11-25-2012, 04:36 PM
I am writing in the hopes of influencing the athletic committee of East Tennessee State ’s 125 campaign.
It is my hope that this committee will “think big” and envision a Buccaneers athletic program greater than it has ever been. Currently, ETSU is not thought to be on the athletic level of neighboring athletic programs at Tennessee and Virginia Tech.
It is my belief with the proper vision, one day ETSU could be thought of in a similar light as those schools. Over the years universities that were one-time contemporaries of ETSU have blossomed into strong and respected major Division I athletic programs.
If the athletic program is a university’s “front door,” one must consider that as long as ETSU plays in a conference and at a level that is perceived to be less than neighboring universities play in, the university as a whole will be perceived as lesser.
Several years ago, when I lived in Johnson City full time, I met a lifelong resident of the Tri-Cities who was a successful automobile salesman. In a discussion of the Tri-Cities area, he referenced ETSU to me as “one of the smallest colleges in the country” with great emphasis.
Granted, this was only one individual. But this man also worked for a dealership owned and operated by a former ETSU football player.
Perception is reality, and when ETSU is absent from Saturday sportscasts on WJHL and WCYB during football season for the likes of Tennessee and Virginia Tech, let alone Emory & Henry and Tusculum, it’s easy to see where a local resident might view ETSU with such low regard.
Though some administrators and the college baseball fan in me might not like it, the fact is the two college sports that receive the lion’s share of attention from the vast majority of the population are football and men’s basketball.
Since ETSU does not have a football team and the men’s basketball team plays in a conference where only the tournament champion makes the NCAA Tournament, it means the only thing that really matters to the average sports fan regarding ETSU is the Atlantic Sun Men’s Basketball Tournament, where the reward for victory will almost assuredly be an early exit in the NCAAs.
If ETSU sports are to grow and gain a foothold in the community, they simply have to be more than that.
Some thoughts I’d like the committee to consider:
1. A new basketball arena should not be limited to the mindset of merely holding 15 basketball events a year. Instead, consider building a real arena that could also attract the minor league hockey and indoor football programs that would make the area more cosmopolitan and bond transplants to the area to the events of the arena, and with that ETSU.
Music is perhaps the primary pastime of the Tri-Cities, so it makes sense that this arena be able to attract the legendary bands that once came to Johnson City with regularity (see this list at http://vincestaten.blogspot.com/2009/03/...ock.html). Don’t mistake Elton John’s recent performance at Freedom Hall to be anything but an exception to the rule. The Tri-Cities needs a venue to put it back on the map, not the white elephant of Freedom Hall to remind us of what once was.
Consider also the rents that could be collected by ETSU with a venue with a full schedule of events (including circuses, religious events, conventions, rodeos, etc.) that fills the entire calendar.
2. The Tri-Cities television market can be used to ETSU’s advantage. The Tri-Cities are a Top 100 television market, 96th in a country of 210 such markets. This means ETSU is in a bigger television market than the ones Notre Dame, Penn State , Florida State, Michigan State , Oregon , Missouri , etc. play in.
Granted, not all factors are equal in that comparison of universities and markets. And it’s unlikely the Southeastern Conference or Atlantic Coast Conference are going to be knocking at ETSU’s door for the 96th largest market in the country.
But if Boise State can join the Big East in football from the 112th largest market and College of Charleston can go to the Colonial Athletic Association from the 98th, it stands to reason since ETSU plays in the upper half of television markets there is the population to have a large local fan base and to move to a more prestigious conference where a season’s credentials can be considered for an NCAA Tournament bid rather than a weekend’s.
3. Kudos to the committee for studying the likes of the athletic departments at Maryland and Arizona . If ETSU is ever to grow into a major athletic program, then compare the Bucs to such programs and aspire to be like them. Don’t limit yourself to thinking of ETSU sports as forever playing on the level of Chattanooga and Belmont .
4. When ETSU dropped football in 2003, the following year there was a drop in first-time freshman applications of more than 10 percent. The creation of the pharmacy school the following year resulted in a rise of such applications, but one can not deny the loss of football resulted in a “loser’s rep” for the university with these figures.
There will be lots of figures given as to the cost of reviving the football program at ETSU and resistance from various members of the faculty. But there will always be a divide between academics and athletics at a university with a certain amount of faculty believing athletic scholarships or athletic programs themselves to be counterproductive to the university’s mission.
Obviously, a college athletic program cannot be influenced by this contingency of the faculty, however large or small, if the program is to succeed.
I hesitate to quote financial figures for football because in my analysis of them it almost always descends to a “Does not cost that much/Does too!” argument with the pro and con factions quoting their own differing claims.
What I do know is the loss of football at ETSU is our community’s equivalent to the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn or Browns leaving Cleveland, and for as long as ETSU is not playing football on a major FBS level the university’s athletic programs, and likely the academic programs as well, will not be thought of as prestigiously as Tennessee and Virginia Tech by the public at large.
And if the Tri-Cities does not think of ETSU as being as prestigious as their larger neighboring schools, then the Bucs will never truly be the Tri-Cities home team.
Think of ETSU as a potential Cincinnati , Louisville or Marshall to UT-K’s Ohio State , Kentucky or West Virginia .
5. Don’t lie. A few years ago a radio spot claimed ETSU has a “world class” athletic program. ETSU has never so much as won a national championship in any sport. Making outrageously overzealous claims like this only turn people off.
The potential for growing the success, popularity, and prestige of ETSU athletics, and with it the potential for cosmopolitan growth in this community, is perhaps unparalleled by any other university in America . Consider how Appalachian State, though actively pursuing bigger things athletically, does not have the market or the basketball success ETSU has.
Or if a new arena is built with the idea of having the basketball program highlight an events schedule that would make the Tri-Cities more cosmopolitan, the area has the wide open spaces to accommodate an increase in population without losing its rustic feel.
I ask that this committee soar, not settle, and would be happy to help advise, speak, share, and/or lead any pursuits or studies you may pursue.
It is my hope that this committee will “think big” and envision a Buccaneers athletic program greater than it has ever been. Currently, ETSU is not thought to be on the athletic level of neighboring athletic programs at Tennessee and Virginia Tech.
It is my belief with the proper vision, one day ETSU could be thought of in a similar light as those schools. Over the years universities that were one-time contemporaries of ETSU have blossomed into strong and respected major Division I athletic programs.
If the athletic program is a university’s “front door,” one must consider that as long as ETSU plays in a conference and at a level that is perceived to be less than neighboring universities play in, the university as a whole will be perceived as lesser.
Several years ago, when I lived in Johnson City full time, I met a lifelong resident of the Tri-Cities who was a successful automobile salesman. In a discussion of the Tri-Cities area, he referenced ETSU to me as “one of the smallest colleges in the country” with great emphasis.
Granted, this was only one individual. But this man also worked for a dealership owned and operated by a former ETSU football player.
Perception is reality, and when ETSU is absent from Saturday sportscasts on WJHL and WCYB during football season for the likes of Tennessee and Virginia Tech, let alone Emory & Henry and Tusculum, it’s easy to see where a local resident might view ETSU with such low regard.
Though some administrators and the college baseball fan in me might not like it, the fact is the two college sports that receive the lion’s share of attention from the vast majority of the population are football and men’s basketball.
Since ETSU does not have a football team and the men’s basketball team plays in a conference where only the tournament champion makes the NCAA Tournament, it means the only thing that really matters to the average sports fan regarding ETSU is the Atlantic Sun Men’s Basketball Tournament, where the reward for victory will almost assuredly be an early exit in the NCAAs.
If ETSU sports are to grow and gain a foothold in the community, they simply have to be more than that.
Some thoughts I’d like the committee to consider:
1. A new basketball arena should not be limited to the mindset of merely holding 15 basketball events a year. Instead, consider building a real arena that could also attract the minor league hockey and indoor football programs that would make the area more cosmopolitan and bond transplants to the area to the events of the arena, and with that ETSU.
Music is perhaps the primary pastime of the Tri-Cities, so it makes sense that this arena be able to attract the legendary bands that once came to Johnson City with regularity (see this list at http://vincestaten.blogspot.com/2009/03/...ock.html). Don’t mistake Elton John’s recent performance at Freedom Hall to be anything but an exception to the rule. The Tri-Cities needs a venue to put it back on the map, not the white elephant of Freedom Hall to remind us of what once was.
Consider also the rents that could be collected by ETSU with a venue with a full schedule of events (including circuses, religious events, conventions, rodeos, etc.) that fills the entire calendar.
2. The Tri-Cities television market can be used to ETSU’s advantage. The Tri-Cities are a Top 100 television market, 96th in a country of 210 such markets. This means ETSU is in a bigger television market than the ones Notre Dame, Penn State , Florida State, Michigan State , Oregon , Missouri , etc. play in.
Granted, not all factors are equal in that comparison of universities and markets. And it’s unlikely the Southeastern Conference or Atlantic Coast Conference are going to be knocking at ETSU’s door for the 96th largest market in the country.
But if Boise State can join the Big East in football from the 112th largest market and College of Charleston can go to the Colonial Athletic Association from the 98th, it stands to reason since ETSU plays in the upper half of television markets there is the population to have a large local fan base and to move to a more prestigious conference where a season’s credentials can be considered for an NCAA Tournament bid rather than a weekend’s.
3. Kudos to the committee for studying the likes of the athletic departments at Maryland and Arizona . If ETSU is ever to grow into a major athletic program, then compare the Bucs to such programs and aspire to be like them. Don’t limit yourself to thinking of ETSU sports as forever playing on the level of Chattanooga and Belmont .
4. When ETSU dropped football in 2003, the following year there was a drop in first-time freshman applications of more than 10 percent. The creation of the pharmacy school the following year resulted in a rise of such applications, but one can not deny the loss of football resulted in a “loser’s rep” for the university with these figures.
There will be lots of figures given as to the cost of reviving the football program at ETSU and resistance from various members of the faculty. But there will always be a divide between academics and athletics at a university with a certain amount of faculty believing athletic scholarships or athletic programs themselves to be counterproductive to the university’s mission.
Obviously, a college athletic program cannot be influenced by this contingency of the faculty, however large or small, if the program is to succeed.
I hesitate to quote financial figures for football because in my analysis of them it almost always descends to a “Does not cost that much/Does too!” argument with the pro and con factions quoting their own differing claims.
What I do know is the loss of football at ETSU is our community’s equivalent to the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn or Browns leaving Cleveland, and for as long as ETSU is not playing football on a major FBS level the university’s athletic programs, and likely the academic programs as well, will not be thought of as prestigiously as Tennessee and Virginia Tech by the public at large.
And if the Tri-Cities does not think of ETSU as being as prestigious as their larger neighboring schools, then the Bucs will never truly be the Tri-Cities home team.
Think of ETSU as a potential Cincinnati , Louisville or Marshall to UT-K’s Ohio State , Kentucky or West Virginia .
5. Don’t lie. A few years ago a radio spot claimed ETSU has a “world class” athletic program. ETSU has never so much as won a national championship in any sport. Making outrageously overzealous claims like this only turn people off.
The potential for growing the success, popularity, and prestige of ETSU athletics, and with it the potential for cosmopolitan growth in this community, is perhaps unparalleled by any other university in America . Consider how Appalachian State, though actively pursuing bigger things athletically, does not have the market or the basketball success ETSU has.
Or if a new arena is built with the idea of having the basketball program highlight an events schedule that would make the Tri-Cities more cosmopolitan, the area has the wide open spaces to accommodate an increase in population without losing its rustic feel.
I ask that this committee soar, not settle, and would be happy to help advise, speak, share, and/or lead any pursuits or studies you may pursue.