ETSU Football Program (lawyers, law school, university)

[tonypitt]

ETSU football will be an interesting experiment. Right now, ETSU and most TBR schools are facing budget problems. Forecasted enrollment growth has not occurred. Some have blamed increased cost to the students. I don't know if that is the dominant reason or not.

Football, done well, will raise the profile of ETSU in the region. I don't see how that could be a bad thing. President Noland certainly seems to feel the pros outweigh my cons. The fundraising component of this whole endeavor will be interesting. The fact that ETSU's chief fundraiser is electing to leave that position right as all this begins is interesting.

I really hope it all works out. If I had to bet, I think it will. I do think there are some upcoming major hurdles that will have to be effectively managed. (The stadium issue is probably the most imminent.)

[jchometeam]

The ETSU Foundation head is leaving, but that is not the fundraising arm of the football program. I doubt any of the ETSU Foundation money will go to football, though they did donate $1 million to the performing arts center. The fundraising for football is being done by BASA- and the head of BASA is not leaving as far as I know.

By the way, the contract for Torbush is 5 years for $160,000/year. That is less than the salary for the men's basketball coach, and is far below what they could have paid given the budget that they have available from the fee increase. My point is, they aren't just throwing money around excessively so far.

[tonypitt]

The impact on fundraising is what I find perhaps most interesting on this. I know that some have contended that what will happen is that people that haven't donated before will donate money in support of football (or athletics in general) and those that have previously donated to ETSU for other endeavors will continue to do so. Maybe that is so. I certainly don't know. If I were in charge of non-sports-related fundraising, I think this would be a major point of concern.

What I do know is that two other universities I'm familiar with in this region faced problems because money that previously had been donated to the university in general started being donated earmarked for football. In one case, the university built beautiful sports facilities while construction projects on classroom buildings were halted. Of course, one benefit of this situation is that other institutions can learn from this problem. Hopefully that problem won't recur at ETSU.

To me it seems likely that in a given community $x will be donated to charitable/nonprofit/etc. endeavors. I see it as a zero sum game. One organization may be able to grab a portion of money that previously went elsewhere, but I don't think that if previously a community generated (hypothetically) $100 million in donations that any kind of activity other than a major natural disaster or similar will cause a radical change and overall donations to go up to $120 million.

Of course, the other aspect of this is smaller donations. I absolutely could see where people who had not donated previously might donate $200 in support of football. Motivate enough of those donations and you can build up over time. In effect, that's what the student fee was--a donation (albeit non-optional) from a large number of people that will continue over time.

I think where we'll see the first effect of this is what happens with the new stadium. At this point no one knows (at least apart from perhaps a small inner circle) how large a facility this will be, what it will cost, etc. To my knowledge, TBR has budgeted $0 for this to date, so private contributions (and fees) will have to pay for its design and construction. I think that is the first big milestone. If donors step up and that facility is successfully built, it will help build momentum. If that project languishes in any way, it could be a harbinger of future problems.

[BP72]

ETSU football coach to make $240,000 in salary and stipends, - WJHL-TV: News: Weather, and Sports for Johnson City, TN

"JOHNSON CITY, TN (WJHL) - East Tennessee State University's new football coach will take home $160,000 a year in salary, a combined $80,000 in stipends, plus memberships to two area county clubs."


Here we go...

[jchometeam]

Whats wrong with this salary? Again, this is similar to and a bit lower than Bartow's salary, and Bartow has club membership, a deal for a new car every few years, and stipends also. Heck, the golf coach at ETSU makes over $100,000/year. ETSU is not a community college, and they are competing at the Division 1 FBS level. Salaries at this level are competitive, this is not out of line.

[Blue Ridge]

Originally Posted by jchometeam

Whats wrong with this salary? Again, this is similar to and a bit lower than Bartow's salary, and Bartow has club membership, a deal for a new car every few years, and stipends also. Heck, the golf coach at ETSU makes over $100,000/year. ETSU is not a community college, and they are competing at the Division 1 FBS level. Salaries at this level are competitive, this is not out of line.

Agreed. The reality of collegiate sports is they cost money. The benefits to a well-funded and well-maintained athletic program, however, far outweigh the cons. With Fulmer, Sanders, and Torbush, ETSU has collected quite an array of experienced leaders, placing the school in better position than most this size.

Also, let's not forget: "lower-tier" sports have been succeeding with regularity for quite some time, on both and conference and national scale. Buc baseball returned to the NCAA tournament this season. Buc Basketball has had reasonable success, and are only two seasons removed from consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. (Keep in mind: ETSU was given a 15 seed in the 2003 NCAA tournament, and lost to Wake Forest by three; in 2004, they were given a 13 seed, and lost again by three, this time to Cincinnati. This success is not even ten years old.)

Athletics draw higher enrollment, period.

[Ted Bear]

Originally Posted by jmattjohns

Athletics draw higher enrollment, period.

Yes, but do they draw bright individuals who strive for academic excellence?

[jchometeam]

I think that the stereotype of kids wanting just to play football to get to the NFL and not care about college applies much more to the SEC level schools than to ETSU. Coach Torbush said in a radio interview I was listening to last week that he would not recruit a student that he didn't think could graduate or would put forth the effort in the classroom. Also at his press conference, he stressed that academics were his number 1 priority.

Also you will have growth in the music department, which I have no reason to believe are not good students. Finally, you will have growth in students overall that would rather go to a school that has football. I personally think this is a silly reason to pick one school over another, but I know that many students have eliminated ETSU using this as their excuse. Now the academic prospects for a student who uses that as their choice- I really dont know how that student would do academically.

[Nearing Retirement]

For this future resident of Johnson City, I am pleased to see ETSU is starting up it's football program again. I just retired from the University of Illinois and will be moving to your area soon. I spent ten years in Bloomington, IN (79-90) watching their mediocre football team play. Then, I spent four years in Blacksburg, VA (90-94) watching the winning Hokies play. The past 20 years, I have been in Champaign, IL watching the Illini play. The Illini were not very successful during the past two decades. My point is I enjoy game days on campus. I will soon be attending ETSU tail gates and games, and I am looking forward to those afternoons. I am also planning on taking some noncredit continuing education classes just to occupy my mind. Hope they have a class in fly fishing! LOL

[Blue Ridge]

Originally Posted by Ted Bear

Yes, but do they draw bright individuals who strive for academic excellence?

To answer your question, I ask only that you see what Stanford has achieved and what Vanderbilt is accomplishing with their football programs. Schools with rich academic traditions as they would not invest time and money into an activity in an attempt to draw anything other than bright individuals who strive for academic excellence, would they?

Even nerds enjoy having fun, exhibiting school spirit, and, yes, drinking an occasional beer.