With the talk of new traditions, here are some things that I think ETSU fans can't wait to hear.

This isn't about changing the name of Buc Wild to "The Brig" or anything like that. And why you want to imprison you own students is beyond me, but they've tried to imprison me, so maybe that is an ETSU tradition after all.

A- We have hired President X, who is committed to reviving athletics.

B- David Mullins retires and moves to Hawaii. Takes entire administrative staff with him.

C- A joint operation is made with the city for a new arena and a new football stadium.

D- ETSU announces they are thinking up and join the Sun Belt or other Division I-A football conference.

Any other ideas?

E- They use the school colors of Navy Blue and Old Gold, rather than any shade of blue and yellow that can be found.

F- They officially retire Mister's number and hang all of the retired jersey's up in the rafters.

Amen guys.

Before I die someday, will they please do A-F, or something like it.

In the 60s when I was a kid , we won the GR bowl and beat FSU in the NCAA. At that point I think we were in great shape as a program. But what the hell happened ?

Mister, Wadood and a few others tried to revive it for awhile but I never dreamed in my youth, that we would be in such sad shape at this stage of the game.

I feel like we need to make a sad commerical with Madison Brooks and Coach Bell standing in front of the university with a tear running down their face like that old Native American in the classic commercial.

Pitt, can you imagine what MB would have thought of Belmont smacking us around at our own court ? Bel freaking mont.

Sigh........

G-They seek, value and implement thoughts and ideas of loyal fans and alumni regarding athletic decisions.

JW- No I can't.

Good question as to "What Happened To ETSU?"

All I can think of is that John Robert Bell left for the FCA and Madison Brooks retired.

Another thing- and this is total hindsight so someone who was around can tell me- but a matter of facilities.

In 1973, when ETSU is going downhill, ETSU football is playing off-campus at Roosevelt Memorial Stadium and at Brooks Gym.

Meanwhile, Freedom Hall is being built. But does ETSU announce "We will be moving to Freedom Hall to play our games?"- a huge recruiting and attention grabbing tool?

No. They even get North Carolina to come and play here at Freedom Hall, but do not see the long term ramifications of playing basketball there.

So they play at a run-down, even by 1974 standards- GYM instead of a shiny new arena.

Now, the construction of Memorial Center. For the life of me I do not understand it.

I do not understand why the City independently spent all this money on Freedom Hall and ETSU spent all this money to independently build their own arena. It would seem to me that a joint venture would be best.

As a result, Memorial Center is built with a bunch of shortcuts to save money and so the sight lines suffer.

I'm not really down on ETSU for building Memorial Center. At the time in the 70s multipurpose and indoor facilities were the rage (and I still think you'd never hear any complaints about playing inside IF Memorial Center was built the right way). It could have been a great multipurpose facility with a daily event- sporting events, concerts, circuses, etc.- for both public and college use.

All the more reason for the City and the school to come together, perhaps for the first time ever.