CSNbbs

Full Version: More on the Noland Interview- What did he reveal?
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Before trolls took over the other thread, we had a rather important discussion on what Noland's interview revealed about the future of ETSU athletics.

I want to further that discussion, because ultimately, and some other posters pointed this out, a few things were revealed-

A- If football is going to come back, it won't be happening any time soon.

B- Really, the only thing I can see that indicates there might be any sort of exciting change on the horizon is the discussion of a new arena.

Some other ideas-

He's a basketball guy. And that probably doesn't bode well if we hope for football's return.

As for changing conferences- I think Noland's answer about the changing landscape of college conferences and the lack of regional rivalries is telling. However, there was just enough room in his final answer about not having any "formal" talks with SoCon officials that perks my ears up.

There is a difference between saying you haven't had any "formal" talks and not having any talks whatsoever. If the guy was at the SoCon Tourney, I can only assume at some point there was some sort of talk between Noland and somebody at the SoCon- perhaps to gauge interest on a return.

This is where Hodge drops the ball. The follow-up you have to ask there is "No formal talks, but is it true you went to the SoCon Tourney?"

Noland can't dodge that question at that point. He has to say either "yes" or "no." And if it's true, then even if there were no "formal" talks you have to assume something is going on in the back of Noland's mind.

Instead, Kelly asked Noland about his jump shot. And printed the answer.

I thought Mike White was the sports editor who went into public relations.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just some other random thoughts- and ones I'm sure I'll be dumped upon for by people who don't want to see the forest for the trees-

This line bothers me-

"There’s not a Saturday in the past six years that I haven’t attended a game somewhere, be it at an institution south of Pittsburgh or an institution in the southwest corner of West Virginia."

WHY CAN'T NOLAND JUST COME OUT AND SAY WEST VIRGINIA AND MARSHALL?

Why does he have to say "an institution south of Pittsburgh or an institution in the southwest corner of West Virginia?"

Who is he, Bobby Knight?

It's a small thing, but here's why it upsets me-

Hodge has been known to be a sucker for this sort of response. I remember when football was cut Hodge wrote how Paul Stanton had never missed a football game at ETSU.

Well, so what? That's essentially Stanton's job.

I'm sure Walter O'Malley went to all the Dodgers games in Brooklyn before he moved them to Los Angeles, too.

It was pretty much Noland's job to attend big time college sporting events at West Virginia as well.

But before you think I'm overly cynical, what I kind of get from Noland by not coming out and saying "West Virginia" and "Marshall" is it's an attempt to be evasive.

For instance, if Noland were to come out and say "Marshall," then a natural follow up would be to ask how big time football has influenced the university. If you're listening with a careful ear, you can figure out where Noland is talking about and follow up with

"I presume the university in Southwest West Va. is Marshall. How do you feel having a big-time football program has enhanced that university?"

See? That's telling. That's revealing. That's the question I want Noland to answer.

Instead I got the drivel about his jump shot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's another line from the interview, concerning the basketball program-

"I’m confident we’ll be able to meet the expectations that our coaches have, that I have and the community has."

Instead of asking "And those expectations you have are?"

We got the question that should have led off the interview, which was what his initial perceptions of the athletic department were.

I'd like to know what those expectations are. I'm sure there will be the prerequisite answer about graduating student-athletes- if he didn't say that Hodge would have had a scoop.

But I think it's telling if Noland adds;

"Be the best we can be" (nonsense answer)

"Consistent winning seasons" (already there)

"Consistent conference championships" (which would be easier in the A-Sun and therefore reveal a new conference might not be on the horizon)

"Continuing to advance up the college basketball ladder and to make some noise in the NCAAs" (which is what we want to hear)

"I want this to be the best men's basketball program in the NCAA (which he'd never say, but is what we REALLY want him to say)"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another Noland answer-

"I think we have an athletic department that is well-run."

That's generally not something you say if you are looking at hiring a new athletic director or to make significant changes.

For further evidence of this, there is Noland's infamous answer making any excuse he possibly can to defend the delays in stadium construction.

Just sayin'.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We hold two commencements. We have a commencement speaker give the same speech twice. Why? Because we can’t fit the number of people in the Dome that we need to fit. We are approaching 16,000 students and I think by the end of the decade we’ll have 20,000. At an institution of this size, with the academic quality of ETSU, we have to turn things up several notches in the athletic department, and one of those notches is building a new building."

Why don't you just put in the new exits then?

But maybe this is actually something to be excited about. Because obviously then a new convocation center would have to hold more than the Dome's current capacity, and therefore for those of us who see a convocation center as being able to be a true multipurpose facility and think having a large seating capacity is a good thing because it doesn't cap your growth, we'd have to believe such a convocation center would hold 10,000 folks minimum.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Repeating a point I made on the troll thread:

Noland: "We’re not going to have the program we need without the support of the community, and there’s no we’re going to be able to have a conversation about football without the support of the community. ETSU cannot do this on its own. It’s going to take the community as part of the discussion and as part of the solution."

As I have always said, usually to deaf ears- FOOTBALL IS NOT COMING BACK IN SOME SORT OF A BACK ROOM DEAL!

Forget meetings with politicians and the like. With every movement to restore/create a real sports program (not adding on a women's sports program for Title IX or something like that), be it college or pro, the constant is that there was a demand from the community for it.

That demand from the community is spurned on or created by the media.

I always had hoped to be that guy, but instead what I get are people questioning my intentions.

Unfortunately, however, we have to ask ourselves- what is the community support for ETSU football? I think it could be there with a real media push, but the current media environment isn't conducive to such a thing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So we will formally launch by the end of this month a committee that will examine the future of ETSU in 125 that will be structured along a series of areas . . . . We’ll look at athletics, so there will be an entire task force devoted to athletics. What are the expectations of athletics within the mix of the institution? How can we utilize athletics to deepen student engagement and community involvement? What is our mix of programs? Should we add lacrosse? Should we add football? Are we in the right conference? What is the level of investment that we’re making? So within that total examination of athletics, we’ll look at football."

"I’m familiar with WVU and Marshall, both of whom have the full gamut of intercollegiate athletics . . . . I have a sense of the investments those institutions are making. If we want to play in that ballgame, we need to be prepared to make the investments, and we’re not there yet right now.


You're going to do this in the next month? With Mullins as the AD?

And you say that you're not prepared to "have the full gamut of intercollegiate athletics" right now?

Please. Tell me how football comes back. I want to believe it will. But I see the exact opposite shaping up.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"I know there’s been a lot of criticism about the decision to play [baseball at a half-built stadium], but that was a players’ decision. Coach (Tony Skole) kind of sat down with the team and said, ‘What do you all want to do?’ Players want to play on a new field."

Yeah. I'm buying that one. The players wanted to play there.

They may very well have. But you're telling me this had nothing to do with paying rent on another facility for a year? Or the fact Cardinal Park wasn't available and the alternative they had was not Jim O'Brien Field in Elizabethton or Hunter Wright Stadium in Kingsport but rather the Dobyns-Bennett football field?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"I'm aware of conversations that have occurred about bringing a hockey team to town and utilizing that to help construct the arena."

Again, where is the follow up, Kelly?

I'm begging you for a bit of investigation and to learn the potential players in this possibility, because a new sports franchise in a new arena is about as big of a sports story as this area will ever have.

Remember- what the people don't know will hurt them.
From everything I've heard he's not just a basketball guy. Football and basketball fan hood is not mutually exclusive.
Pitt, you raise some interesting questions about Noland and the future of ETSU's athletics.
I personally can't help but think there is some sort "understanding" that Noland agreed to when he took the ETSU job. Noland agreed not to bring back football. Why? Perhaps to save Stanton from public embarrassment. But why the hostility to restarting football at ETSU?
How can Noland be opposed to having homecoming again? Why is the local Tri-Cities media so silent on this issue? Why are the local media so soft on Stanton/Mullins/Noland?
Without football, how can ETSU ever leave the A-Sun? Who would take ETSU? Why build a new arena if the Bucs are staying in the A-Sun? What would be the point?
Well, the reason you build a new arena is because the community needs it. The area needs a new arena to attract concerts, minor pro sports, other events (rodeo, ice shows, circuses, etc.) to be more cosmopolitan. ETSU basketball would be only one tenant that would play only a fraction of the events at the place in a perfect scenario.

And sure, you can be a basketball AND a football guy. But every indication is that Noland is basketball first. You don't hear him talk about growing up with Joe Theismann and the Redskins or "I cried when the Colts left." You hear him talking about Wes Unseld and the Washington Bullets.

You don't hear him talk about "I came from West Virginia, and the pride that state has for the Mountaineers after they put up 70 on Clemson is amazing. Boy, would I like to see that happen here!"

You hear him talk about the day WVU beat Pitt in basketball and not a Mountaineers football triumph against the Panthers, which is where the rivalry really was.

To me, that's telling.

And finally, 97, the media doesn't cover this stuff because they are cowardly and clueless around here. Why do you think I come on this forum? Because I like the way I'm treated?

No, it's to communicate the truth and my knowledge to the public. Which is my passion. It is, in fact, to give to the community, even if it is in a small way. I know half the board doesn't realize or appriciate it, but that's the truth.

Trust me. I've worked for the local media. I know.
[quote='PittsburghBucs' pid='7806540' dateline='1335024573']
Well, the reason you build a new arena is because the community needs it. The area needs a new arena to attract concerts, minor pro sports, other events (rodeo, ice shows, circuses, etc.) to be more cosmopolitan. ETSU basketball would be only one tenant that would play only a fraction of the events at the place in a perfect scenario.

And sure, you can be a basketball AND a football guy. But every indication is that Noland is basketball first. You don't hear him talk about growing up with Joe Theismann and the Redskins or "I cried when the Colts left." You hear him talking about Wes Unseld and the Washington Bullets.

You don't hear him talk about "I came from West Virginia, and the pride that state has for the Mountaineers after they put up 70 on Clemson is amazing. Boy, would I like to see that happen here!"

You hear him talk about the day WVU beat Pitt in basketball and not a Mountaineers football triumph against the Panthers, which is where the rivalry really was.

To me, that's telling.

And finally, 97, the media doesn't cover this stuff because they are cowardly and clueless around here. Why do you think I come on this forum? Because I like the way I'm treated?

No, it's to communicate the truth and my knowledge to the public. Which is my passion. It is, in fact, to give to the community, even if it is in a small way. I know half the board doesn't realize or appriciate it, but that's the truth.

Trust me. I've worked for the local media. I know.

Pitt, where was Noland going to in the fall around West Virginia? He must have been going to football games. If he is from Northern Virginia, why did he choose West Virginia where there is football, to attend University? And say George Mason?
I can't help but think there is some hidden agenda at ETSU.
A good friend of mine, who works at ETSU, texted me and said that Noland has invited the staff and faculty to a big announcement on Friday. Any suspicions or inside information? I hope he'll announce a change of conferences. I suspect he'll announce a new Fine Arts Center.
(04-23-2012 09:14 PM)Bucfaithful Wrote: [ -> ]A good friend of mine, who works at ETSU, texted me and said that Noland has invited the staff and faculty to a big announcement on Friday. Any suspicions or inside information? I hope he'll announce a change of conferences. I suspect he'll announce a new Fine Arts Center.

I hope for the big three: Fine Arts Center, New conference, Committee formed to work on football.
Now that would give us hope for the future!
I suspect the Arts Center too, which I have no problem with. But not sure why he would invite University staff and faculty about something athletics-specific.
If it is the Performing Arts Center then that just means the ball gets rolling sooner rather than later on the other projects.
Its a Spring Celebration at the Ampitheatre- everyone including students, faculty, and staff is invited. Food, refreshments, the Celtic band, etc. I would not expect anything earth shattering at this. I think that he will make some token announcement about some on campus project such as renovations to the ampitheatre area, etc. He is probably using this "annoucement" just to get people to show up at a time that there are typically very few people on campus
Don't discount the idea that he's being groomed for something else. What better way for a young guy to make a splash by announcing the formation of the committees and potentially the PAC/FAC.
Nothing happens with conference affiliation until C-USA, the Mountain West, A-10, CAA, Sun Belt, and any FCS football playing school decides on moving up or standing pat. The only other way ETSU could expedite that process is if daddy warbucks somewhere donates a pile of cash and says build a stadium, hire coaches, buy equipment, start football. Kickoff in two years with the dollars to go FBS quickly. That of course isn't happening anytime soon so it'll have to be all these committees figure it out.
Reference URL's