Can you imagine any other program purporting to be a major athletic program letting their baseball coach twist in the wind like this as he goes and finds recruits and the like?

This is beyond incompetence by the administration. Look, if you don't want to fire the guy, then sign him! Give him a deal already.

The only leverage he would have would be speaking out against ETSU administration if fired, as another poster pointed out.

But heck, people have been speaking out left and right and nothing changes.

If Skole was told to tell his players to vote against football, or even if he did independently, and they want to hush him up, then they are just going to have to pay him what he wants and bring him back. The bed has been made and now they have to lie in it.

I'm told that I should spend my money and support these "proud athletic warriors" and not worry about the administration. The administration takes in all the money, thus making the arguement flawed, but regardless.

If that is the case, then don't the "proud athletic warriors" of the baseball team deserve something other than to be held in limbo at this point?

I dunno... but I've heard something about IPods and dust under a rug. Take that for what it's worth. I had no idea what my ol' buddy was talking about.

And while I'm at it, I'm going to go ahead and post for the ducker to save his/her precious time....

OHHHHH TIM SMITH WRECKIN' THE "GIFT" FROM A.I. AFTER WORD LEAKED TO MEDIA MEMBERS!!!!!! OHHHHHHHH SCANDAL!!!!! OHHHHHH NO COKE ZERO IN THE NEW SOCCER PRESS BOX!!!!! OHHHHH I WISH I COULD SEE MIKE WHITE'S HOT BASKETBALL ASSISTANTS THAT I'VE HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT!!!!!! OHHHHHHH WHAT THE HE** HAPPENED TO UNCGHOOPS.COM???!?!?!?!?! OHHHHHH FIGHTS AMONG TEAMMATES!!!!! OHHHHH LUDACRIS AND TENNIS ALUMNI IN THE DOME!!!!!! OHHHHH IF YOU'RE GOING TO OVERSPEND BRING BACK BUFFETT!!!!! OHHHHH RUN THE MULLINS EXPOSE FROM '02!!!!! OHHHHH OHHHHHH.... OHHHHHH NO JEFF FISHER RUBBIN' IN THE 2003 PLAYOFF VICTORY OVER THE STEELERS IN PITT'S FACE IN JOHNSON CITY!!!!!! OOOHHHHHH BRIAN T. SMITH TESTING HEADPHONES ON PRESS ROW!!!!! OHHHHHH DR. PEPPER WASN'T ASKED TO MAKE A BID!!! OHHHHH.... CARRIE UNDERWOOD.... AHHHH!!!!!!!

^^^ That's how old it's gotten my friends. Whew!

Buffett in the dome? I'M IN. Actually, they should do it outside on a Thursday night. It would be alot more fun.
As for Coach Skole, fire him or sign him, just be about something.

One of the reasons Antartica is more suitable for human life than the Tri-Cities is because while this isn't a good sports town, it is a good Jimmy Buffett town.

Really, would somebody please explain this man's popularity to me? I think Eric Cartman put it rather well when he said the only people who like Buffett are "frat boys and alcoholic girls from the south!"

ages 8 to 80, he's just a good concert. The Why don't we get drunk and screw crowd are what you speak of. He has some good music, you just have to get past Margaritaville, Cheeseburger in Paradise and Why Don't We Get Drunk...
The Tri-Cities biggest problem is it has a yard sale mentality. They accept sloppy 2nds, mediocrity and not wanting to be successful. Andrea Mtchell made that clear a couple of weeks ago with her comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5raIzKI97hw

I'm backing Andrea Mitchell as the new Meet the Press host.

Either her or Chris Matthews.

Of course, that would go back to a point I've made with my friends numerous times, which is that it generally takes intelligence to be a sports fan. Comprehending and compiling statistics, understanding strategy, understanding rules, etc. It might not be Mensa stuff, but it's not for people who don't enjoy "making their noodle work," to steal a phrase from Myron Cope.

Which may surprise some people who believe in the dumb jock stereotype, but those people aren't really in large numbers.

Trying to steer this back to the original topic- in many ways I think that's why people don't care so much about sports around here and are willing to let ETSU go to pot instead of demanding that it be the school that puts the Tri-Cities on the map. It's because they don't REALIZE how athletics can put a city on the map- that, say, UNLV athletics, for all its warts, was probably the thing that allowed the rest of the country to see that Las Vegas wasn't just a place you went to visit, you could live there, too, and now it's the fastest growing community in the country.

While I would agree that ETSU baseball is not a widly popular sports entity around here, it is arguably the second most visible program the Bucs have.

More than that, this shows just how wildly pathetic the administration is. They are legitimately letting the program go to pot.

Sign the Skole already! Or let him go! But make a decision!

Everybody, the coach, the fans, the players, the recruits, deserve as much.

I am surprised you have even heard of Mensa. "Comprehending and compiling statistics, understanding strategy, understanding rules" You describe golf as hitting a ball into a hole!

Yes - either fire or hire Skole. He would be the first head coach to either be fired or leave after Mullins took charge. You may hate Mullins but he was able to stop the revolving door of coaches. Now we have to retain student/athletes.

Don't try to match wits with me. You'll lose every time.

Golf isn't hitting a ball into a hole? Is it trying to hit a ball into a clown's head?

A waste of time for the idle rich?

Actually, DeChellis left after Mullins took over, and I want to say one of the other sports lost a coach during his tenure, but I'm not 100% on that (I'm thinking Webb left as volleyball coach).

Of course, they weren't fired outright, though Webb may have been feeling some heat that I'm told would have received greater attention if anyone actually cared about volleyball.

Thats a great new slogan for ETSU sports, Our coaches may suck but by gosh we KEEP THEM!!!!!!

I really do not know which is worse. Keeping a bad coach on and on and on or a revolving door. Both are bad. I would prefer not to do either but usually a super successful coach at ETSU eventually moves on to a bigger school. Now the trick is to find a great coach to take his place which is something ETSU has been terrible at! The real coup for an ETSU would be to get the succesful coach to stay here like Davidson has done with basketball and App has done with football. It makes Madison Brooks' 25 year tenure at ETSU even more remarkable but has not happened lately.

I think we're missing the point here.

My own opinion is ETSU should not get rid of ANY coaches as long as the current administration is in place. I legitimately think they've put their coaches in a position to fail, so they shouldn't put the black mark on ANY of their current coaches resume by firing him.

Now, granted, it's unlikely that any AD would say "I can't fire him! I suck!" but we've theorized that in a roundabout way that's the reason why Skole would be kept on.

But to answer the question about "is it worse to keep on a bad coach or to have a revolving door?"- ETSU fans should not resign that these are the only two options.

The idea, I realize, is that ETSU is destined to be a stepping stone for coaches. Maybe it is, but you'll find exceptions.

For instance, Skole has been here for nine years and not all of those years were bad. Ed DeChellis might still be the coach here if Jerry Dunn had a better recruiting class after he coached Penn State to the Sweet 16 in 2001. Karen Kemp has been here for more than a decade. For better or worse- Fred Warren has been here for a generation.

Personally, I think Murry Bartow is the basketball coach here for life UNLESS with a new president comes a new AD and the new AD wants to hire his own coaches.

At 45, if Bartow was going to move to a larger school he'd have to do it soon, and he doesn't have the resume to make the direct leap to a significantly larger school, nor does he have the tie to another school that would put him on the top of a short list (like DeChellis had with Penn State, or Sidney Lowe did at N.C. State).

So ETSU should not hestitate to hire "young up and comers" to be their coaches in the future for fear they won't stick around to get the job done. All sorts of factors will determine if he elects to stay or leave.

Yeah Skole has been here for 9 years and not all of them have been bad.. he did have 2 winning seasons during that run.. still hasn't managed to get above 500 inside the conference but hey, he is trying. Fact is he is supposed to have brought in at least 3 top 50 ranked recruiting classes during his time here. For all that supposed talent he hasn't done jack with them. He might be a really great guy and a good recruiter but he seems to fall short when it comes to coaching. Damn sounds alot like Bartow now thatI think of it.


R

name a school that funds these "olympic sports" at the level that etsu does and still has no real expectation of actually "WINNING"... a coach that is not worried about actually advancing a career would be crazy to leave this utopia!!!

I vote for coaches that aren't comfortable sitting still in loser bracket circumstances or waiting to expire on to that great playing field in the sky.....