Wow...even ETSU writer is thinking "It could've been us"

[Brad]

A Dream Of What ETSU Football Might Have Been

Excerpt: 

But South Florida’s upset of West Virginia a week ago Friday got me to thinking:

As recently as 1997, ETSU had a superior football program to the Bulls. That year ETSU followed up its NCAA Division I-AA quarterfinal appearance with a strong 7-4 record, while USF introduced its football team to I-AA with a 5-6 mark.

Yet just four years later, after ETSU lost to Pitt, 31-0, in the first game the Panthers’ played in their new stadium, Pitt lost the following week to South Florida 35-26.

It was the game that would eventually sell South Florida to the Big East.

Yes, South Florida had some things going for them to make such a rapid rise. They have a NFL stadium in their backyard to play in and an incredible amount of talent to recruit from in their backyard, even after Florida, Florida State, and Miami have picked it over.

But they also had an administration, both academic and athletic, that wanted to become a player in the world of major college athletics.

Everything mentioned in the above fantasy scenario for ETSU -- football at BMS, the Titans training at ETSU -- was talked about in the ‘90s.

With more forward thinking from ETSU’s administration and the community at large, the Bucs could have built off their mid-90s gridiron success instead of dropping the program and regressing in other sports to play in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

And who knows what the ensuing result would have been?

If interested, read whole sad story here

[Guest Melissa]

haha. I need sleep. 

[NormalBull]

Umm, anyone ever been to Johnson City, TN?  Didn't think so.... :ROFLMAO

Normal

[Reliabull]

I suppose it could have been. ETSU could have hired Jim Leavitt, could have established a pipeline for Florida talent, could have caught this break and that one, coulda, coulda, coulda...

It could have been FIU. FAU.

It could have been the University of Buffalo's Bulls, which started their program the same year we diid and sits at the bottom of Division 1-A. It could have been Joe's University and Muffler Shop.

But it wasn't.

And a lot of those programs and a lot of wannabes who want to duplicate the success at USF will throw away a lot of money trying, sending their athletic programs deep into the red. At least ETSU was smart enough to get out of that trap.

[MarketingGuy]

ETSU? Who is that again?

[kastofsna]

i had to Google ETSU to see who it is.

at least this article doesn't sound like sour grapes, unlike So Miss. they're just hopeful.

[Bull Martin]

No one ever seems to mention that USF happens to be the 9th largest college in terms of student population in these articles.  I happen to believe that this probibly had a lot more to do with the rapid rise than people give credit for.

[Velcro]

They are envious of us... it is a compliment

[sdgukhsdgl]

Umm, anyone ever been to Johnson City, TN?  Didn't think so.... :ROFLMAO

Normal

you mean the metropolis that is known as the tri-cities?

it's a hot bed for recruiting football players...

[Bullpride08]

Umm, anyone ever been to Johnson City, TN?  Didn't think so.... :ROFLMAO

Normal

I've been there, and did a little business there.  That's all I have to say about it and that should say it all.  Old, old dirty town, the type of area that time forgot...wagers can tell you more he coached up there.  Not a bad school really, but not an area that could ever really support big time college sports.  This has as much if not more, to do with, the who's, and where's as anything else.  You're lucky if there are 25 kids in that region of TN that are 1-A caliber, and you're luckier yet if the good ones don't end up TN or Vtech...Knoxville is about 2 hours away, and Vtech is about 3...In other words UT is closer to JC then Gainesville is to Tampa.

What's more it's a depressed region with limited resources and dollars.  To start a big time football program that school would need to find dollars and support in places where it isn't available, let alone recruiting.