I'm responding to your PM which I was finally able to read, Doctor, and here's what I will tell you.

I have been around many, many, many sports franchises and seen the inside workings of them- from glamourous NFL franchises to undermanned small town high schools.

Here's my take on why Bartow got an extension.

He's David Mullins' boy. Remember, after every press conference during the NCAA run he would take time out to praise Mullins and Stanton at the end of the session. In many ways I feel Bartow was shining up to "Master" with those comments.

This was the hire David Mullins had to make to present himself to the public eye as a "real" AD. It's the most glamourous one he'll make- in fact few ADs ever get the chance to have an up and coming program like ETSU has and then get to select his own man to lead the program.

I would compare the syndrome to the same thing that happened when Mike Brown inherited the Cincinnati Bengals from his father upon Paul Brown's passing. He had the opportunity to make a head coaching hire and he hired David Shula- who from the get go was not the answer.

The problem was Mike Brown wanted to prove to everyone he could make a good coaching hire. So he stayed with David Shula for at least two years longer than he should have.

Same thing here. And while it is easier to attract new recruits, at least in theory, with a coach who is contractually obligated to the school for at least four years, I think the extension was more to try and do everything Mullins could to not have to say he had the best situation he ever would to hire a new coach in any sport- and he blew it big time.

A newbie here, but...

Supposedly, Murry is Stanton's boy; so I guess in turn that makes him Mullins' boy as well.

I can't believe the hush that the former tennis coach was hired as athletic director. That should've garnered a Jim Mora "playoffs" type tirade from someone with a voice.

Of course, those with a voice won't use it for fear of damaging their rapport - or aren't going to use it, except to make theirselves look like an idiot (see: Meade, Bill and Helman, Don).

Lots of problems with the Ath. Department at ETSU and no one is holding them accountable. There should, shouldn't there?, be someone - with a public voice (ie: media member - radio, press, etc) holding these folks accountable, asking the questions, digging for answers.

Instead - and its fine - they'd rather cover the Big Orange. And like I said, thats fine, but the Johnson City Press is in Johnson City; not Knoxville. Same for the TimesNews and the Herald. Bill Meade's show is just worthless (and usually incorrect information filled) rants of his, and callers wanting to know about Dale Earnhardt Junior and this weeks upcoming Nascar race. Ron Bliss' website is more about prep sports and the Vols and Dr John Hancocks "inside" and incorrect information columns on UT.

I guarantee you that if someone held these folks accountable; there may be some changes to the problems.

But when Murry got the extension, the only stories I saw where the press releases. No questions posed to Mullins or Stanton like - "Um, Dave, Murry won one season with Eddie's kids and then stinks up the joint and wins 10 games last year, why does he deserve this extension?"

After this year, and another 10-win season (+/- error of 3 to 5 games), no one will ask Murry - "Murry, you blamed last season totally on Brad's foot injury. He returns, you have more available bodies, you get your talent back with another year of experience, and you have more talent than you did last year, why the poor season?"

The fans will probably not be able to change the debacle, unless they go straight to the Tennessee Board of Regents, but if the press in the Tri-Cities would take the role of accountability with this administration - maybe then something would give.

Or at least we wouldn't see in the paper one day "ETSU to drop football due to financial concerns" and then the next days see "ETSU Foundation to build clock tower"; "ETSU fund raiser makes its $XX million dollar goal for pharmacy school"; and "ETSU Athletics unveil $XX million dollar plan for facility improvement."

No wonder the folks in the Johnson City area are confused as heck, the administration puts smoke screens out in the press. And the press doesn't do its job. The press mainly treats ETSU like its buddy, its advertiser, and almost like a high school instead of a multi-million dollar institution of higher learning.

Welcome to the forum, 2006.

There was one guy who rose a stink about Mullins' hiring. It was me. At the time I wrote a column for Sports Talk- before that magazine's demise- and basically took ETSU to task for its short sightedness.

Hell, I even won an award from the Tennessee Sportswriters Association for my commentary.

But- you are correct- nobody ever picked up on it. In fact, I was criticized for it.

Mullins refused to talk to me- still does to this day.

There may be a silver lining in all of this. For me, it was that I was able to finally get on with my career instead of writing for peanuts covering something I cared deeply about.

For ETSU, it is simply that they are going to completely fall off the radar screen. The worst thing for them is no coverage- and that's what they are getting.