Of course, what I'm doing is pointing out how flawed the ETSU spin is. UCF and ETSU are far from being equal on the athletic landscape and weren't eight or nine years ago, either.

Granted, Stansbury came to ETSU with the idea of moving up the ladder, so to speak. I think we can say Frank Pergolizzi did the same thing. I don't necessarily think Keener Fry did, since he was local and really did some fantastic things at ETSU before leaving soon after Stanton took office.

But the fact of the matter is that Stanton hired Mullins for one reason- stability. He seemingly had the philosophy that all sports are equal, so I'll hire the coach who has been here the longest to be the AD.

This AD then runs the athletic department as if he's trying to play payback for all the times country club sports were ignored by sports that attract a fan base- be it by dropping football or building facilities that don't serve the community, but rather serve A-Sun membership (at best).

But that's old news. So is the fact Mullins has to go.

Will he? I have no idea.

But if he does, a word of thought. Look to the outside for such a hire. Don't be dismissive of a new AD who views ETSU as a stepping stone. It would be hard to get a young, forward-thinking AD who WOULDN'T think of ETSU as being a stepping stone.

But such an AD might look at restoring football or building an arena or getting into a new conference as a resume builder to get hired by a major athletic program.

That said, if I were Dr. Noland the first thing I'd do is fire Mullins and ask Fry if he wanted his old job back. Under Fry, the football team enjoyed historic success, very good coaches were hired, and he stood up to media who would put ETSU on the backburner and made sure it wasn't.