After a couple of years of walking a financial tightrope, Mike Hamilton said Saturday it's nice to be comfortably back in black ink.

The University of Tennessee athletic department finished fiscal 2006 (June 30, 2006) with a profit of $3.6 million, Hamilton reported at the fall meeting of the UT Athletics Board.

This comes after showing a $10,000 profit for 2004 and a $50,000 deficit for 2005.

"Our return to fiscal health is the most important thing that happened this year,'' said Hamilton, the men's athletic director.

"We'd gone about three years meeting the budget out of our reserve and then there was no reserve left.''

A big chunk of the profit -- $1.9 million -- was a bookkeeping gain: a refund from the university for previous overpayment of debt service.

Still, a surge in revenue, partly due to the men's basketball success, and a tighter budgeting model both figured in the return to health.

"We went to a zero-based budget,'' Hamilton said. "You have to build the budget from the ground up. Every expense has to be justified. Our staff did a better job of controlling expenses as a result of that.

"The second part is significant revenue growth.''

The proposed 2007 budget is $73.4 million.

Hamilton also cited the beginning of major Neyland Stadium renovations and the re-emergence of men's basketball as the significant stories of the past year.

Men's basketball attendance increased 47 percent last year over 2004-05 and advance season-ticket sales for 2006-07 indicate another boost.

UT sold 9,512 season tickets for 2005-06, the first season under new coach Bruce Pearl, virtually the same amount as for the final season under Buzz Peterson.

However, season-ticket sales for the coming year are already up about 2,700 over last year.

"Our fans took a wait-and-see approach last year,'' Hamilton said. "What we did see last year was a significant spike in single-game tickets.

"What that leads to this year is a resurgence in season-ticket sales. I'm ecstatic with it.''

Basketball's strong showing was the highlight of an otherwise so-so year for the men's department.

"We had an average year,'' said Hamilton. "We can do better.''

The women's department won the SEC all-sports trophy for the third consecutive year.

Tennis Opening: Assistant coach Chris Woodruff is a "leading" candidate for the vacant men's head tennis job, Hamilton said.

Hamilton hopes to have Chris Mahony's successor named in a couple of weeks.

"(Woodruff) will be a leading candidate because of his time here and what he's meant to the community,'' Hamilton said.

"I want somebody who is not content with just being a top-25 program. Typically, nine out of the 12 Southeastern Conference teams are ranked in the top 25 at any given time.''

Academic Progress: UT is working to bring its four men's teams with APR issues up to speed. Only baseball was assessed a scholarship penalty in the first year of the APR standards.

Hamilton thinks basketball is moving toward safe ground, but said the recent dismissal of Major Wingate could be a setback.

Facilities: Bids for the Thompson-Boling Arena renovation will be reviewed next month. The project should be completed by October 2007.

Women's athletic director Joan Cronan said the new softball facility is running a little behind and will be ready in midseason.