through a public records request shows that the department owed $439,255 in fall 2010 and $790,398 last fall.
The newspaper says football was the only sport that did not lose money in the 2010-11 school year. Football brought in $13,852. Men's basketball lost $484,300 and women's basketball lost $726,800.
Jeff Hammond has said that when he became interim athletics director on Jan. 1, his staff quickly learned that the athletics department is $1 million in debt and will have to fight for years to overcome the current financial problems.
Hammond replaced longtime athletic director Richard Giannini, who retired.