The results of the last few months have really gotten me to think-

A- The basketball blowout loss against Belmont. It would be one thing to lose. To lose the way the Bucs did was unacceptable- especially compounded on the fact they have had the No. 1 seed at home and generally struggled throughout the tournament against lesser competition.

B- The Lady Bucs lose the Conference Final. Not a surprise, but somewhat disapointing. What will it ever take for them to make the NCAAs?

C- The football vote. This essentially insured ETSU sports would be stagnant. It made us wonder- "You mean 27 point losses to Belmont at home in the biggest game of the year will be THE GOOD OLD DAYS?"

D- The fact then ETSU tries to push their "success" in the midst of all of this.

Look- we won the tennis title! Woo Hoo!

And you know- if there wasn't a football vote or one of the above things were reversed- we'd probably be happy for a non-revenue team doing well.

But now, it just seems- "We lost football, and dropped down in basketball, and it's all so we can brag on volleyball titles in a watered down conference?"

I just don't remember it ever being this bad. Okay, in 1985 football was winless and in 1986 basketball went 7-21, but there was a year's gap and football did improve to 6-5 before the 7-21 basketball season.

Even when football was dropped, the hoops team was coming off the NCAAs.

And to top it off, back then the local talk show wasn't putting the ETSU flaks on to brag on golf titles and act as if nothing is wrong.

Yea, I would say those couple of years under DeChellis we sucked in basketball, football wasn't winning the way they should, baseball was TERRIBLE, and we were adding women's soccer and softball.
BTW, any bets on how bad Henson's team will be this year? I'm still going to say they finish top five in the conference, have a losing record and get embarrassed in the tournament.

No, I don't buy that.

Because at DeChellis' worst, the Bucs were winning in football- and also only an oaf couldn't see that Eddie D was improving the basketball program.

Plus, the Bucs were in the Southern Conference. There was a level- even at 7-20- that they had to compete at- and as a result that 7-20 team was able to beat a Sweet 16 team.

Right now we've had a ton of devestating losses both on and off the field, it's apparent the Bucs are staying in their JV conference and maybe making plans to extend their contract, the facility they play in legally has to have 6,000 empty seats, and football has left us at the altar.

It is so terrible that they are trying desperately to stuff non-spectator sports down our throat with foreign players- thus setting ETSU up to the age old "They don't get the local kids- I'm not watching them!" criticism they've always faced.

And they say it's okay!

This is the worst it has ever been for ETSU sports.

I didn't say they weren't winning at football, just not winning as much as they should have with the talent they had. And yea Eddie was having to clean house, but ultimately he was still losing and the average fan doesn't care about cleaning up the program or all that, they want to win. The non-revenue sports have always been crammed down ETSU fans throats for whatever the reason. It's really quite irritating actually, but it won't be long until they start hurting from this as well.

The Bucs were 21-9 on the gridiron during that era. What do you think they should have been? 23-7?

OH! HORRORS!

You're telling me losing to James Madison in football in 1997 was worse than losing to Belmont by 27, at home, and basically losing any positive feel from the past basketball season?

It was INFINITELY better then!

Southern Conference! Actual football team! Basketball team not good- but over the hump and able to beat the top two teams in the Conference (Chattanooga and Marshall)!

How many playoff appearances after 1996? That's the perception. 21-9 is great, but zero playoff games, let alone wins, and no championships in football. Look, I'm just as frustrated as everyone else, but we know that ultimately until changes are made at the top then we're stuck with this crap.

They ain't making the playoffs now!

Heck, there were three winning seasons and a win against the No. 1 team in Division I-AA- one of the five biggest wins in the history of the ETSU football program!

Your arguement is absurd. It was better for football then- the program actually existed- and even in ETSU's darkest basketball days they were competitive in a conference that was putting teams in the Sweet 16 and getting teams in the Top 25.

Personally, I think the 1998-99 Bucs that won 17 games pound the 2006-07 Bucs.

At minimum- 17 wins in the Southern Conference then is equal to 24 in the A-Sun now.

Only that team showed signs of better things ahead. Does anyone actually think next year's ETSU men's basketball team will be better than last year's, which turned out to not be that good in the first place?

I apply the theory that you're getting better or getting worse. We are getting no better. At least in the mid-late 90's we had competent AD's who understood the business of college athletics. Granted they left and we are worse off for Fry, Pergolizzi, and Stansbury going away and a tennis coach taking the reins. As well, at that point we have nt become the laughing stock of all peer institutions in country.

We're stagnant. Very stagnant.

Pitt,

I would agree that ETSU is at the lowest point, athletically speaking, in my lifetime.

- No football is much worse than bad football

- A winning team in a lower division (OK, ASun is in the same division, but you know of what I speak) is worse than an average team in a better league

- Hope for the future is better than no hope for the future. Even if we go undefeated in sports in the ASun, does ANYONE really care?

I agree that things right now are as bad as we have ever seen in an overall sense. Not having football is the worst thing for us right now. To get back to some some of respectability we need to reinstitute football. As to the other sports in the A-Sun we need to be absolutely dominating them. We dominated mens tennis and golf this year. Even in basketball we got blown out on our home court this year and embarassed last year also. Baseball is floundering and not doing what I had expected. So, out of the big three of football, basketball and baseball we are not exactly setting the world on fire. I hope the recruiting picks up but it does not look good.

It's that I don't even see basketball improving. This year's recruiting class is sickly. There's nothing to make us think this team will improve with so far a team totally comprised of guards.

I could say other sports are improving. But that's the thing.

Currently, ETSU is not about promoting itself within and beyond the region with athletics or giving local athletes scholarships.

It's how many Europeans can we get as ringers to play tennis and golf for us.