But Im a Marshall fan, and yes I still hate ETSU. And Ive heard many stories on why the football program was disbanded from Tenn. couldn't afford that many teams and ETSU was the easiest to get rid of. To the president who was a crook.

Could some ome plz tell me the real story on why ETSU dropped football. And what the chances are that it may come back.

There have been so many theories and so many reasons nobody knows what to believe anymore, but here's what I can tell you.

Football is a costly proposition and ETSU football was always looked at as a loser.

There was a perception the football program was draining money from the athletic dept.

The way ETSU does fundraising is sort of an "every man for himself" model. This is how a Fred Warren, the golf coach, can earn a huge salary and wield more influence than any golf coach should have at a college.

In 1997 Paul Stanton was named President of ETSU. He procedes to drive three athletic directors out in six years. Finally they decide to stay in house and hire the TENNIS COACH as the AD.

Yes, I know. Only at ETSU.

And you know, tennis and golf coaches don't like to share their money.

It's true the State of Tennessee cut back athletic funding. Be thankful Marshall started to expand when they did because otherwise they never would have been able to fundraise to make Marshall into a D-1-A football program.

So the reasons given were said to be financial, but it doesn't make any sense. ETSU extended the contract of the football coach a month before the program was dropped, they have added expenses in travel when their ill-fated decision got the school kicked out of the So Con, and they are starting up new programs and building new facilities for men's soccer.

I will tell you that I think the decision to drop football was a move made by a group of small sport coaches who didn't like being overshadowed. That's my belief- and many of us share that belief.

As far as football coming back- gotta give the people around here some sense of optimism. There is a foundation out there with the stated purpose to bring back the program.

Their big thing is there is now a task force to look at bringing the sport back.

The problem is you still have the players who killed the program in place running the show- and therefore I think it's obvious the task force is doomed to failure.

Their reaction seems to be "If we treat the current administration real nice, they'll like us and bring the sport back."

I have looked at the minutes of these meetings the foundation has- they really don't do anything but say prayers before and after the meetings- and it never seems the big money people they have show up.

Instead, it seems they are too busy patting themselves on the back. "Look at us! We have a booth up for homecoming saying "'Bring back football!'"

"I gave out 30 business cards at the D-I-AA championship game!"

I see no optimism for ETSU athletics, no optimism at all.

I understand the model of IAA and its for small budget schools. They really need to redo some of the conf. but I know that some of the powerhouse IAA schools would be against that.

The SoCon sould be:

Appy State
VMI
Cit
Furman
GA Southern
Western Carolina
Coastal Carolina
UTC
And if ETSU comes back then them

Big South

Disbanded and all go Indy except Liberty who will be joining the CAA

And I think everyone that doesn't want to compete for the national title should be put in a different div and not play others.

If you want to disband the Big South- what about the A-Sun?

What you say might be good for 1995, but I think as time goes by universities and programs change.

You're waxing poetic for days of yore. But like Marshall, the Southern Conference has moved on.

Look at VMI. The once were a football power- competing against the big boys- and now may be perhaps the worst scholarship program in the country on a DI level.

Why the anger to the Big South? They are what they are and seem to be getting better in time.

I do believe you are living in the past.

PittsburghBucs Wrote:If you want to disband the Big South- what about the A-Sun?

What you say might be good for 1995, but I think as time goes by universities and programs change.

You're waxing poetic for days of yore. But like Marshall, the Southern Conference has moved on.

Look at VMI. The once were a football power- competing against the big boys- and now may be perhaps the worst scholarship program in the country on a DI level.

Why the anger to the Big South? They are what they are and seem to be getting better in time.

I do believe you are living in the past.

The Big South would only have 2 members if what was done as I said. That being, Charleston Southern and Gard. Webb. If Coastal Carolina and VMI went to the SoConf and Liberty went to the CAA. There is no anger, just dissipation of the conf.

The A-Sun doesn't sponsor football and think thats where most if not all the SoCon nonfootball schools should be.

http://www.bucfootball.com

Herdzone, that should tell you everything you need to know.
It's coming back, money is not the issue anymore. We'll never be division I-A, or atleast not in the next 20 years, but maybe one day.
BTW, looking forward to the We Are Marshall movie. Kinda weird though that Sonny Perdue plays the coach.

If this thread has moved, why is it still here?

This multi-board thing is a disaster.

It says moved. Its still there to let everyone know it's moved to the proper forum.

Back to the topic at hand....

So now we have two threads with the exact same posts.

This is as unnecessary as a moderator.

PittsburghBucs Wrote:So now we have two threads with the exact same posts.

This is as unnecessary as a moderator.

As moved PB, its on that forum only as a topic. The threads and posts are over here.

HerdZoned Wrote:

PittsburghBucs Wrote:So now we have two threads with the exact same posts.

This is as unnecessary as a moderator.

As moved PB, its on that forum only as a topic. The threads and posts are over here.

No actually everything is in both places. The outside only says 3 posts but if you click on it you get everything, in fact I am replying there and not on the Bucfootball board.

I think this whole thing was pretty silly, we don't need 4 boards and we don't need one of our own as a Mod(really really bad idea). The status quo was just fine. No offense but I really don't like the idea of having a one of our fans as a Mod, he could very well be to close to things talked about and react based on that, I would rather have kept a non-partisan person in "charge" of content. I would also love to see the final tally of the votes, Swagger says he won by a wide margin in Private messages but I find it hard to believe he got that many votes since there aren't that many posters to vote, and nobody seemed all that excited about the idea. I guess any votes compared to 0 could be called a wide margin.

Swagger, forget the fancy skin, forget the 4 different boards and give us back Eagle as Mod. It was a nice idea you had but I don't think it is best for our board.

R

From Tim Smith to this point, eventually Rod Shaw always comes around to the Pittsburgh Bucs' way of thinking!!!!!