ETSU first class

[RowdyZ]

I know for a fact it was money. ETSU wasn't just in the red, they weren't just drowning, they had already drowned and they were beginning to drown the other sports programs. ETSU has to deal with the Vols, the Hokies and Appy St all being withing 100 miles of them. It wasn't Paul Stanton hating football, it was Paul Stanton hating having a university that couldn't make money.

Lol. since you know so much how about answering these questions.

If ETSU was losing a million dollars a year and football had to be dropped to save money like Stanton said then how did the atheletic budget go up by more 250,000 from the last year of football to the next?

If Stanton was correct and ETSU was going to be the first of many Div IAA school forced to dropped football then how have over two dozen schools added football since ETSU dropped it, including Austin Peay, a fellow TBR school.

Why when ETSU first looked into bringing back football and Stanton let the students vote did he tell them he would have to raise the student activity fee to bring it back and after they voted it down raised it anyway?

How is Virginia Tech within 100 miles of ETSU when it is 160 miles from Johnson City, TN to Blacksburg, VA (The cities the schools are located in) Nice trick.

How is it that ETSU couldn't compete with Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Appy St but Chattanooga was able to keep a team when it has Tennesse, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Clemson with in the same distance (the actual distance) as ETSU to Virginia Tech plus several other Div IAA schools since you mentioned Appy St.

How come Stanton couldn't find a qualified AD (went though 3) to agree with him that football needed to go and had to hire someone who had zero qualifications to put his plan into action? The Tennis Coach.

How come if ETSU couldn't afford football that the new president was able to come in and bring it back immediately?

I would love to hear your answers since you seem to know so much.

Couple of bonus questions.

Why did they give the coach a contract extension a couple of months before they killed the program?

Why didn't they inform the Southern Conference they were planning to drop football instead of letting the news leak to the papers and the SoCon officials found out when they were contacted for comment?

 

[volfanbill]

Lol. since you know so much how about answering these questions.

If ETSU was losing a million dollars a year and football had to be dropped to save money like Stanton said then how did the atheletic budget go up by more 250,000 from the last year of football to the next?

If Stanton was correct and ETSU was going to be the first of many Div IAA school forced to dropped football then how have over two dozen schools added football since ETSU dropped it, including Austin Peay, a fellow TBR school.

Why when ETSU first looked into bringing back football and Stanton let the students vote did he tell them he would have to raise the student activity fee to bring it back and after they voted it down raised it anyway?

How is Virginia Tech within 100 miles of ETSU when it is 160 miles from Johnson City, TN to Blacksburg, VA (The cities the schools are located in) Nice trick.

How is it that ETSU couldn't compete with Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Appy St but Chattanooga was able to keep a team when it has Tennesse, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Clemson with in the same distance (the actual distance) as ETSU to Virginia Tech plus several other Div IAA schools since you mentioned Appy St.

How come Stanton couldn't find a qualified AD (went though 3) to agree with him that football needed to go and had to hire someone who had zero qualifications to put his plan into action? The Tennis Coach.

How come if ETSU couldn't afford football that the new president was able to come in and bring it back immediately?

I would love to hear your answers since you seem to know so much.

Couple of bonus questions.

Why did they give the coach a contract extension a couple of months before they killed the program?

Why didn't they inform the Southern Conference they were planning to drop football instead of letting the news leak to the papers and the SoCon officials found out when they were contacted for comment?

I could pull up the figures if you want, but you're not worth it because you're simply full of it.

How come once they dropped football and were finally able to concentrate more on other programs, were they finally able to raise funds and find donors for a new tennis center, new soccer facilities, a new baseball stadium and a new softball stadium? Oh yeah, because they were able to salvage the money better instead of letting it burn on a football team that was going nowhere.

You're right on the distance though, my bad. It's probably about 20 miles to the Dome where I grew up and I was counting from I-81. You get the point though. ETSU was never successful in football and never will be.

Case in point: Even though I attended Milligan College for my undergraduate degree, I attended a couple of freshmen classes at ETSU, including a health class that had 3 starters on the football team. This was the year ETSU beat then #1 Georgia Southern. I skipped class on Monday, but on Wednesday I approached the players and congratulated them on their win. The players looked shocked and told me I was the first person to say anything to them about it.

Go ahead and pretend that it's going to be successful though. ETSU is still a ghost town on weekends because the overwhelming majority of the students are locals (both commuters and dorm dwellers) so they go home for the weekend.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

I could pull up the figures if you want, but you're not worth it because you're simply full of it.

How come once they dropped football and were finally able to concentrate more on other programs, were they finally able to raise funds and find donors for a new tennis center, new soccer facilities, a new baseball stadium and a new softball stadium? Oh yeah, because they were able to salvage the money better instead of letting it burn on a football team that was going nowhere.

You're right on the distance though, my bad. It's probably about 20 miles to the Dome where I grew up and I was counting from I-81. You get the point though. ETSU was never successful in football and never will be.

Case in point: Even though I attended Milligan College for my undergraduate degree, I attended a couple of freshmen classes at ETSU, including a health class that had 3 starters on the football team. This was the year ETSU beat then #1 Georgia Southern. I skipped class on Monday, but on Wednesday I approached the players and congratulated them on their win. The players looked shocked and told me I was the first person to say anything to them about it.

Go ahead and pretend that it's going to be successful though. ETSU is still a ghost town on weekends because the overwhelming majority of the students are locals (both commuters and dorm dwellers) so they go home for the weekend.

I agree. No one cares about ETSU football. The basketball attendance sucks too. Etsu is going to look very foolish in about 5 years.

 

[volfanbill]

I agree. No one cares about ETSU football. The basketball attendance sucks too. Etsu is going to look very foolish in about 5 years.

The newness factor will carry them for a couple of years, but it won't last. It's really going to hurt them that they won't even have a real stadium for at least two years. They're supposed to field a team in 2016 and they still don't even know where their actual stadium is going to go. Yeah, ETSU is definitely thinking from a monetary standpoint.

 

[BOP]

People can say whatever they want. The truth is that nearly every school the size of etsu has a football program. Schools in worse shape than them kept their football program.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

People can say whatever they want. The truth is that nearly every school the size of etsu has a football program. Schools in worse shape than them kept their football program.

Who cares if other schools have it. Did it work before? No. Are they going to make money or lose money from it? They will lose money just like they did before.

 

[Daloth]

Basically what this topic has proven is that nobody here seems to have a damn clue why they got rid of football or why they are bringing it back.

But we all agree they'll fail miserably without some careful planning.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

ETSU got rid of football because they had a president who hated it. He had tried once before to kill it and wasn't able to. He went though 3(qualified) AD's in about 6 years before he finally gave up and hired the tennis coach as AD so he would have a yes man who would agree killing football was a good idea. ETSU got a new president, he ran off the tennis coach and started working from day 1 to bring back football.

Can't believe 2 people liked this. Paul Stanton does not hate football. He went to the games and he cheered the teams on. You make him out to be some kind of villain but he did what was best for ETSU at that time. Here is a quote from him I read

“We were losing over a million dollars a year on football at that time,” Stanton said. “Money was having to be pulled out of the general fund and an academic fund just to support it. And a lot of our other programs were underfunded, because money was being diverted and put into football.”


Only time will tell if football can survive at ETSU. Personally, I think it might generate some revenue initially but after a few years of mediocrity at best most likely people will not show up to the games and it will start losing money and this will all have been a HUGE waste of time and a whole lot of money. Of course this is jmo and I could be wrong.

 

[BOP]

Who cares if other schools have it. Did it work before? No. Are they going to make money or lose money from it? They will lose money just like they did before.

Are their any FCS programs that make a profit? How FBS programs make a profit? Yet almost everyone still has a football program. Why in the world would ETSU be any different. WTF are you people talking about?

 

[volfanbill]

Are their any FBS programs that make a profit? How FBS programs make a profit? Yet almost everyone still has a football program. Why in the world would ETSU be any different. WTF are you people talking about?

so they should just sit back and continue to lose millions of dollars that wind up getting covered from building and academic funds just because everyone else does it? WTF are you thinking?

 

[BOP]

so they should just sit back and continue to lose millions of dollars that wind up getting covered from building and academic funds just because everyone else does it? WTF are you thinking?

Yes, college athletics are not profitable. However it is a state school and obviously people want it. They make plenty of money in other areas to cover it. The job of a state university is not to make a major profit.

 

[volfanbill]

Yes, college athletics are not profitable. However it is a state school and obviously people want it. They make plenty of money in other areas to cover it. The job of a state university is not to make a major profit.

Obviously people want it?

So they shouldn't worry about a profit, they should just screw the academic side, not improve buildings, etc by robbing them of money in the budget, because obviously people want football, and that's the focus of a university.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

Are their any FCS programs that make a profit? How FBS programs make a profit? Yet almost everyone still has a football program. Why in the world would ETSU be any different. WTF are you people talking about?

Maybe because Paul Stanton was smart enough not to throw millions into something that is costing the university millions of dollars a year just simply because thats what other schools do and some people want football. And as someone else pointed out earlier ETSU has made a hell of a lot of renovations because of it. The library, new dorms, the renovation of the old dorms and the Reece museum, the new soccer fields, new tennis courts, new baseball stadium, new parking garage, and of course the CPA that is for the STUDENTS to use.

Imo if football had not have been cut ETSU would be a slum of a campus right now. But hey, if that's what's everyone else is doing then we better do it too.

 

[volfanbill]

Maybe because Paul Stanton was smart enough not to throw millions into something that is costing the university millions of dollars a year just simply because thats what other schools do and some people want football. And as someone else pointed out earlier ETSU has made a hell of a lot of renovations because of it. The library, new dorms, the renovation of the old dorms and the Reece museum, the new soccer fields, new tennis courts, new baseball stadium, new parking garage, and of course the CPA that is for the STUDENTS to use.

Imo if football had not have been cut ETSU would be a slum of a campus right now. But hey, if that's what's everyone else is doing then we better do it too.

because obviously people want it.

 

[BOP]

Maybe because Paul Stanton was smart enough not to throw millions into something that is costing the university millions of dollars a year just simply because thats what other schools do and some people want football. And as someone else pointed out earlier ETSU has made a hell of a lot of renovations because of it. The library, new dorms, the renovation of the old dorms and the Reece museum, the new soccer fields, new tennis courts, new baseball stadium, new parking garage, and of course the CPA that is for the STUDENTS to use.

Imo if football had not have been cut ETSU would be a slum of a campus right now. But hey, if that's what's everyone else is doing then we better do it too.

How much do Tennis and Soccer bring in? Get real, college athletics are not profitable. Just because something is not profitable does not mean a PUBLIC university should not be doing it. Every school does it because they clearly believe the positives outweigh the negatives. So yes, your former president did not cut football because it was costing too much money. If it were that simple he would have cut all athletic programs.

 

[vols 30]

Not playing in the mini dome is a reason to go to a game. That had to be the absolutely worst place to watch a football game.

 

[KingNick865]

Not playing in the mini dome is a reason to go to a game. That had to be the absolutely worst place to watch a football game.

It looks like they used the same lighting system that most public bathrooms use.

 

[99bubble]

Not playing in the mini dome is a reason to go to a game. That had to be the absolutely worst place to watch a football game.

I think this is the number one reason they couldn't get people to attend games. An outdoor stadium will help and I think they will make a go of it. With this class they just insured a large contingent for the next 4 years. You only need about 12-15,000 per game to do well.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

How much do Tennis and Soccer bring in? Get real, college athletics are not profitable.

Well that's not entirely true.UT football makes millions of dollars for the university every year. Im sure soccer and tennis don't bring in a lot of cash, but I think its pretty safe to assume the university isn't losing a million dollars a year because of those sports.

You really don't see anything wrong with taking money from an academic fund to cover a football program that most people didn't even care about?

 

[VolunteerHillbilly]

If they do it right and the alumni, local community and students are all made welcome then it should be fine. I don't know how many games Socon schools traditionally play on Thursdays but I hope that's not the route they try to go. If the product is decent and fun the students will stay for Saturday games. If you play on Thursday you will never get the critical key component of out of town alumni who will travel back to the school, spend money and donate.

 

[volfanbill]

If they do it right and the alumni, local community and students are all made welcome then it should be fine. I don't know how many games Socon schools traditionally play on Thursdays but I hope that's not the route they try to go. If the product is decent and fun the students will stay for Saturday games. If you play on Thursday you will never get the critical key component of out of town alumni who will travel back to the school, spend money and donate.

then why wasn't it successful before? everyone wants to say "if it's right" it will work. It's already proven not to work and it's proven that most schools this size lose a ton of money trying to make it work.

 

[butchball13]

Yeah, because it did so well last time.

They got rid of it for a reason. This whole thing is a giant waste on time and money. I just graduated from ETSU last year and it seems like the only people who want football are the people in charge. 70% of the students do not want football. There are many buildings on campus that need to be renovated. Many buildings have serious HVAC issues. But no...just pour a ton of money into football that no one wants. Just sucks that the students are fitting the bill for a large portion of it.

I'm an ETSU grad as well. When I was your age I didn't support ETSU football either. As an older person, I went to a game at Appy St. It really bothered me that I didn't have something like that as an alum.

So you're right, ETSU will never even remotely be a threat to UT, but someday you may want to visit the college you attended and take your kids.

I like what President Nolan is doing.


Also, take a walk around Appy St. The new construction on campus was paid for by that football program's success. ETSU could...I say could....benefit from the same type of success and improve that campus and other programs.

JMO

 

[volfanbill]

I'm an ETSU grad as well. When I was your age I didn't support ETSU football either. As an older person, I went to a game at Appy St. It really bothered me that I didn't have something like that as an alum.

So you're right, ETSU will never even remotely be a threat to UT, but someday you may want to visit the college you attended and take your kids.

I like what President Nolan is doing.



JMO

what's the percentage of that happening? I can't fathom it comes even remotely close to justifying the millions spent on the program just so a few thousand alumni will decide to bring their kids to A game.

 

[volfanbill]

Well that's not entirely true.UT football makes millions of dollars for the university every year. Im sure soccer and tennis don't bring in a lot of cash, but I think its pretty safe to assume the university isn't losing a million dollars a year because of those sports.

You really don't see anything wrong with taking money from an academic fund to cover a football program that most people didn't even care about?

The flip side is that while tennis and soccer don't bring in money either, they are extremely cheap to keep. Football, yeah, not so much.

 

[butchball13]

what's the percentage of that happening? I can't fathom it comes even remotely close to justifying the millions spent on the program just so a few thousand alumni will decide to bring their kids to A game.

What's the percentage of him someday wanting to visit the campus of the college he attended? I don't know. I wasn't a math major, and I don't know the guy.