They will be doing a week of spring practice at Millgan. Dooley says it will help the team build unity and togetherness being away from Knoxville as a team.

Before anyone blows a gasket because ETSU didn't get them here....do we really want to go down that road? Having the Vols on our campus? I say no.

It would be the perfect precursor to reviving the football program at ETSU.

Slightly off topic, but related.....What exactly was the deal with the Titans training camp at ETSU? I was living out of state at the time and I never fully understood what happened.

Well, nobody does know. But my guess is that you were talking about a team that was playing in Memphis training in Johnson City, and it made more sense since the team was going to move to Nashville eventually to establish ties there.

Another thing- at that time the internal buzz at ETSU was that Mike Cavan's team was a bunch of thugs. My guess is that Paul Stanton met such buzz with an open ear and bringing in 100 pro football players, now with disposable income and old enough to drink, just wasn't what the sleepy little campus wanted.

Read between the lines of Fan1's "Do we really want UT here?" and that same backwards sentiment is evident.

There is a sentiment in the Tri-Cities that the only thing the Appalachian League does in the community is bring in a bunch of young men into town to knock up the local women with minority babies. I find this sentiment to be racist and horrific- who wouldn't? But we've all heard it.

Now, bring in 100 pro football players, most of them minorities, with real money, of drinking age, who can speak english, etc. You want to talk about "lock up your daughters?" The Oilers did wind up at Tennessee State, where such social concerns would not be prevailent.

Let's not discount this. When football won in the mid-'90s, there was a sentiment of "at what price?" and Cavan is still not a real popular guy on campus despite his success here and his media skills.

Interesting note, however. In 1996 we were told the ETSU weight room was state of the art and that's why the Oilers were coming. It had recently been moved to a new location and I'm sure they brought in new equipment.

By 2003, we were told it was obsolete and that's one of the reasons football had to go.

It deteriorated that much in seven years? My guess is that it wasn't as great as originally said and not as bad as later advertised.

(05-17-2012 10:22 PM)PittsburghBucs Wrote:  Read between the lines of Fan1's "Do we really want UT here?" and that same backwards sentiment is evident.

There is a sentiment in the Tri-Cities that the only thing the Appalachian League does in the community is bring in a bunch of young men into town to knock up the local women with minority babies. I find this sentiment to be racist and horrific- who wouldn't? But we've all heard it.

Now, bring in 100 pro football players, most of them minorities, with real money, of drinking age, who can speak english, etc. You want to talk about "lock up your daughters?" The Oilers did wind up at Tennessee State, where such social concerns would not be prevailent.

Are you freaking serious? You think I don't want UT here because scary black people might rape our pristine co-ed snowflakes? Give me a damn break. I don't want UT here because they are UT. A freaking rival.

Yeah, it would be great for 1,000 ETSU students to be out watching UT practice. That does not help bring back ETSU football in any way. All it does is push our students into bigger UT fanatics.

(05-17-2012 09:57 PM)abuc90 Wrote:  Slightly off topic, but related.....What exactly was the deal with the Titans training camp at ETSU? I was living out of state at the time and I never fully understood what happened.

That's a good question and I have wondered about that myself. The only thing I can find on the internet is this article. It was briefly discussed in this thread before it degenerated into a pissing contest. That thread has an interesting pdf article about the Oilers and ETSU including memorandums between the two.

To throw a bone to Buc66, I would imagine that if the Stanton/Mullins/Andrews gang were planning on killing football as far back as the late 90's there is NO WAY IN HELL they would want a NFL team on campus.

Where do you think ETSU would be today if they had landed the Titans?

If someone has the inside information on this I would love to hear it.

If 1000 ETSU students came out to a football practice, be it UT, Science Hill, the New York Giants or Watertown Black & Red, it would send a powerful message thar the students of ETSU would like a team of their own.

(05-18-2012 01:11 AM)Seattle Bucs Wrote:  

(05-17-2012 09:57 PM)abuc90 Wrote:  Slightly off topic, but related.....What exactly was the deal with the Titans training camp at ETSU? I was living out of state at the time and I never fully understood what happened.

Where do you think ETSU would be today if they had landed the Titans?

- The Oilers played 2 seasons at Vanderbilt. They gave the 'Dores a $3 million NFL-quality grass field (that this year Vandy is STUPIDLY replacing with plastic turf).

- The Oilers played 1 season at the Liberty Bowl, after NFL ($$$$$$) upgrades.

- The Oilers/Titans practiced at TSU and left them with a new NFL style weight room. Also, TSU now plays its home games at the Titan's stadium.


It's probably safe to assume that if the Titans had practiced at ETSU, it would have been more difficult for Stanton to justify dropping football after NFL quality ($$$$$$$) facilities improvements entirely paid for by Bud Adams.

.

(05-18-2012 02:44 AM)PittsburghBucs Wrote:  If 1000 ETSU students came out to a football practice, be it UT, Science Hill, the New York Giants or Watertown Black & Red, it would send a powerful message thar the students of ETSU would like a team of their own.

Since UT spring practices are closed (even to the media after the first 20 minutes) where the the hell would the 1000 students go and what would they do?

I am like Fan it has nothing to do with 100 kids being on our campus it about UT being on our campus. That would regulate us to Milligan status not really worthy of being a rival, lets go use thier stuff (Big brother/little brother)

. Besides it was done though networking. One of the Milligan strength coaches is a friend with people on UT staff and pitched Milligan when he heard Dooley was looking for a retreat.

They asked ETSU first. They said thanks but no thanks. There is money involved.
This also has nothing to do with team building, they are doing something in and around the practice facility at UT that week. This coming from family/friends that endow scholarships at UT (They're alums, from Knoxville, don't get huffy).

You'll have to attack the poster you are "like" then. He's the one who brought up the idea of 1000 ETSU students watching UT practice.

I still say that if a football team used ETSU to practice, under whatever rules, it would only get people asking why the Bucs don't have a team.

I don't care how it was set up. Somebody's gonna wonder what it would take for Milligan to have a football team. In my book, such thinking is healthy.

Nothing to do with team building??
There was no mention of asking ETSU. Bobby interviewed a Milligan rep yesterday (subbing for Bill Meade) who said it was done though networking/friendship of the Milligan strength coach and the UT staff.

Quote:KNOXVILLE – The Vols will hold a portion of their fall camp at Milligan College, school officials announced Thursday afternoon.

The team will spend a six-day stint from Aug. 9-15 training at the 1,200-student, Christian, liberal arts college located just outside of Johnson City, Tenn., approximately two hours east of Knoxville.

The timing of the trip coincides with the expected move-in date to Tennessee's new Football Training Center, currently in the final phases of construction. Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart thinks the off-campus practice will not only help with the moving process, but also help unite a coaching staff with seven new members on it.
“The decision to train off-campus this year is not only driven by the factor of our move into our new Football Training Center but also by the opportunity to maximize the ability of our coaching staff to become further acclimated to one another and the team in a very controlled environment,” Hart said via a release from the school.

Head coach Derek Dooley hopes the time spent away from Knoxville will be a time of increased focus from his team. Dooley considered similar options before the 2011 season, but opted to keep the team in Knoxville.

With 18 starters returning and higher expectations in 2012, he decided this would be the year to do it.

“The week in Johnson City will provide a unique opportunity to build unity and limit distractions,” Dooley said.

Dooley, who cited concerns with the condition of the practice field at times in 2011, also mentioned a reduction of wear and tear on Haslam (practice) Field as another reason for the move.

The short hiatus from Knoxville will only be a one-time occurrence for the Vols. Hart sees it as appropriate for this year’s situation, but said this will not become a fall camp tradition for Tennessee.

“I support Derek’s decision and feel strongly that we need to make this investment in our football program as we prepare to open our season (against North Carolina State on Friday, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m.) in Atlanta,” Hart said. “This is a one-time situation, and there are no plans to train off-site at any time in the future.”

(05-18-2012 07:44 AM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  They asked ETSU first. They said thanks but no thanks. There is money involved.
This also has nothing to do with team building, they are doing something in and around the practice facility at UT that week. This coming from family/friends that endow scholarships at UT (They're alums, from Knoxville, don't get huffy).

Just the thought of UT on the ETSU campus practicing football is repulsive at best. But, my guess is that Dave Mullins and gang don't want them there because it would only serve as a reminder of what they're not -- not a real athletic program, but a bunch phony, athletic pretenders faking their way through each day.

Nope. Not a single bit. Milligan was reached out to ONLY after ETSU turned it down. I recieved three phone calls about this yesterday and a FB message from a fourth about it. They asked me why ETSU would turn down the money.
The team building excuse is just that, an excuse.
Remember all the discussions we've had on here about ETSU "Controlling the message?"
Will it contribute to team building? Yes.
Uniting a coaching staff? What did they do during the month of spring practice?
It's a press release Rod. Come on, you're smarter than that.
It's a one time situation because they're doing work on the campus. It certainly will limit distractions, help with unity, yada yada yada but there's an underlying cause for them being allowed to do it. This is costing UT money, something Dave Hart is adamantly against.
They generated 7 million in profits last year, then cut 17 jobs for the new fiscal and is fighting to pay out 40K to a former employee who's been there I believe since the Neyland era. It's something they have to do, instead of going to a high school it's easier to go to a non football school, throw some money at them and say leave us alone this week.

I think Dooley wanted to do a retreat, (he wanted to do it last year) and the AD said no but since they were having work done and it would help if the football team wasn't there he said sure you can do it this year. So both sides are right, Dooley wanted to get away
and this year he had a reason that the AD couldn't turn down. Still not sure why ETSU would be considered and no clue where they would have held it in a controlled envirorment (unless they redid the Dome for football and even then they wouldn't have enough room for drills.). Milligan is out of the way and easy to control access to the campus, ETSU not so much.

I think say no in the case was a good idea, I have no desire to have big brother come up here and throw money at us and pat us on the head. ETSU is a Div 1 school (at least for now) we shouldn't take a backseat on our own campus to any other school, exp the Vols.

Perhaps, I just think they're using it as a fun excuse to cover up the fact they're in the middle of renovations and most likely botched the planning.
Think how pissed off we get over soccer stadiums, baseball stadiums without seats, etc... Now imagine after 6-7 crappy years in football how made UT fans would be if they said we're relocating practice because we screwed up construction stuff on campus.
The ETSU/UT fans could blame, Stanton, Mullins, Mike Hamilton AND Derek Dooley.

(05-18-2012 08:12 AM)Buc66 Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 07:44 AM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  They asked ETSU first. They said thanks but no thanks. There is money involved.
This also has nothing to do with team building, they are doing something in and around the practice facility at UT that week. This coming from family/friends that endow scholarships at UT (They're alums, from Knoxville, don't get huffy).

Just the thought of UT on the ETSU campus practicing football is repulsive at best. But, my guess is that Dave Mullins and gang don't want them there because it would only serve as a reminder of what they're not -- not a real athletic program, but a bunch phony, athletic pretenders faking their way through each day.

A complete and utter embarrassment of the Mullins leadership. We can only hope this is the last year of it. What SHOULD be going on then is talk about the Buc football training camp starting up. The press should be talking about the Buc prospects for the upcoming season. In that case I firmly believe that UT would not even consider coming here and would choose somewhere else. But with Mullins and Company still in charge this is what we are going to get here. Maybe they can schedule another poetry reading in the Culp Center to compensate for the lack of football practice. Please let this be the last year of these kinds of things.

Would be tough to get 1000 to go to a practice when they couldn't get 1000 students to vote in favor of football a few years ago.

(05-18-2012 10:17 AM)bucfan81 Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 08:12 AM)Buc66 Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 07:44 AM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  They asked ETSU first. They said thanks but no thanks. There is money involved.
This also has nothing to do with team building, they are doing something in and around the practice facility at UT that week. This coming from family/friends that endow scholarships at UT (They're alums, from Knoxville, don't get huffy).

Just the thought of UT on the ETSU campus practicing football is repulsive at best. But, my guess is that Dave Mullins and gang don't want them there because it would only serve as a reminder of what they're not -- not a real athletic program, but a bunch phony, athletic pretenders faking their way through each day.

A complete and utter embarrassment of the Mullins leadership. We can only hope this is the last year of it. What SHOULD be going on then is talk about the Buc football training camp starting up. The press should be talking about the Buc prospects for the upcoming season. In that case I firmly believe that UT would not even consider coming here and would choose somewhere else. But with Mullins and Company still in charge this is what we are going to get here. Maybe they can schedule another poetry reading in the Culp Center to compensate for the lack of football practice. Please let this be the last year of these kinds of things.

How long can Noland stomach this $11 million a year farce?