Ha: Yes, let's make new memories of Harper Auto. What is that a car dealer or parts store? You don't take down a Ray Mears plaque or his name over a room just because some cupcake shop is willing to sponsor the room. The greed and money-grubbing in college sports has got ridiculous. Stay competitive? The problem is that nobody knows when to say enough. Yea, there will always be a school, or multiple schools, that will remove a photo of a great former coach and replace it with a photo of a can of soup because the soup company has offered the AD money for the space. And the soup-can school will use the money in some way to enhance a sports/team facility, and other schools will notice, and they figure they've got to do the same to "stay competitive." It's an arms race that never ends--which is what's caused all the absurdities we now see in college sports, which has essentially become pro sports. We will very soon see soup can and hair spray logos on college uniforms, cuz money. It's the cheapening of college sports even as, ironically, college sports are flooded with more and more money.
As for statutes of Ernie and Bernie and Mears, not a good idea, IMO. Maybe Mears, but not the former players. Once you put a statue up of a former player, then people ask, what about other ex-greats. It's a very slippery slope. We don't need statues of former players. If White is clever, he will commission a statue of Mears--and then ask a soup company if it wants to be a part of the statue for a few million dollars--and then we can see Mears--and Summitt too---holding soup cans in their hands. And then every two years, you switch out and have them holding a different product--a hot dog or an ice cream cone with the company logos on them. Making money and staying competitive, baby!
