Idea for Article

[rcodeman]

Guys a few years ago I would have had the motivation to do this, but life as they say gets in the way. I just read an article about Coastal Carolina and their rise after moving to Division I (Started their program in 2003).

I can think of a handful of other schools that have by passed us in G5 that had way less of a head start. (App St., GA Southern, and even Charlotte come to mind)

Since our high water mark in 2009 (I think that was our peak) our last really good team was Mathers, Stock, and James in 2016, our trajectory has turned from looking up into a straight nose dive. My question is since 2009 why has this program just slowly died? Why couldn't MT have been Western Michigan, App St, etc.? We used to smash Memphis, now we don't even belong on the same field.

I would like to know where and what went wrong that led us to this point. I know the easy answer is THE CONTRACT. But what else? Was it indeed the lack of facilities, recruiting, bad choice in leaving the Sun

Belt? It comes back to the question, Why not us? The trajectory of some of these programs are interesting, and I would just like to know how ours differed and got us in this spot. Is it a simple answer?

 

[FranklinRaider315]

A couple of things I’ve noticed first hand...

1) After ‘09, Stock and staff quit coming to the BRAA golf outing at Temple Hills the last two years before McCluney and Massaro killed it and rolled it into the Davidson County event.

2) My 2nd year in the Hendrix Stadium Club Suites - 2013, my seats were next to a future BOT member. We were sitting up there watching the Marshall game and the stadium was practically empty. No one sitting in any of the seats around us. No one. He looked at me and wondered where everybody went?
This was a gentleman who, a few years later, became a BOT member. And he’s a very sharp businessman so I cannot understand why he approves of what’s going on out there.

3) The Contract. Without a doubt, the most boneheaded move in the history of Blue Raider Football. Then the way they “sold it” to anyone in the media who would listen.

 

[sWiley]

Poor recruiting, Second class coaching staff

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

1. No outright championship. You can't use bowl eligibility as success.
2. Mediocre results. I would rather win all the games or lose all the games rather than be .500. No excitement.
3. Poor management. It starts from the top. Accountability, contract.
4. Coach is a dead fish. No excitement.
5. Talent

 

[AustinLewis]

I would like to know where and what went wrong that led us to this point. I know the easy answer is THE CONTRACT. But what else? Was it indeed the lack of facilities, recruiting, bad choice in leaving the Sun

1) Poor recruiting and roster management
2) Poor player development
3) Poor facilities
4) Poor game-day environment

And the longer these problems fester, the farther behind MT becomes.

 

[SpaceRaider]

Hats off to Massaro when he first got here, he got home and home and two for one with P5s. MT fans had an expectation every once and awhile to win those games, especially at home, but after the 2008 home win over Maryland, relatively weak P5s have come into Floyd and absolutely skull dragged CRS's teams up and down the field. Rick managed to score a handful of upsets (Maryland, GaTech, Missouri and Syracuse) on the roads, but there was never more than a sense of MT playing well while a weak p5 had a bad day.

Pile on the local rivalries. Vandy two home and homes, 0-4 record and poor play/coaching to blame. WKU 1-5 against the toppers, while they while won championships or played at a championship level with a revolving door of head coaches. Going 1-9 during this recent period with no sense of anger or expectation of anything different just kills.

No championships. No energy from the head coach, no sense that Massaro or McPhee even care. Rubber stamp BoT. Lack of urgency about anything. It was almost like after MT moved CUSA, that everybody just sat back like they had accomplished something so they did nothing else.

Branding - just a whole host of things. I was looking at a book to buy this morning on Amazon and came across a book written several years ago. The description has me intrigued:

"Defense doesn't win championships. Defense wins games. Brands win championships. In ten years, the most consistently successful college athletic programs will be those with the strongest brands, not simply the strongest defense or most explosive offense from year to year. It's not just about x's and o's anymore. It's about polarizing uniforms on the field and massive billboards in Times Square. It's about making your brand sexy to seventeen- and eighteen-year-old blue-chip athletes. And this is your guidebook on how to reach them. In the world of college athletics today, it's easier to crash a party than throw a party. Brands Win Championships will show you how. Inside, you'll find three simple brand-building steps that can take your program from bad to good or from good to great. "

 

[AustinLewis]

Branding - just a whole host of things. I was looking at a book to buy this morning on Amazon and came across a book written several years ago. The description has me intrigued:

"Defense doesn't win championships. Defense wins games. Brands win championships. In ten years, the most consistently successful college athletic programs will be those with the strongest brands, not simply the strongest defense or most explosive offense from year to year. It's not just about x's and o's anymore. It's about polarizing uniforms on the field and massive billboards in Times Square. It's about making your brand sexy to seventeen- and eighteen-year-old blue-chip athletes. And this is your guidebook on how to reach them. In the world of college athletics today, it's easier to crash a party than throw a party. Brands Win Championships will show you how. Inside, you'll find three simple brand-building steps that can take your program from bad to good or from good to great. "

Offense wins games. Defense wins championships. Championships build a brand.

15 years into Stockstill's tenure and across multiple schemes, MT still lacks a single conference championship.

 

[MT01]

Hats off to Massaro when he first got here, he got home and home and two for one with P5s. MT fans had an expectation every once and awhile to win those games, especially at home, but after the 2008 home win over Maryland, relatively weak P5s have come into Floyd and absolutely skull dragged CRS's teams up and down the field. Rick managed to score a handful of upsets (Maryland, GaTech, Missouri and Syracuse) on the roads, but there was never more than a sense of MT playing well while a weak p5 had a bad day.

Pile on the local rivalries. Vandy two home and homes, 0-4 record and poor play/coaching to blame. WKU 1-5 against the toppers, while they while won championships or played at a championship level with a revolving door of head coaches. Going 1-9 during this recent period with no sense of anger or expectation of anything different just kills.

No championships. No energy from the head coach, no sense that Massaro or McPhee even care. Rubber stamp BoT. Lack of urgency about anything. It was almost like after MT moved CUSA, that everybody just sat back like they had accomplished something so they did nothing else.

Branding - just a whole host of things. I was looking at a book to buy this morning on Amazon and came across a book written several years ago. The description has me intrigued:

"Defense doesn't win championships. Defense wins games. Brands win championships. In ten years, the most consistently successful college athletic programs will be those with the strongest brands, not simply the strongest defense or most explosive offense from year to year. It's not just about x's and o's anymore. It's about polarizing uniforms on the field and massive billboards in Times Square. It's about making your brand sexy to seventeen- and eighteen-year-old blue-chip athletes. And this is your guidebook on how to reach them. In the world of college athletics today, it's easier to crash a party than throw a party. Brands Win Championships will show you how. Inside, you'll find three simple brand-building steps that can take your program from bad to good or from good to great. "

Might be the best Space post ever. If there is anything that hits the key issues in a highly summarized way this is it. I could write a 300 page book on everything addressed here. This is the bingo post.

 

[MT01]

Offense wins games. Defense wins championships. Championships build a brand.

15 years into Stockstill's tenure and across multiple schemes, MT still lacks a single conference championship.

But you can’t win championships with defenses unless you have good coaches and players.It’s a bit of a chicken and egg thing but in reality it’s not even that. It’s a pull the rope, row the boat, or whatever quip you want to use. Everyone and all facets have to be moving in the same direction with a clearly articulated objective and mission.

MT has never had a cohesive strategy to execute all these things in unison. Kermit decided to go off and do it on his own. He had the skills and abilities to not only know X’s and O’s But also how to sell and market the program. Yeah he was a slightly above average recruiter at best but he was able to make up for not being the best there by running his program like a power program. Kermit is the only coach that’s ever actually earned his multimedia income. One of the best interviewees we’ve ever had as a head coach.

It all matters. Not just some of it. You must have all of the ingredients to build a championship program. And that guy is right. A championship program is all about the brand (and I would throw in the culture as well as you could use those interchangeably to a degree). At MT, we really don’t have any of those ingredients anywhere across campus at all right now. Look no further than one part of the university that can’t use “SU” enough in our name and the other part that goes out of its way to avoid using it. Our brand sucks. And honestly there really isn’t a single redeeming quality about our brand (or our culture) at the moment. And ironically enough these are all things I learned in Jones School of Business. Yet, we don’t apply any of what is taught at our own institution.

 

[MT Glenn]

1. Mediocrity as a result.
2. Mediocrity as a goal.

 

[RandallThomason]

Might be the best Space post ever. If there is anything that hits the key issues in a highly summarized way this is it. I could write a 300 page book on everything addressed here. This is the bingo post.

That post can be engraved on Space's Hall of Fame induction plaque.

 

[AustinLewis]

But you can’t win championships with defenses unless you have good coaches and players.It’s a bit of a chicken and egg thing but in reality it’s not even that. It’s a pull the rope, row the boat, or whatever quip you want to use. Everyone and all facets have to be moving in the same direction with a clearly articulated objective and mission.

MT has never had a cohesive strategy to execute all these things in unison. Kermit decided to go off and do it on his own. He had the skills and abilities to not only know X’s and O’s But also how to sell and market the program. Yeah he was a slightly above average recruiter at best but he was able to make up for not being the best there by running his program like a power program. Kermit is the only coach that’s ever actually earned his multimedia income. One of the best interviewees we’ve ever had as a head coach.

It all matters. Not just some of it. You must have all of the ingredients to build a championship program. And that guy is right. A championship program is all about the brand (and I would throw in the culture as well as you could use those interchangeably to a degree). At MT, we really don’t have any of those ingredients anywhere across campus at all right now. Look no further than one part of the university that can’t use “SU” enough in our name and the other part that goes out of its way to avoid using it. Our brand sucks. And honestly there really isn’t a single redeeming quality about our brand (or our culture) at the moment. And ironically enough these are all things I learned in Jones School of Business. Yet, we don’t apply any of what is taught at our own institution.

Agreed. That’s why I mentioned player development and recruiting earlier. MT’s defensive line play (the foundation for the defense) is horrid.

Brand comes with championships / success. Identity and culture come with coach / leadership.

That said, the “SU” needs to go. MTSU needs to become UMT. MTSU or UMT won’t make a difference if the program doesn’t have an identity / culture that creates a brand.

 

[Tyler Pellom]

This is a really strong thread.

I’ll defer to the folks who’ve been here longer than me to debate what went wrong, but from an outsider-turned-insider’s perspective, it seems to me all the issues can be traced to a lack of innovation and a stagnation inside the program.

And that’s not to say I think the folks on campus don’t work hard and want to win. They totally do. But when your entire leadership base has been in the same position for 15 years or more, I can’t help but feel like it’s impossible for corners not to be cut and for there to be a culture of “good is good enough.”

 

[Tyler Pellom]

Now, before I came aboard, my impression of Middle Tennessee as a whole was, “Stock is a very good coach who runs a solid program. The basketball program is very good and I know Kermit is in Mississippi now.”

Doing some digging once I got my feet wet here, it was obvious very early that fans weren’t happy with the athletic administration and that Stock was slightly less successful than I knew. My mindset was MT was a consistent 7-9 win team with maybe a conference title or two. I was correct on the wins for the first half of Stock’s tenure - not so much on the titles.

 

[SpaceRaider]

That said, the “SU” needs to go. MTSU needs to become UMT. MTSU or UMT won’t make a difference if the program doesn’t have an identity / culture that creates a brand.

YES. But that absolutely will never happen as long as McPhee is President. He has to go.

 

[RaiderDoug]

“good is good enough.”

Look no further than this.

I believe a very deliberate decision was made to focus on simply building a good program which meets a few off the field benchmarks while at least "competing" on the field rather than a program who's goal is the highest possible achievement on the field of play.

That's fine for the folks inside the program. Bowl trips are fun all expenses paid vacation, you've got good kids who don't get into trouble often, APR looks good to the eggheads that have a hand in running things, you don't have to put that much effort into recruiting or the rubber chicken circuit, etc. Not a bad gig if you can land it.

But for the fans, and me in particular with my limited time/money to devote to any entertainment product, I simply have no interest in anything that isn't at least putting in the effort to achieve as much success as possible. Appealing to my sense of duty and devotion to my alma mater can only go so far. I can forgive them for trying and failing, I can't forgive them for not trying.

This is going to be an interesting year. Even Stock's staunchest supporters can't defend what we're seeing here on the field. There's no way to maintain the facade any longer - a change must be made this year. If they can't do it because of $$$'s or something, just pack it in, drop to FCS or just kill the program and focus on baseball or basketball.

 

[BlueSioux]

My graduate school was at the University of North Dakota, a FCS school and they are submitting plans to build a first class expansion to their athletic facilities, which included expanding their current indoor practice facility, an athlete village type of housing, and new athletic office spaces. Link is a 11 page document showing the plans.

They already have a 1st class hockey facility that seats 12,000 (privately funded) and the football team plays in a 10,000 indoor stadium.https://www.grandforksgov.com/home/showdocument?id=36223

I share this because a new A.D. was hired two years ago and what can be possible with new eyes, an actual vision, and a community that supports their university.

 

[lightningsig]

"The American Council on Education’s (ACE) report, “The American College President 2017,” found that college presidents served an average of 6.5 years in that position compared to a 7-year average in 2011 and 8.5 year average in 2006. According to American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) data covering the past five years, presidential tenure lasted four years or less for 44.9 percent of member institutions."

We have a president who is not an attractive or valid candidate to take the post at any other institution and seemingly wears a Teflon accountability suit when it comes to his removal from his current post. And everyone in line below him wears the same suit. McPhee has been here for 19 years. In essence, three times the term of the average university president.

 

[AustinLewis]

"The American Council on Education’s (ACE) report, “The American College President 2017,” found that college presidents served an average of 6.5 years in that position compared to a 7-year average in 2011 and 8.5 year average in 2006. According to American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) data covering the past five years, presidential tenure lasted four years or less for 44.9 percent of member institutions."

We have a president who is not an attractive or valid candidate to take the post at any other institution and seemingly wears a Teflon accountability suit when it comes to his removal from his current post. And everyone in line below him wears the same suit. McPhee has been here for 19 years. In essence, three times the term of the average university president.

FWIW, McPhee is nearing 30 years as an employee of the state of Tennessee. At 30 years, his contributions to TN retirement don't provide a good ROI.