02-20-2021, 11:35 AM
As we all know, Dr. Sander retired and was replaced by Scott Carter in Fall 2017. At the time, we were all generally happy with the position that ETSU athletics was in. We had a charismatic and successful men's basketball coach, a somewhat successful women's basketball program that was setting record attendance numbers, and was about to begin playing football in our new stadium. The only stain seemed to be the tennis program, whose coach had been fired due to criminal activity. I looked up the records of the major sports since that time:
Football has won 43% of its games since the 2017-18 season. To be fair, one of those seasons included a dramatic set of games to win the conference and generate significant interest.
Baseball has won 60% of its games. The new coach appears to have been a good hire!
Women's basketball has won 39% of its games and the record has progressively gotten worse
Softball has won 43% of its games.
Men's tennis- last year they had a 7-6 record before the season was cut short. This year they are 0-5, but against some really strong competition.
Men's basketball- Obviously very successful but then lost our head coach and are currently in the middle of the national anthem debate. Regardless of one's stance on that issue, I think everyone can recognize that it has divided the community in a way that very few other issues would. This could very well take a generation to recover from and will undoubtedly harm the athletic department (and probably the university as a whole) financially.
I am by no means calling for Carter to be replaced, but it seems to be that any momentum that we had is now gone which brings about some questions:
1. Does anyone think significant changes will take place within the athletic department in the near future?
2. How do we improve the play of our teams? It seems like we have given each team the facilities and support that is needed.
3. How in the world does the university respond to this anthem issue in a way that doesn't further divide the community?
Football has won 43% of its games since the 2017-18 season. To be fair, one of those seasons included a dramatic set of games to win the conference and generate significant interest.
Baseball has won 60% of its games. The new coach appears to have been a good hire!
Women's basketball has won 39% of its games and the record has progressively gotten worse
Softball has won 43% of its games.
Men's tennis- last year they had a 7-6 record before the season was cut short. This year they are 0-5, but against some really strong competition.
Men's basketball- Obviously very successful but then lost our head coach and are currently in the middle of the national anthem debate. Regardless of one's stance on that issue, I think everyone can recognize that it has divided the community in a way that very few other issues would. This could very well take a generation to recover from and will undoubtedly harm the athletic department (and probably the university as a whole) financially.
I am by no means calling for Carter to be replaced, but it seems to be that any momentum that we had is now gone which brings about some questions:
1. Does anyone think significant changes will take place within the athletic department in the near future?
2. How do we improve the play of our teams? It seems like we have given each team the facilities and support that is needed.
3. How in the world does the university respond to this anthem issue in a way that doesn't further divide the community?