Well it's old news by now, as most of us have seen the ETSU board going nuts over the students voting down the football money -- and essentially killing football for at least a while.
Does this mean the A-Sun could start to see some stability? I don't see Mercer or Stetson ever leaving the A-Sun. Campbell would be a huge shock as well, and JU seems happy where they are.
ETSU seems to be parked in the A-Sun for what now? At least the next 5 years, maybe 10+... depending entirely on their basketball success (or lack of).
Belmont & Lipscomb are the wild cards, and I would imagine are a package deal... meaning it would be tough to find a conference with 2 openings, and they are still very young in D1. Their basketball success can change in a heartbeat.
The 4 transitioning teams aren't moving for a long time.
So there it is. Do we have stability?? In 4 years we could definitely see a rise in RPI when we're out of this transition phase for FGCU and USC Upstate.
The glass ceiling is always there as well. Everyone just can't keep "moving up". There ends up being no where to go.
I'm not sure you can count on ETSU to be in the A-Sun in the foreseeable future.
Just my opinion, but I'm not sure ETSU can continue to fund an athletic program that no one cares about. Men's basketball attendance has been steadily falling (I see the actual folks at the games, not the attendance numbers), golf and tennis are wonderful, but Joe Tricitian doesn't care at all.
The local sports station doesn't carry ETSU athletics.
No basketball signees as of date, and the student football vote must be Murray Bartow's worst nightmare. Can you imagine trying to recruit for a school where the student's don't want the athletes in their classes???
I've heard other die hard fans say that they have lost all passion for ETSU athletics. Sadly, that also describes me.
I am the eternal pessimist, but I just don't see a role for athletics at ETSU under these conditions. Maybe the conditions will change but if not, April 10th's vote could have signaled the beginning of the end of athletics at ETSU.
Yes we'll be here for a little while, we were going to be here atleast til 2011 regardless. For us to have any prayer of leaving the A-Sun, atleast until we get a new President and athletic director is to win at basketball. Schedule upper mid major teams, beat them, win this conference, consistently win 24-28 games a year and make NCAA appearances. We'll also have to have the other sports winning as well, then, maybe then would another conference look at us the same way CofC, or Ga. State was looked upon.
No team is going anywhere without scholarship football ultimately. I am still curious though to see if they divide the A-Sun into two divisions to help cut down on travel expenses.
And yea WCYB doesn't cover ETSU athletics anymore, that's primarily because they are incredibly short staffed and quite frankly just don't care about local sports there. They realize as long as Johnny Wood is alive, they're number one no matter what the competition does. It's a shame Media General won't work a little more on sprucing up WJHL, their newscast as a whole I think is better, or atleast the content. It's not filled with as many AP stories or Jill Arrington wannabe's.
I'm interested in seeing how they handle 12 teams as well. Historically I think they've used divisions, so it should be the same case here. Which means if it's North/South.... the basketball divisions would be very lopsided to the North.
And BucDoctor--- thats why I think you'll be stuck here til you break out of that mindset. If no one cares about the program, why would a better conference take you in? That has to change first.
If things don't change, I'm afraid we could be headed to DII or NAIA. There just doesn't seem to be a viable plan to move ETSU forward (the only plan I've seen is built on myth and facilities that have been on the drawing board/unfunded for years), and if you aren't going forward, well...
Others say not, but again, just my opinion.
Buclover, I wasn't talking about WCYB.
Back to hybernation for me.
If things don't change, I'm afraid we could be headed to DII or NAIA. There just doesn't seem to be a viable plan to move ETSU forward (the only plan I've seen is built on myth and facilities that have been on the drawing board/unfunded for years), and if you aren't going forward, well...
BucDoc,
I've always respected your bball analysis and posts, but I think your cynicism is running rampant. DII or NAIA? Joe Tri-citian doesn't care? I understand your concern over the recent student vote, but I think the numbers don't support your view. Every sport is doing extremely well. The ASUN, as been discussed ad nauseum on this board is not a strong basketball conference, but we were still 123rd in the RPI at year's end. Despite the conference's weakness and despite our meltdown in the concerence tourney, that's still very respectable.
In terms of not signing anyone as of yet, I do not think that is an indication of anything. It's the nature of recruiting and this time of year. We're holding out for a few players (Nweke in particular) and then we'll offer.
And what about baseball. Nobody can deny the ASUN's prowess in baseball. Right now we're a respectable 3rd.
Sorry, I just don't see the demise of ETSU athletics.
The league will be split next year for basketball with a north and south division.
the Big Camel Wrote:The league will be split next year for basketball with a north and south division.
I assume the divisions will be:
NORTH
Belmont
Campbell
East Tennessee State
Gardner-Webb
Lipscomb
USC Upstate
SOUTH
Florida Gulf Coast
Jacksonville
Kennesaw State
Mercer
North Florida
Stetson
That's fine for scheduling, but shouldn't the standings be all 12 in one bunch? Only three teams from the "South" will be eligible for the tournament (JU, Mercer, Stetson), so you couldn't have a 4S seed playing a 1N seed.
Good point OC. I guess the only thing is that we know who will be in the tourney already. There's only 8 eligible teams so I would think they will put all the records in one bunch like you're saying.
Point blank...
Conference affiliations are not based on performances in non-revenue sports. To believe so is incredibly naive. Right now, etscc's only hope to move up is for basketball to become somewhat of a name at least regionally, if not nationally. And quiet frankly, this basketball program has fallen from relevancy. Right now, Belmont is more recognizable due to back-to-back NCAA appearances. For etscc to move up anytime soon, they have to get on a roll in basketball. Going on a roll would consist of a string of NCAA appearances with a couple of seeds in the 10-12 range. They will need new leadership, as the current AD and pres royally pissed off some very reputable athletic administrators with the football thing.
Selling on-revenue sports to a potential conference is like Ruth's Cris touting their great fries. Nobody gives a damn.
Rock- Please. Tell me more. Who did they p1ss off?
Gardner-Webb is going to the Big South soon in all sports so that will be another team to go.
As far as who replaces them- I don't know. Could there be a Division II out there in Tennessee or one of the Carolinas that would like to move to Division I?
I honestly don't think ETSU will drop to Division II or NAIA. I just don't know of teams that have "dropped down" like that since the 30s and 40s.
Plus, if Fred Warren controls things there- you know he's not going to want to drop his golf team to that.
My feeling is that ETSU athletics are going to go two ways-
A- The longer Stanton and Mullins are in, the longer their athletic philosophy is going to take root. That means that the country club and non-revenue sports will rule the roost.
In those cases, the A-Sun is the way to go. Baseball will want to play in Florida in the winter. So will softball (though it hasn't really helped them on the field). So will tennis.
Golf isn't really affected, but I have to think the feel of their fellow athletes being in a Florida Conference is appealing.
Now, they could set this philosophy in place by extending their conference affiliation with the Atlantic Sun.
B- A new president could come in. That doesn't give any guarantees- but I'm willing to take my chances he or she won't be any worse.
Depending on who gets to him or her first, a presentation could be made stating that for the size of ETSU they have regressed athleticly, that they don't have the feel of "the home team" in the Tri-Cities, and we can look to Marshall to the north of us, Tusculum to the south, MTSU to the west, and Appalachian to the east to realize that it CAN happen here.
Now, I'm willing to bet a well-rounded College President will buy that.
Or, there could be the Stanton philosophy that "All the athletes are equal! They all try hard!"
Of course, they are a whole lot more equal if they swing a club or racket in Europe- but I digress.