The ULM football team’s trip to Hawaii violated state law and University of Louisiana System policy, according to a Louisiana legislative auditor’s report released this week.

The report found that, despite perceived assurances from the UL System, the ULM athletic department did not follow system policy that required University President Nick Bruno to approve the scheduling of the Hawaii game and the team charter’s final travel manifest.

According to the report, the athletic department spent more money on meals than permitted by state travel law and system policy, allowed seven donors to fly on the team charter without charge and used a commercial aircraft for certain travelers that was deemed unnecessary.

In addition, ULM failed to collect $622,165 from the ULM Athletic Foundation in athletic ticket sales and multimedia sponsorships and could not reconcile $1,408 in baseball ticket sales.

“We tried to follow all the policies and guidelines in place,” ULM athletic director Brian Wickstrom said. “I thought all of the travelers fell within the travel categories approved by the UL System. None of the travelers who went increased the cost of the charter or the hotel rooms.”

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In a statement released late Monday, Bruno said ULM has addressed the violations with travel policy revisions and the ULM Athletic Foundation will pay the remaining expenses from the Hawaii trip, ticket sales and multimedia sponsorships to the university.

Wickstrom said the president’s office has deferred all football scheduling to the athletic director since former AD Bobby Staub and Bruno’s predecessor, James Cofer, agreed to a memorandum of understanding during their tenures at ULM.

Staub served as ULM’s athletic director under Cofer and Bruno from 2004-13.

“I reviewed all game contracts when I arrived at ULM, and Bobby had executed them all the way up until his departure,” Wickstrom said. “Dr. Bruno gives flexibility to the athletic director and head football coach on scheduling because he wants all programs to be successful and schedule accordingly.”

ULM added Hawaii to its 2015 football schedule three months after Wickstrom was hired as athletic director in July 2013. ULM’s team charter and hotel accommodations were paid by the University of Hawaii, per the agreement between the two schools.

Emails obtained by The News-Star revealed that in the opinion of UL System auditor Bruce Janet, an initial travel manifest sent by former ULM associate athletic director for internal operations Phil Shaw fell within the system guidelines.

According to a statement released to The News-Star by the UL System, Janet reviewed whether the manifest met system policy, not the matters cited in the audit report.

The final travel manifest was not approved by Bruno before the team’s departure.

“Most of the confusion came from details changing at the last minute due to the short turnaround from a coaching change,” Wickstrom said. “Every person on the trip fell into the four categories listed in the travel policy which was approved.”

Then-ULM football coach Todd Berry planned to take the entire team to Hawaii, but he was fired two weeks before the game. Interim coach John Mumford only wanted to take members of the team who were going to play and cut the travel roster to 66.

Wickstrom said the original travel party consisted of 179 people and required the athletic department to purchase 13 seats on a commercial flight; an expenditure that was approved by the ULM Athletic Foundation.

The athletic department spent just over $13,000 total on round-trip airfare for the additional 13 travelers.

The athletic department and ULM Athletic Foundation worked in tandem to sell the open spots, which followed system policy by not increasing costs for the trip.

ULM exceeded the $51,320 allowed for meals by the state and UL System by $9,433. Of that amount, $7,214 were meals for student-athletes, football employees and bus drivers, while $2,219 were incurred by non-ULM personnel, including employee family members, donors and other guests.

The excess in meal expenses and the $7,350 cost incurred by the seven donors who flew on the team charter were paid to ULM by the ULM Athletic Foundation.

The Hawaii trip occurred under the terms of former foundation President Kevin Woods.

“There were some accounting issues related to that trip, but there wasn’t any misappropriation of funds or anything of that effect,” current ULM Athletic Foundation President David Moore said. “Everyone that was on that trip paid what they were asked according to the university accountants.

“The finances in the foundation are the best they’ve been in years, and we had taken steps to handle the problem when the auditor’s office came.”

ULM Athletic Foundation personnel working within the athletic department consisted of one full-time employee and a graduate assistant at the time of the Hawaii trip.

The $622,165 in ticket sales and multimedia sponsorships ULM is owed by the athletic foundation was not paid by the end of the 2015 fiscal year in June, per the report.

Ongoing litigation between the ULM Athletic Foundation and former ticket vendor the Aspire Group caused the delay in payment, according to a written response sent to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office by ULM chief business officer Bill Graves.

“The ULM Athletic Foundation has not received about $477,000 due, per the third party agreement, which has forced them to look at other sources to meet the obligation to ULM,” Graves wrote.

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According to Graves, the foundation has paid ULM more than $400,000 and will have the full debt paid by June 2017.

The ULM Athletic Foundation filed suit on December 23, 2015, claiming that Aspire refused to pay $500,000 owed to the foundation per the contract between the two parties. Aspire handled all ULM athletic ticketing from July 2013 to July 2015.

The athletic department was cited in another legislative auditor report in February related to discrepancies in ticket sales during the time of the foundation’s contract with Aspire.

The foundation handled all ticketing responsibilities through an affiliation agreement with ULM until October 2015.

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