head:
you'll have to pardon the silence but most of us are probably amazed that most people in the area (assuming you are) that hasn't heard the speil over and over about "why" ETSU can't have football. If you are fairly young, you may have not been aware of what went on 5 years ago in April.
The president of the university listened to some really BAD advise about the status of athletics at etsu. Those bad advisors, none of whom were at any point qualified with regard to advise on the broad and complex landscape of college athletics, told president stanton that if he cut the sport of football which consumed a little over $1 million annually, they'd be able to better fund other sports (primarily basketball) and move to a more prestigious conference. Conference USA was the bug that was put in the ear of some really delusional fools, including stanton. So, in order to cover the very selfish motivations of a handful of power-grubbing ignats, they blamed it on the state budget, the lack of "support" for football, and the general malise that is present all across the TRI-Cities area for sports other than UT Football and Nascar.
Five years ago, we lived through having football's elimination shoved down our throats. People lined up at the doors, called, emailed, did everything they could to stop the demise and find a way to fix it. All to closed ears and eyes, the people were ignored. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Ampitheatre, people didn't go away and forget about why college football is a good thing for etsu. It's taken the pure breakdown of our athletic reputation, exile in to a sad-excuse for a Division I conference, and a down-right distain for the state of etsu's lack of leadership for people to keep the conversation alive and very well.
If you will do an advanced google search, you will find articles from the beginning of the end thru the current tide that is rumbling under the surface regard the hope of returning the sport to campus.
quick link if it works:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=...afe=images
The
http://www.bucfootball.com site discussion board keeps a running list of articles that date back at least two year, you just may need to dig a little to go back five years.
Glad to see a new generation of folks interested in why etsu is as stupid as they look!
