Had the fortune to find out the "attitude" of "we can't" which we all means "we won't" still prevails at ETSU Athletics.

A football alumni and member of BASA called JoAnne Paty today. He wanted to get her "take" on the Presidential candidates and if they would be ready and willing to BRING BACK FOOTBALL.

She went into her 8-year-old list of excuses and at the top of the list was: Football Players are the reason ETSU Football was killed, they don't give back, they didn't care about their own program.

This alumni football player has more passion than most people I know. He stood up at the BFFF picnic this summer and said "Give to BASA so you can have a voice." Now this same alumni player is SICK to his stomach about the attitude and the outright LIE that keeps being distributed by Ms. Paty that he's afraid there will be no chance that the new President will even get to consider the idea.

I've got some ideas on how to go about dealing with this ongoing farce, but I'd like to pick the brains of you guys also. I will pass along these suggestions, see if there are feasible avenues to proceed BEFORE and AFTER a new President is onboard.

A few things to consider in terms of FACTS:
1) Alumni football players were never asked to contribute beyond the same old Pirate Club and ETSU solicitations. Considering that the two most recent Athletic Director's prior to 2003 had emphasized general non-restricted giving, I find it funny that Ms. Paty would insist that Football players are somehow responsible for the demise of funding for the sport

2) Name ONE sport that has an alumni base that funds it's existance? ONE? You can't. Name ONE SPORT where the alumni players are responsible for it's continued progress or presence?

3) Funding at ETSU Athletics is 85%+ from student sources. ETSU students pay the bills, just like they do at most FBS and FCS level schools. Since 2002, we know the track record of "giving" for ETSU Athletics and it's shameful that a paid university official has the audacity to lay the blame on alumni athletes.

4) When asked to help create the Letterman's Club under Todd Stansbury, the football alumni stepped up and did more than any other sport. That is proof to me and many others that all ETSU had to do was ASK.

5) When stanton (back to small caps, Doc) asked the Task Force to bring him $300,000 in earnest money toward reinstating football within 30 days, the Football Foundation brought him $400,000 in less time. We all know he had to resort to his lie that the TBR also required a student vote. Again, that was not true but his only way to destroy the hope of returning the sport.

These are just a few off the top of my head. I'm out of town this weekend but will try and check the responses to this thread. I'm open for just about anything and I'll pass along these suggestions to the appropriate people on Sunday.

(10-21-2011 06:06 PM)ReturnOfMommaBear Wrote:  " Now this same alumni player is SICK to his stomach about the attitude and the outright LIE that keeps being distributed by Ms. Paty that he's afraid there will be no chance that the new President will even get to consider the idea.

If the next president is serious about restoring football then he/she will have to eliminate much of the current athletic administration. My personal opinion is that he/she will not be serious and therefor etsu will be in danger of falling out of division 1 at some point in the future.

What a shame that Ms. Paty didn't put that in writing and sign her name to it. I think that should be sent to every former player at ETSU who does care about the program.

Ms. Paty is simply a 'yes' employee for mullins, so why would you expect her to be in favor of football. Her job like so many others in the athletic department depend on their loyalty to mullins and keeping their mouth shut except to speak the company line.

Ms. Paty got mad at me because I would not let her put my football contribution in the general sports fund and yes that was the main line from the athletic department, a deterrent for me and many other donors.

I've railed against JoAnn several times before on this, and the old, board. She was part of the "coverup" (shall we call it) of the supposed 'failed' football fundraising campaign that raised only whatever pittance it was over 5(?) years. The one that NO ONE knew about - and was used as a reason for dropping football. I still hope one of these days some gutsy reporter does an investigation of *that* charade.

But *every single* member of what used to be called "The Pirate Club" should have resigned immediately, and formed an extra-university athletics supporters' organization. I always rued the day that the university absorbed and made official that organization (now "BASA") as part of ETSU. All control was given over to them, and thus we are where we are. Those individuals, by their almost complete silence, bear massive responsibility, as well.....

It's why I've said over the years that wholesale changes must take place administratively. I suspect some of the old guard might ease on into retirement or move on depending on who takes over and how ambitious they are to move to a national, and for lack of a better term, "BCS-Level" institution.

(10-24-2011 12:12 AM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  I've railed against JoAnn several times before on this, and the old, board. She was part of the "coverup" (shall we call it) of the supposed 'failed' football fundraising campaign that raised only whatever pittance it was over 5(?) years. The one that NO ONE knew about - and was used as a reason for dropping football. I still hope one of these days some gutsy reporter does an investigation of *that* charade.

But *every single* member of what used to be called "The Pirate Club" should have resigned immediately, and formed an extra-university athletics supporters' organization. I always rued the day that the university absorbed and made official that organization (now "BASA") as part of ETSU. All control was given over to them, and thus we are where we are. Those individuals, by their almost complete silence, bear massive responsibility, as well.....

When the Pirate Club was pulled out of Manahan's office, it was over. His "I'll show you" and the hands-off attitude that he embraced made sure there was going to be no help from his side of the cash flow at that point forward. In the 1999 Task Force, the idea was put out and implemented under Pergolizzi. It was done to "CONTROL" the methods of fundraising and to lasso all the "unrestricted" giving that had helped to funnel money and keep the Title IX compliance efforts in 1982.

I agree about the Pirate Club board, but we all know it's more about the line on your obituary than what you actually do with your position when it comes to that group. The amount of money that most of those people "give" is so small that most school's would have them parking across campus on game day.

Blanket changes.

Yes, we all know that there was a country-wide movement afoot to "control" donors, and donor groups that were abusing the system - many, if not most of those offenses in the South. Nothing wrong with the intended end result. BUT.................you can't legislate morality, as the (true) saying goes.

It was completely the wrong way to combat that abuse, imo. It's all "institutionalized" now, and sterile, and there can be no dissenting opinions that get heard.

I will, for the rest of my life (unless some of those individuals come to me personally and 'explain' some reason that I can't at this point fathom), hold the Pirate Club almost as responsible as stanton for this atrocity. THEY are the only (well, not *only* - but they would have been the best) ones who could have really stood up, had a press conference or whatever, and said, "Hey, wait a minute here! We haven't even *tried* to raise money to save this program! Give us a chance before you pull the plug!"

They didn't, and therefore share the blame. Gutless sheep.

In November of 2003, I looked stanton in the eye and told him he was a liar about a fund raising effort. His responce was to walk away from me like a little kid who had been caught. I am proud of my degree from ETSU but I am ashamed of direction the athletic department has gone

They seem to have lost track of all the lies that they have told over the last eight years. This last one is a doozy.

However, in an email exchange with the athletic department in 2007, Wayne Miller wrote in an email to me: "the decision to fully fund each of our sports required that we decrease the number of sports. The decision to pick football was a tough one." Did he speak the truth?

I believe that the evidence of the past eight years of athletic revenues and expenditures fully confirm his statement and the suspicions of the football supporters from day one. A new president who does not fix this almost $11 million a year athletic farce will not be a president who moves our overall university forward in a way that it so much deserves.






::domokun:

(10-21-2011 06:06 PM)ReturnOfMommaBear Wrote:  Had the fortune to find out the "attitude" of "we can't" which we all means "we won't" still prevails at ETSU Athletics.
:domokun:
A football alumni and member of BASA called JoAnne Paty today. He wanted to get her "take" on the Presidential candidates and if they would be ready and willing to BRING BACK FOOTBALL.

She went into her 8-year-old list of excuses and at the top of the list was: Football Players are the reason ETSU Football was killed, they don't give back, they didn't care about their own program.

This alumni football player has more passion than most people I know. He stood up at the BFFF picnic this summer and said "Give to BASA so you can have a voice." Now this same alumni player is SICK to his stomach about the attitude and the outright LIE that keeps being distributed by Ms. Paty that he's afraid there will be no chance that the new President will even get to consider the idea.

I've got some ideas on how to go about dealing with this ongoing farce, but I'd like to pick the brains of you guys also. I will pass along these suggestions, see if there are feasible avenues to proceed BEFORE and AFTER a new President is onboard.

A few things to consider in terms of FACTS:
1) Alumni football players were never asked to contribute beyond the same old Pirate Club and ETSU solicitations. Considering that the two most recent Athletic Director's prior to 2003 had emphasized general non-restricted giving, I find it funny that Ms. Paty would insist that Football players are somehow responsible for the demise of funding for the sport

2) Name ONE sport that has an alumni base that funds it's existance? ONE? You can't. Name ONE SPORT where the alumni players are responsible for it's continued progress or presence?

3) Funding at ETSU Athletics is 85%+ from student sources. ETSU students pay the bills, just like they do at most FBS and FCS level schools. Since 2002, we know the track record of "giving" for ETSU Athletics and it's shameful that a paid university official has the audacity to lay the blame on alumni athletes.

4) When asked to help create the Letterman's Club under Todd Stansbury, the football alumni stepped up and did more than any other sport. That is proof to me and many others that all ETSU had to do was ASK.

5) When stanton (back to small caps, Doc) asked the Task Force to bring him $300,000 in earnest money toward reinstating football within 30 days, the Football Foundation brought him $400,000 in less time. We all know he had to resort to his lie that the TBR also required a student vote. Again, that was not true but his only way to destroy the hope of returning the sport.

These are just a few off the top of my head. I'm out of town this weekend but will try and check the responses to this thread. I'm open for just about anything and I'll pass along these suggestions to the appropriate people on Sunday.

(10-24-2011 11:47 AM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  Yes, we all know that there was a country-wide movement afoot to "control" donors, and donor groups that were abusing the system - many, if not most of those offenses in the South. Nothing wrong with the intended end result. BUT.................you can't legislate morality, as the (true) saying goes.

It was completely the wrong way to combat that abuse, imo. It's all "institutionalized" now, and sterile, and there can be no dissenting opinions that get heard.

I will, for the rest of my life (unless some of those individuals come to me personally and 'explain' some reason that I can't at this point fathom), hold the Pirate Club almost as responsible as stanton for this atrocity. THEY are the only (well, not *only* - but they would have been the best) ones who could have really stood up, had a press conference or whatever, and said, "Hey, wait a minute here! We haven't even *tried* to raise money to save this program! Give us a chance before you pull the plug!"

They didn't, and therefore share the blame. Gutless sheep.

I wasn't really talking about the need for institutional control over donors. The "control" attempts were to divert the restricted giving that Manahan never tried to squash and move the giving to unrestricted giving to help fund Title IX issues. Moving the Pirate Club to Athletics gave the AD way too much power and influence, whereas in the past, having it under University Advancement kept the old guard money where they wanted it to be. Didn't work with Coach Warren, he still calls the shots.

Let's not get into the whole "institutional control" issues that were around when Robinson and Frye were around. Another time and place.

I knew what you meant; it just seemed like the place to throw that in there, too....
And didn't work with tennis, either, as we know....
Nor even for some other departments, which I happen to have knowledge of. I mean, if a donor wants to give $100k for a debate team (just as a hypothetical example), is the university going to say "No"? If the university manged their general funds from such giving in even a remotely transparent and fair way, then these problems wouldn't be there - or would be minimal. People understand allocation of resources better than stanton (and even Manahan, for that matter) give(s) them credit for.

My point about "gutless sheep" is of course independent of either of those tangents.

(10-24-2011 03:17 PM)Buc66 Wrote:  They seem to have lost track of all the lies that they have told over the last eight years. This last one is a doozy.

However, in an email exchange with the athletic department in 2007, Wayne Miller wrote in an email to me: "the decision to fully fund each of our sports required that we decrease the number of sports. The decision to pick football was a tough one." Did he speak the truth?

I believe that the evidence of the past eight years of athletic revenues and expenditures fully confirm his statement and the suspicions of the football supporters from day one. A new president who does not fix this almost $11 million a year athletic farce will not be a president who moves our overall university forward in a way that it so much deserves.






::domokun:

(10-21-2011 06:06 PM)ReturnOfMommaBear Wrote:  Had the fortune to find out the "attitude" of "we can't" which we all means "we won't" still prevails at ETSU Athletics.
:domokun:
A football alumni and member of BASA called JoAnne Paty today. He wanted to get her "take" on the Presidential candidates and if they would be ready and willing to BRING BACK FOOTBALL.

She went into her 8-year-old list of excuses and at the top of the list was: Football Players are the reason ETSU Football was killed, they don't give back, they didn't care about their own program.

This alumni football player has more passion than most people I know. He stood up at the BFFF picnic this summer and said "Give to BASA so you can have a voice." Now this same alumni player is SICK to his stomach about the attitude and the outright LIE that keeps being distributed by Ms. Paty that he's afraid there will be no chance that the new President will even get to consider the idea.

I've got some ideas on how to go about dealing with this ongoing farce, but I'd like to pick the brains of you guys also. I will pass along these suggestions, see if there are feasible avenues to proceed BEFORE and AFTER a new President is onboard.

A few things to consider in terms of FACTS:
1) Alumni football players were never asked to contribute beyond the same old Pirate Club and ETSU solicitations. Considering that the two most recent Athletic Director's prior to 2003 had emphasized general non-restricted giving, I find it funny that Ms. Paty would insist that Football players are somehow responsible for the demise of funding for the sport

2) Name ONE sport that has an alumni base that funds it's existance? ONE? You can't. Name ONE SPORT where the alumni players are responsible for it's continued progress or presence?

3) Funding at ETSU Athletics is 85%+ from student sources. ETSU students pay the bills, just like they do at most FBS and FCS level schools. Since 2002, we know the track record of "giving" for ETSU Athletics and it's shameful that a paid university official has the audacity to lay the blame on alumni athletes.

4) When asked to help create the Letterman's Club under Todd Stansbury, the football alumni stepped up and did more than any other sport. That is proof to me and many others that all ETSU had to do was ASK.

5) When stanton (back to small caps, Doc) asked the Task Force to bring him $300,000 in earnest money toward reinstating football within 30 days, the Football Foundation brought him $400,000 in less time. We all know he had to resort to his lie that the TBR also required a student vote. Again, that was not true but his only way to destroy the hope of returning the sport.

These are just a few off the top of my head. I'm out of town this weekend but will try and check the responses to this thread. I'm open for just about anything and I'll pass along these suggestions to the appropriate people on Sunday.