(10-27-2011 12:31 PM)etsubuc Wrote:  The absence of a marching band is the only good aspect of not having football, and one thing that deters me from going to live football games. TV doesnt make me listen to that crap.

True that, I must say.......
Sorry I know some here disagree.

(10-27-2011 10:29 AM)ReturnOfMommaBear Wrote:  

(10-27-2011 09:54 AM)etsubuc Wrote:  He just answered the football question. Essentially he said it depends on the money, and how much could be raised because he knows that we would lose money at football strickly in terms of ticket sales, etc.

My first impression of him- he is a politician and talks too much without saying anything.

Actually he said "we are not Texas" and there are no huge TV contracts, etc... he said "we are not going to make money off Athletics at ETSU"

The door is open.

Bingo!

That's the big picture idea that most don't seem to grasp. The majority of athletic programs do no turn a profit. That however is NOT a reason not to have a strong athletic program. As the former AD at TTU pointed out, if you do things right at the D1-AA level you can break even. From a monetary standpoint point that is the goal.

If you are in college athletics at the D1-AA level to make money you are in the wrong business.

Would the students have voted the fee down had they known it was going to be put into place anyway?
Again, it's never good to let misinformed CHILDREN vote on things that can impact the university for decades to come. That's an adult decision. Pat the kids on the head and send them on their way.

(10-27-2011 03:08 PM)ReturnOfMommaBear Wrote:  More with the second student session:

Dr. Noland is talking about his time at WVU. He says if football came back, would you all fill the student section. Dr. Susan Epps wants to know if they come, will they stay beyond half-time because she's been at ETSU a long time and knows that it's what happens. He's adding more about the great times that he had as a student, and that ETSU has great men's and women's basketball, he remembers Greg Dennis and Keith Mister Jennings and looks forward to going to the games. Football has come up in every session (people laugh and nod their heads). One student senator raises the point that the students voted it down before and if it were up to her she would say no because this community is not about ETSU and there's no support for ETSU in the community (which to me actually should sell the option to someone with drive and ambition).

More comments about lack of student involvement and the apathy from the students and very few students do most of the things that are being done.

Quote:Would the students have voted the fee down had they known it was going to be put into place anyway?

Again, it's never good to let misinformed CHILDREN vote on things that can impact the university for decades to come. That's an adult decision. Pat the kids on the head and send them on their way.

That's a good question and one that is very hard to answer.

Having been a student during period when the vote took place I can tell you this, you will NEVER get students to willingly sign up to significantly increase their own tuition. Yeah you may be able to get a $15 green fee passed but nothing more than that.

Significant fee raises must happen by force, exactly like what happened with the CPA. Which was also voted down by the students (that vote of course was ignored and the CPA was built anyway).

(10-27-2011 05:13 PM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  Would the students have voted the fee down had they known it was going to be put into place anyway?

HELL NO!!! That's the ultimate ironic aspect of this. stanton adamantly (more or less) stated he "couldn't put that on the backs of the students", only mere months before there it was.

They voted down the CPA TWICE. Yet there it sits.

Your characterization of the students as "misinformed CHILDREN", is, unfortunately in this case, just oh so extremely accurate.

But the problem here was that ETSU DID tell the students that the fee was going to be raised one way or another.

However, it wasn't very publicized.

Day before the vote I'm in some sort of forum ETSU was holding about the vote and there's Dr. Wylsie Bishop lowering a bombshell-

http://wesholtsclaw.blogspot.com/2007/04...r-nay.html

I can still remember her saying- clearly and directly to the 50 or so people in attendance at that forum- that the student activity fees were going to be raised eventually, so this vote was just about if we wanted football or not.

Now, at this time I'm thinking "I've got to tell the media about this," since none were in attendance at this forum.

I call up all the newspapers and Wes is the only one who picks it up, but for reasons I still don't understand he put it on his blog and not in the Elizabethton Star, where the story could have at least been picked up by the other papers.

To me, this speaks of cover-up. First, by the ETSU administration that they were never really up front about the circumstances of the vote. The fact they're going to eventually raise the fees isn't mentioned, to my knowledge, by Mullins and Co. and it's only until Bishop lets it slip the day before the vote it is revealed.

Second, why doesn't the media look into this comment? Admittedly it's late in the game, but I'm calling the papers some 4-6 hours before they go to press. Plenty of time to make a phone call to Mike White, David Mullins, Paul Stanton or Bishop herself and ask for validation.

I suppose they could have, and the ETSU brass either lied or didn't reply, but I would have thought a quick call back to me asking "Okay- you're telling us Dr. Bishop said what now?" would have been in order if anyone pursued the lead.

Instead, it's likely such a bombshell was ignored, either because it didn't fit into the newspapers' editorial vision or they didn't recognize a good tip when they received one.

One question, though. If Mike White was serious about supporting football's return, and he was wearing a button saying as such during the time of the vote, wouldn't he want to promote Dr. Bishop's comment himself? Shouldn't he, realizing the weight of the comment and what was at stake, make a few phone calls to the media himself?

Or at the very least publicized it on the ETSU sports website?

I seem to remember him being there in that forum. He was a regular attendee at such meetings, and it wasn't as if he had football notes to prepare for the weekend to prevent him from attending.

This came out in that forum the night before the two days of the vote. That's not exactly "telling" the students. It's more, as you put it, of letting it slip out. Also (and I wasn't there), if she used the word "eventually", then that could have meant 3 years; or 5 years. So far out that it would have been of no concern to current students. If the students had known that such a fee was coming regardless, then they clearly would have voted for football.

Of MUCH larger influence was the maligning, *in classes* by some professors, of the possibility of football returning via the vote. We all remember well that the polls taken ahead of the vote showed it passing comfortably - but that was before the in-class lobbying against it by some professors.
Further, I am virtually sure stanton knew what he was going to do within a few months, and his decision to *not* put that out there in a timely manner was disingenuous - to put it kindly.

Noland's interviews:

Noland's interview and reactions

Have any of the candidates had any interaction with the BFFF officially or unofficially?

(10-28-2011 04:23 PM)Buc66 Wrote:  Have any of the candidates had any interaction with the BFFF officially or unofficially?

Not that I know of, not sure about the receptions. No reason to waste time sitting through these (they have me for that!), the work will start with the new President the day the announcement is made.