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East Tennessee State University is at a crossroads: Either it improves its long-range vision or it fades further into regional obscurity.
In the words of national sports commentator Dr. Jerry Punch to this very newspaper: “ETSU and Appalachian State have gone in opposite directions. One’s existed; one’s progressed. And I think a lot of it comes down to one word: apathy. ... Are you a community college or a university?”
ETSU didn’t kill football in 2003, when the program apparently was hemorrhaging $1.1 million annually. The program died of long-standing neglect and mismanagement from poor promotion, no sense of urgency and an on-the-cheap attitude illustrated by this anecdote: In the mid-1980s, hungry ETSU football players traveling home from a road game each were given an apple and cookie for dinner.
Herald Courier sports reporter Brian T. Smith documented football’s fall at ETSU in a sweeping nine-story, three-day package earlier this week. Among the findings:
ETSU had a bona fide chance but did little a decade ago to lure the Tennessee Titans to an annual summer camp that could have subsidized the football program.
In the 1970s, ETSU built the worst of possible venues, an indoor stadium with poor sight lines and a boring atmosphere, and then failed to promote the team as its fan base dwindled.
At a time when nearby Appalachian State is beating Michigan and winning a third straight national football title, ETSU’s campus has grown silent on Saturdays amid a football-rich region where high schools pack in fans by the thousands. These schools have no place in the region to send their graduating football players for full scholarships, or band members for that matter. And for every football player, there are three band members who now have to go somewhere else if they hope to play.
When the end did come four years ago, a secret e-mail got out before the public announcement did. ETSU football coaches who had just offered full-ride scholarships to several local athletes were caught flat footed and humiliated. The Southern Conference was among the e-mail recipients, which, contrary to ETSU’s expressed opinion, did not kick out ETSU; the Johnson City university took itself out of the conference and now plays in the obscure Atlantic Sun.
A student vote last spring on raising student fees to support a possible return to football was fraught with politicking and resulted in only one quarter of the student body casting a ballot. Faculty members were allowed to negatively influence the vote without recourse.
For all of these reasons, we believe ETSU should embark on a bold capital campaign to gauge alumni support for football. It’s time for the school’s well-heeled donors to either put up or shut up about football’s demise. We believe they will put up.
ETSU is losing untold millions of dollars from disgruntled potential donors. Why not craft a campaign to return football to its storied past in Johnson City? How about an enlarged Steve Spurrier Field, which already sits near the ETSU campus and pays homage to the area’s greatest player ever?
Students who have never attended an ETSU football game are not likely catalysts for such a bold strategy, which would transcend a mere game and recreate a brand.
ETSU needs to hire a professional and accomplished athletic director. President Paul Stanton handpicked ETSU tennis coach Dave Mullins in 2003 even though donors demanded a national search and noted that Mullins had no prior AD experience.
A state-supported university is supposed to be a strong fabric in the community. Even ETSU’s nationally ranked golf team is no regional draw: Its seven male golfers all are from the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its nine male tennis players are from other continents.
And as good as the golf and tennis programs are, they don’t instill a sense of community. In the words of Blountville resident and Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey: “I just don’t see how a school can have homecoming in the fall around a volleyball game.”
ETSU can continue its slide toward a four-year community college with good health sciences and pharmacy programs and little else, or it can chart a bold new course. Financially blessed alumni should show the school the way and any obstructionists the door.

NICE!