12-10-2010, 09:28 AM
Last night I made the trip from Chattanooga to ETSU and it wasn't for a basketball game. It was a Jazz concert in the Culp Center. It was a wonderful evening of music which makes you question how the music program sustains itself without the marching band. The leader said this group was the first one in a while to have a full compliment of instruments. My mind flashed back to the movie Mr. Holland's Opus and the horror of Mr. Holland losing his job because of budget cuts. Then I thought about what if ETSU had a profitable football program...which would pay for marching band.
After the concert, I sauntered over to the newspaper stand...I was excited to read the student newspaper East Tennessean. Then it hit...the horror of horrors. The sports editor's article on "ETSU Football Gone for Good."
This sports editor is a knucklehead. She states that the money going into football now is "going to improvements both athletic and educational, as well as scholarship for students in other athletic programs."
Her article is an opinion piece...good thing because there is no way could she back up her statements with facts. Her hate of football is clear..."thankfully, the ETSU student population voted against he resurgence of the football program."
This could be the dumbest line of the entire article...this brain damaged statement... "the only way the football program could ever return to the ETSU campus is at the expense of all the students who, after paying hundreds of dollars of athletic fees to bring football back, wouldn't show up to the games anyway."
I will leave this to other posters to educate this so called "sports editor." I had a great visit to campus till I read the garbage article. If I'm her journalism teacher, she fails for lack of facts even for an editorial. It will take me awhile to get over being ticked off by some lousy student sports editor at my school. Shame, shame.
I would make her attend a Buc Football and Friends meeting with Jerry Robertson. She needs a personal meeting with Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith.
Compared to all the sports including basketball, football has the best chance of making big money and actually balancing the athletic department budget as demonstrated by Chattanooga.
Lord...help the ignorant become educated...including officials in the athletic department and the president's office!
Some articles need to be revisited...this is one from 2008.
Sheridan sees Bucs' football return in 2012
By Trey Williams
Press Sports Writer
twilliams@johnsoncitypress.com
Although the goal line has been pushed back, the Buc Football and Friends Foundation still intends to score itself a football program at East Tennessee State.
Advisor Dick Sheridan, in town for the BFFF's quarterly meetings Friday and Saturday, recommended trying to have a program on the field by 2012. That is based on the expectation that ETSU will have a new president in 2011.
"I think it's important to set some timelines and goals, and for this group to set some targets," Sheridan told the group Saturday morning at the Holiday Inn, "in some cases, planned retirement dates for key individuals."
ETSU hasn't had football since president Paul Stanton eliminated it following the 2003 season. In the summer of 2006 Stanton formed a task force to look at the possibility of bringing it back.
Students voted down the return last spring, which didn't surprise anyone who has seen many student votes on raising their fees. And these fees were going to be raised for a team that wouldn't be on the field until the vast majority of them had graduated or dropped out.
Throw in the fact that a vote wasn't necessary for Tennessee Board of Regents approval, and the BFFF folks were left wondering if Stanton's exploration was completely disingenuous or woefully inept — or both.
"Everybody could've predicted how that vote was going to turn out," Sheridan said. "It's my impression, and I may be wrong — I wish I was wrong — that as long as the current president and athletic director (Dave Mullins) are in place, I don't think football is going to happen. ...
"They don't want it to happen. That disturbs me."
Sheridan was an advisor during the processes of starting football at Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion. He was also instrumental in Furman getting a program it could be proud of, leading the Paladins to six Southern Conference titles during his time (1978-85) while also getting a stadium on campus in '81.
A new stadium for ETSU was one of a handful of projects Sheridan recommended setting up task forces for Saturday. He said he believed playing football in the Mini-Dome was key in the ETSU program's demise, and used the allure of an outdoor facility to silver-line the foundation's long road ahead.
"If you're going to start the process of a stadium," Sheridan said, "it'd probably be 2012 before it could get done now anyway."
The BFFF is also forming a group to study the selection process of Stanton's successor (the thought of Wilsie Bishop spooks many members) and another to look at start-up costs for a program.
Among the members attending Saturday's meeting were Tennessee High coach Greg Stubbs and former Science Hill athletic director Mike Voitlein, who each played at ETSU, and Tennessee High athletic director Paul Pendleton. He played at Furman.
Former Furman athletic director Ray Parlier, an ETSU alumnus, was also on hand.
One topic during the three-hour meeting was ETSU's current flirtation with the Ohio Valley Conference after going on about how hot the Atlantic Sun was. Then again, now that the OVC has eliminated football as a prerequisite for membership, it doesn't look a lot better than the A-Sun from a basketball perspective.
"We all know how good the Atlantic Sun Conference is," Parlier said, "and the OVC has a lower rating than the Atlantic Sun."
The A-Sun and the OVC are 28th and 29th, respectively, in the Sagarin Ratings. ETSU left the OVC for the Southern Conference 30 years ago, but had to exit the SoCon when it dropped football.
The Southern Conference is 13th in the Sagarin Ratings.
You don't have to cherry-pick ratings to know joining the A-Sun wasn't a strategic move for men's basketball.
The A-Sun has finished below the SoCon in the RPI used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee each year since Central Florida, Troy and Georgia State left, which was before ETSU arrived.
However, the A-Sun has finished ahead of the OVC in the RPI three of the past four years. (Is ETSU hoops always in search of a downgrade?)
Of course, ratings and RPIs would change drastically if ETSU, Belmont and Lipscomb went to the OVC. A-Sun newcomers USC Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast seem to assure that league of going nowhere fast (assuming you need more assurance than common sense).
The Southern Conference is also ETSU's best fit geographically.
"The OVC is really spread out," Parlier said. "They have Eastern Illinois, (Southeast) Missouri, schools down in Florida. The OVC is not like it was 35 years ago when I was in school at East Tennessee and there were four Tennessee schools and four Kentucky schools."
Parlier said he has discussed ETSU's potential return to the Southern Conference with quite a few SoCon administrators.
"It was almost a unanimous vote that there's no way they'll get back without football," Parlier said. "If they bring back football there were no guarantees, but it looks pretty favorable."
Sheridan had fun with how Stanton has described his method of inquiry for a move to the OVC.
"I understand that Dr. Stanton has started what he called 'a kitchen cabinet,'" Sheridan said. "Thank goodness it's not a task force."
Actually, Sheridan advised the BFFF to get beyond expending energy to power negativity toward Stanton and Mullins: "It's counterproductive for us to beat that horse over and over."
Sheridan seems like he's gaining some emotional link with this consulting thing. Along with his buddy Parlier going way back with BFFF founder Jerry Robertson, Sheridan had a long history with ETSU.
His first win at the on-campus stadium at Furman came at the expense of the Bucs. And after Sheridan had moved on to North Carolina State, his Wolfpack was shocked by Mike Ayers' final ETSU team in '87.
"I can appreciate what football could mean here," Sheridan said. "This group is unselfish, and they have a noble cause. I just have a love for the game, and I know what a difference it can make in kids' lives and what it can mean to a university.
"East Tennessee State was a valued member of the Southern Conference when I was involved with it. I think it created a vacuum when they left, and I think if football was reinstated, the Southern Conference would want to have East Tennessee State back in the fold."
Trey Williams is a sports writer for the Johnson City Press. Contact him at twilliams@johnsoncitypress.com
I'm looking forward to the end of the Stanton administration. I wonder if he put the sports editor up to the idea of an opinion piece "football gone for good." If I really believed that, as much as I love my school, I would change my allegiance to my graduate school and leave ETSU behind.
I thought leaders were supposed to encourage... What I'm seeing is an all out war against progress...I speculate is about saving face! Mr. President, please retire so ETSU can start moving again!
After the concert, I sauntered over to the newspaper stand...I was excited to read the student newspaper East Tennessean. Then it hit...the horror of horrors. The sports editor's article on "ETSU Football Gone for Good."
This sports editor is a knucklehead. She states that the money going into football now is "going to improvements both athletic and educational, as well as scholarship for students in other athletic programs."
Her article is an opinion piece...good thing because there is no way could she back up her statements with facts. Her hate of football is clear..."thankfully, the ETSU student population voted against he resurgence of the football program."
This could be the dumbest line of the entire article...this brain damaged statement... "the only way the football program could ever return to the ETSU campus is at the expense of all the students who, after paying hundreds of dollars of athletic fees to bring football back, wouldn't show up to the games anyway."
I will leave this to other posters to educate this so called "sports editor." I had a great visit to campus till I read the garbage article. If I'm her journalism teacher, she fails for lack of facts even for an editorial. It will take me awhile to get over being ticked off by some lousy student sports editor at my school. Shame, shame.
I would make her attend a Buc Football and Friends meeting with Jerry Robertson. She needs a personal meeting with Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith.
Compared to all the sports including basketball, football has the best chance of making big money and actually balancing the athletic department budget as demonstrated by Chattanooga.
Lord...help the ignorant become educated...including officials in the athletic department and the president's office!
Some articles need to be revisited...this is one from 2008.
Sheridan sees Bucs' football return in 2012
By Trey Williams
Press Sports Writer
twilliams@johnsoncitypress.com
Although the goal line has been pushed back, the Buc Football and Friends Foundation still intends to score itself a football program at East Tennessee State.
Advisor Dick Sheridan, in town for the BFFF's quarterly meetings Friday and Saturday, recommended trying to have a program on the field by 2012. That is based on the expectation that ETSU will have a new president in 2011.
"I think it's important to set some timelines and goals, and for this group to set some targets," Sheridan told the group Saturday morning at the Holiday Inn, "in some cases, planned retirement dates for key individuals."
ETSU hasn't had football since president Paul Stanton eliminated it following the 2003 season. In the summer of 2006 Stanton formed a task force to look at the possibility of bringing it back.
Students voted down the return last spring, which didn't surprise anyone who has seen many student votes on raising their fees. And these fees were going to be raised for a team that wouldn't be on the field until the vast majority of them had graduated or dropped out.
Throw in the fact that a vote wasn't necessary for Tennessee Board of Regents approval, and the BFFF folks were left wondering if Stanton's exploration was completely disingenuous or woefully inept — or both.
"Everybody could've predicted how that vote was going to turn out," Sheridan said. "It's my impression, and I may be wrong — I wish I was wrong — that as long as the current president and athletic director (Dave Mullins) are in place, I don't think football is going to happen. ...
"They don't want it to happen. That disturbs me."
Sheridan was an advisor during the processes of starting football at Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion. He was also instrumental in Furman getting a program it could be proud of, leading the Paladins to six Southern Conference titles during his time (1978-85) while also getting a stadium on campus in '81.
A new stadium for ETSU was one of a handful of projects Sheridan recommended setting up task forces for Saturday. He said he believed playing football in the Mini-Dome was key in the ETSU program's demise, and used the allure of an outdoor facility to silver-line the foundation's long road ahead.
"If you're going to start the process of a stadium," Sheridan said, "it'd probably be 2012 before it could get done now anyway."
The BFFF is also forming a group to study the selection process of Stanton's successor (the thought of Wilsie Bishop spooks many members) and another to look at start-up costs for a program.
Among the members attending Saturday's meeting were Tennessee High coach Greg Stubbs and former Science Hill athletic director Mike Voitlein, who each played at ETSU, and Tennessee High athletic director Paul Pendleton. He played at Furman.
Former Furman athletic director Ray Parlier, an ETSU alumnus, was also on hand.
One topic during the three-hour meeting was ETSU's current flirtation with the Ohio Valley Conference after going on about how hot the Atlantic Sun was. Then again, now that the OVC has eliminated football as a prerequisite for membership, it doesn't look a lot better than the A-Sun from a basketball perspective.
"We all know how good the Atlantic Sun Conference is," Parlier said, "and the OVC has a lower rating than the Atlantic Sun."
The A-Sun and the OVC are 28th and 29th, respectively, in the Sagarin Ratings. ETSU left the OVC for the Southern Conference 30 years ago, but had to exit the SoCon when it dropped football.
The Southern Conference is 13th in the Sagarin Ratings.
You don't have to cherry-pick ratings to know joining the A-Sun wasn't a strategic move for men's basketball.
The A-Sun has finished below the SoCon in the RPI used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee each year since Central Florida, Troy and Georgia State left, which was before ETSU arrived.
However, the A-Sun has finished ahead of the OVC in the RPI three of the past four years. (Is ETSU hoops always in search of a downgrade?)
Of course, ratings and RPIs would change drastically if ETSU, Belmont and Lipscomb went to the OVC. A-Sun newcomers USC Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast seem to assure that league of going nowhere fast (assuming you need more assurance than common sense).
The Southern Conference is also ETSU's best fit geographically.
"The OVC is really spread out," Parlier said. "They have Eastern Illinois, (Southeast) Missouri, schools down in Florida. The OVC is not like it was 35 years ago when I was in school at East Tennessee and there were four Tennessee schools and four Kentucky schools."
Parlier said he has discussed ETSU's potential return to the Southern Conference with quite a few SoCon administrators.
"It was almost a unanimous vote that there's no way they'll get back without football," Parlier said. "If they bring back football there were no guarantees, but it looks pretty favorable."
Sheridan had fun with how Stanton has described his method of inquiry for a move to the OVC.
"I understand that Dr. Stanton has started what he called 'a kitchen cabinet,'" Sheridan said. "Thank goodness it's not a task force."
Actually, Sheridan advised the BFFF to get beyond expending energy to power negativity toward Stanton and Mullins: "It's counterproductive for us to beat that horse over and over."
Sheridan seems like he's gaining some emotional link with this consulting thing. Along with his buddy Parlier going way back with BFFF founder Jerry Robertson, Sheridan had a long history with ETSU.
His first win at the on-campus stadium at Furman came at the expense of the Bucs. And after Sheridan had moved on to North Carolina State, his Wolfpack was shocked by Mike Ayers' final ETSU team in '87.
"I can appreciate what football could mean here," Sheridan said. "This group is unselfish, and they have a noble cause. I just have a love for the game, and I know what a difference it can make in kids' lives and what it can mean to a university.
"East Tennessee State was a valued member of the Southern Conference when I was involved with it. I think it created a vacuum when they left, and I think if football was reinstated, the Southern Conference would want to have East Tennessee State back in the fold."
Trey Williams is a sports writer for the Johnson City Press. Contact him at twilliams@johnsoncitypress.com
I'm looking forward to the end of the Stanton administration. I wonder if he put the sports editor up to the idea of an opinion piece "football gone for good." If I really believed that, as much as I love my school, I would change my allegiance to my graduate school and leave ETSU behind.
I thought leaders were supposed to encourage... What I'm seeing is an all out war against progress...I speculate is about saving face! Mr. President, please retire so ETSU can start moving again!