Killer website on the ETSU Rifle Team...History covers 1952 through 1986. With such class as killing the football team...ETSU spared no feelings in killing the rifle team... ETSU announces that it is disbanding the Rifle Team shortly before the team competes in their last NCAA Rifle Championship. Even though their extinction was before them...the Bucs finished 6th nationally.
It seems as long as ETSU had a team...they were finishing in the top 5 nationally. Just amazing.
BTW...there are over 30 NCAA teams competing in division 1 rifle including Tennessee Tech.
Perhaps the rifle team was cancelled so ETSU would have more money for football? What do you think?
shootingbums.org/etsu
(12-17-2010 01:20 PM)Mister Jennings Wrote: [ -> ]Killer website on the ETSU Rifle Team...History covers 1952 through 1986. With such class as killing the football team...ETSU spared no feelings in killing the rifle team... ETSU announces that it is disbanding the Rifle Team shortly before the team competes in their last NCAA Rifle Championship. Even though their extinction was before them...the Bucs finished 6th nationally.
It seems as long as ETSU had a team...they were finishing in the top 5 nationally. Just amazing.
Perhaps the rifle team was cancelled so ETSU would have more money for football? What do you think?
shootingbums.org/etsu
Great site... enjoyed that. I knew many of the folks including Coach Anderson. I took the Rifle class for a "fun" PE credit (along with billiards). I never understood the reasoning given that the majority of funding evidently came from the Military Science area... BUT... I'll throw out a little of my own theory and perhaps those who might have been around might remember more or have more clarity and less "conspiracy theory" than I:
Bellar was president then, so anything would have been possible under him. I don't know why he was such a hater, but he sure didn't do much of anything to help out the advancement of ETSU Athletics other than go to some basketball games and let Les Robinson do his job. He sure did do a number on Mike Ayers when he refused to give him a multi-year contract to be the HC for football and he left to go lead Wofford's program from DII to DIAA... Beller was in place from 1980-1991 and I remember several controversial issues during his time in the seat of the POETSU...
In 1986, Fred Warren was hired to bring Golf back after it was terminated three years prior.... Rifles disbandment was announced in 1986. Is there a connection???? I don't know. If I knew how to get in touch with Janice Shelton or Ron Beller it would be interesting to see if they'd "recall" why Rifle ended and Golf returned.
Just for fun... Dave Mullins was hired in 1987. Don't know that it means anything but I'd like to think that his hiring kicked in the years of the beginning of the end of ETSU athletics... ohhhh just kidding.... get your panties out of a wad Ethel.
Fred Sauceman can get you in touch with Janice:
Janice and Fred chow down.......
Seems like there was an article on Beller in the
JC Press a few years ago. Maybe he was out West somewhere?
Golf was brought back because there was a look of consternation on the faces of anyone who cared about it. There was some outside donor money put up to re-establish it, but I don't know how much or who it was. Might have been Greene - I don't know......
IMO, Ayers needed to be let go. He, somewhat like our most recently departed football coach, was a nice guy who just didn't cut the mustard. I know, it's more complicated than that. But it's hard to defend a winless season.
And of course you're right about what could have happened under Beller - whimsical moves weren't that rare......
(12-17-2010 04:18 PM)straightfromthehorsesmouth Wrote: [ -> ] (12-17-2010 01:20 PM)Mister Jennings Wrote: [ -> ]Killer website on the ETSU Rifle Team...History covers 1952 through 1986. With such class as killing the football team...ETSU spared no feelings in killing the rifle team... ETSU announces that it is disbanding the Rifle Team shortly before the team competes in their last NCAA Rifle Championship. Even though their extinction was before them...the Bucs finished 6th nationally.
It seems as long as ETSU had a team...they were finishing in the top 5 nationally. Just amazing.
Perhaps the rifle team was cancelled so ETSU would have more money for football? What do you think?
shootingbums.org/etsu
Great site... enjoyed that. I knew many of the folks including Coach Anderson. I took the Rifle class for a "fun" PE credit (along with billiards). I never understood the reasoning given that the majority of funding evidently came from the Military Science area... BUT... I'll throw out a little of my own theory and perhaps those who might have been around might remember more or have more clarity and less "conspiracy theory" than I:
Bellar was president then, so anything would have been possible under him. I don't know why he was such a hater, but he sure didn't do much of anything to help out the advancement of ETSU Athletics other than go to some basketball games and let Les Robinson do his job. He sure did do a number on Mike Ayers when he refused to give him a multi-year contract to be the HC for football and he left to go lead Wofford's program from DII to DIAA... Beller was in place from 1980-1991 and I remember several controversial issues during his time in the seat of the POETSU...
In 1986, Fred Warren was hired to bring Golf back after it was terminated three years prior.... Rifles disbandment was announced in 1986. Is there a connection???? I don't know. If I knew how to get in touch with Janice Shelton or Ron Beller it would be interesting to see if they'd "recall" why Rifle ended and Golf returned.
Just for fun... Dave Mullins was hired in 1987. Don't know that it means anything but I'd like to think that his hiring kicked in the years of the beginning of the end of ETSU athletics... ohhhh just kidding.... get your panties out of a wad Ethel.
I do believe that as long as Mullins was over a minor that it really didn't matter. When they put him over the entire athletic department, boy did it start to matter! Still hard to think about the damage he has done.
(12-17-2010 05:17 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote: [ -> ]Fred Sauceman can get you in touch with Janice:
Janice and Fred chow down.......
Seems like there was an article on Beller in the JC Press a few years ago. Maybe he was out West somewhere?
Golf was brought back because there was a look of consternation on the faces of anyone who cared about it. There was some outside donor money put up to re-establish it, but I don't know how much or who it was. Might have been Greene - I don't know......
IMO, Ayers needed to be let go. He, somewhat like our most recently departed football coach, was a nice guy who just didn't cut the mustard. I know, it's more complicated than that. But it's hard to defend a winless season.
And of course you're right about what could have happened under Beller - whimsical moves weren't that rare......
I think I'll disagree with you on Ayres... he inherited the team out of nowhere that ended 0-10-1 and that next year they had the 6-5 season and I think that last season at ETSU, they beat NC State... he had the program moving and his players would definitely defend him to the death and still would today.
There are many of "us" who have asserted that he posed a threat to Les Robinson's rising influence and the desire of people to have ETSU seen as a "basketball school" more so than a football presence. Failing to give him a long-term contract pushed him straight into the arms of Wofford, who had a vision and a mission.
Robinson, the AD at the time, had a long term contract but told Ayres that ETSU didn't do long term contracts.... they also lost a few fans at that point and it went down hill pretty quickly from a win and alumni attachment point-of-view. There were many that didn't come back to campus for years because they felt like the school let their coach go out of spite. Several of those players have stayed in very close contact with him and still won't do anything to support ETSU because of all that they perceived that had gone on during that time.
http://woffordterriers.com/staff.aspx?st...h=football
(12-17-2010 05:17 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote: [ -> ]Golf was brought back because there was a look of consternation on the faces of anyone who cared about it. There was some outside donor money put up to re-establish it, but I don't know how much or who it was. Might have been Greene - I don't know......
And of course you're right about what could have happened under Beller - whimsical moves weren't that rare......
So, you are reminding us that one of the ETSU deciders (from the W dictionary) killed a sport BUT brought it back.
I googled Dr. Beller and found several hits on sites related to a medically related foundation:
http://www.ascocancerfoundation.org/
Looks like he's the former CEO and VP... gave an award this past year for cancer research dedicated to his son.... he should be in his mid-70's, so we'll assume he's retired.
(12-17-2010 07:05 PM)straightfromthehorsesmouth Wrote: [ -> ] (12-17-2010 05:17 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote: [ -> ]Fred Sauceman can get you in touch with Janice:
Janice and Fred chow down.......
Seems like there was an article on Beller in the JC Press a few years ago. Maybe he was out West somewhere?
Golf was brought back because there was a look of consternation on the faces of anyone who cared about it. There was some outside donor money put up to re-establish it, but I don't know how much or who it was. Might have been Greene - I don't know......
IMO, Ayers needed to be let go. He, somewhat like our most recently departed football coach, was a nice guy who just didn't cut the mustard. I know, it's more complicated than that. But it's hard to defend a winless season.
And of course you're right about what could have happened under Beller - whimsical moves weren't that rare......
I think I'll disagree with you on Ayres... he inherited the team out of nowhere that ended 0-10-1 and that next year they had the 6-5 season and I think that last season at ETSU, they beat NC State... he had the program moving and his players would definitely defend him to the death and still would today.
There are many of "us" who have asserted that he posed a threat to Les Robinson's rising influence and the desire of people to have ETSU seen as a "basketball school" more so than a football presence. Failing to give him a long-term contract pushed him straight into the arms of Wofford, who had a vision and a mission.
Robinson, the AD at the time, had a long term contract but told Ayres that ETSU didn't do long term contracts.... they also lost a few fans at that point and it went down hill pretty quickly from a win and alumni attachment point-of-view. There were many that didn't come back to campus for years because they felt like the school let their coach go out of spite. Several of those players have stayed in very close contact with him and still won't do anything to support ETSU because of all that they perceived that had gone on during that time.
http://woffordterriers.com/staff.aspx?st...h=football
Well, I expected some disagreement with my statement. Yes, I know he inherited that team. I don't dislike him - at all. But I stand by my statement (as my opinion only). To me it was more a lack of imaginative play-calling, and things of that sort. Almost like bartow is now, although certainly with a different demeanor. Certainly he was better than Riley, and certainly like almost all our football coaches, he had one hand at least in a sling, if not behind his back. But that was the hand he was dealt and accepted. I think he's grown into a much better coach over the years, it seems. And although I don't know for a fact that he was denied a multi-year contract, I don't doubt that that was true. Robinson, as we know, was a special case. Whether he should have been or not is another question.
More germane is whether or not *any* coach could have been a true winner in that time period (without recruiting some less desirable sorts, that is {wink - and I don't mean "Wink" Baker}). I don't know the answer to that question, and I guess we never will......
If I remember correctly, in some years we had maybe as many as 20 less full scholarship football players as *some* of the other SoCon schools. Not sure about that; just my memory......
(12-17-2010 07:33 PM)straightfromthehorsesmouth Wrote: [ -> ] (12-17-2010 05:17 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote: [ -> ]Golf was brought back because there was a look of consternation on the faces of anyone who cared about it. There was some outside donor money put up to re-establish it, but I don't know how much or who it was. Might have been Greene - I don't know......
And of course you're right about what could have happened under Beller - whimsical moves weren't that rare......
So, you are reminding us that one of the ETSU deciders (from the W dictionary) killed a sport BUT brought it back.
I googled Dr. Beller and found several hits on sites related to a medically related foundation: http://www.ascocancerfoundation.org/
Looks like he's the former CEO and VP... gave an award this past year for cancer research dedicated to his son.... he should be in his mid-70's, so we'll assume he's retired.
Yes, I guess I am. My memory was that the decision to drop golf was very quick, and caught the public by surprise, much like football, but of course far fewer people were in a tither over it. But enough of them were that they lobbied successfully to get it returned. Not sure if there was a SoCon angle there or not.
Withdrawing the original application to the SoCon, building the dome, dropping rifle, golf, football, January track meet, destroy the on campus track and baseball facilities, letting Coaches Lodes, Walker, Ayers, Campbel leave while keeping loser coaches for years are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the screwups the adminstation has dumped on the fans, students and the athletes for decades. Unfortunately the screwups continue on there merry path of destruction with no end in site.
(12-19-2010 03:35 PM)buckys Wrote: [ -> ]Unfortunately the screwups continue on there merry path of destruction with no end in site.
Wow...nice summary of recent athletic history at ETSU. It is enough to make adults weep.
ETSU has had wonderful moments too. The weekend in Atlanta will be hard to beat...knocking off Lute Olsen Arizona then unfortunately hitting the Fab 5.
Beating Villanova in the NCAA football playoffs was a memory...unfortunately it got the football program cancelled...only 5 thousand or so people there.
The last football game knocking off Citadel was killer.
How 'bout the ETSU cheerleader game against Chattanooga?
A list could be developed that is miles long.