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I'm done

C-Bow

Hall of Famer
Staff
Dec 5, 2005
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www.gomiddle.com
In all my years of either writing for or running this site, I was really proud to stay objective and keep my thoughts and feelings out of my work. Those who really know me know just how hard that was for me. Bottomline I love Middle Tennessee. It is my alma mater, it's where I formed lifelong bonds and relationships. Coming here literally saved my life from would be doom and self destruction (another story for another time).

When I turned things over to Matt (best decision ever btw - he and Tyler are really killing it) you guys have no idea how excited I was to just be a fan. For the first time since 2005, I could sit back and just try to enjoy being a fan for once.

Two weeks in and I've come to the realization I was kidding myself. This program is in the damn toilet. From the top to the bottom, just swimming in feces. The leadership is stale, the coaching is putrid and what's actually left of the fanbase has cries for help landing on deaf ears.

So here it is. The real, if you will.

McPhee needs to go.
Massaro needs to go.
Stock needs to go.
The football program needs to be overhauled top to bottom.
The basketball program needs serious reevaluating if the wins don't come this season.

I'm so done with the ineptitude, nepotism and turning of the blind eyes.

I was looking forward to being a contributor to the program. Not anymore. Won't donate a dime of another thought.

It's time for changes. It's been time. Like many of you, I'm just done.

I know you guys are in the same boat and I'm preaching to the choir. I just needed to say it myself. For once.
 
Misery loves company I suppose. There are so many alum and fans who have tried to help and do all they can to be a part of the solution to success. But more or less the institution and its leaders have turned on the people who it needs to keep things moving forward. It’s the damndest thing I’ve ever seen. There are so many who have a story to tell. For me, it was the Palladium. A fan driven initiative (which is how it should be) instead of a stale school initiated attempt and the leadership was so uninterested. Hell, there was one year our people didn’t even think to bring it out to the field. After our results against Troy I’m starting to see why. If it weren’t for Troy’s administration and players buying into it years ago I probably would have wasted a lot of time and my own money making it come to fruition. They finally figured it out (thanks to Troy) but it damn sure wasn’t from their own leadership. I’m sure Stock loathes it because Troy is just another game on the schedule........to lose apparently in perpetually embarrassing fashion.
 
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I have stayed quiet on here for the most part because the current leadership has pushed me to not really caring anymore. Heck, I’m not even in the country for the season this year. That would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.
 
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A few of you on here know me personally. After graduating from MT in ‘05 I felt a loyalty and obligation to MT. I attended many BRAA events, donated and served on their Alumni Board and was a season ticket holder for Football, Basketball and Baseball. I have fond memories as a sponsor of BRAA golf scrambles at Temple Hills here in Franklin where the Head Coach and staff members ACTUALLY attended. It now feels like a distant memory. I haven’t donated or bought season tickets since 2014 after meeting with Massaro in my office over the hiring of Tommy West and then Rick Mallory right after. I told Chris I did not agree with the direction of the Football program and why. He reassured me that he and Stock had “vetted the hiring of West.” I, of course knew the whole story of what happened in Memphis and I could not believe McPhee and the late John Cothern would also sign off on it. The last two years of Tommy West in Memphis almost killed Memphis Football. His famous rant was more about hurt feelings, not to “save Tiger Football”. He had many opportunities to speak out in his early years but took his $900k+ a year and stayed quiet. He got paid in full for 3 years afterwards with no offset when he took DC jobs at UAB and USM from which he was fired after one season at each. TW had alienated many HS Coaches in the Memphis area and recruiting was a shambles. He loaded the Memphis program with JC players and transfers his last two years which anyone knows is a final act of desperation for a program and staff in a death spiral.

Several on here have stated the program needs a complete flushing and I agree 100%. Whether or not it happens will require the Board of Trustees to step in because McPhee will not pull the trigger on Stock and it’s his decision, not Massaro’s.

Just my two cents.
 
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Whether or not it happens will require the Board of Trustees to step in

I have not been impressed with the Board of Trustees. Maybe giving McPhee a huge raise with a five year contract and a year later another undeserved raise is what causes me to have no faith or trust in the trustees. I'm not sure there's any one on that board that I would view as a heavy hitter or person with any significant influence, politically or financially, and to me that just typifies where Middle Tennessee is in the whole scheme of things, academically, financially, politically any other way I can think of.

I completely understand Casey's feelings on our circumstances. The current set of season tickets to football is the last set I will have after over 40 years of it, unless MT gets a new head football coach.

The fact that Massaro and McPhee have let this program get in the shape it's in has had me convinced for a good while that to have any real chance of a turnaround, they both have to go as well and I despair of the chances of that happening anytime soon.
 
#MeToo I'm coming to this board once per day now and it is ONLY in hopes of seeing a thread indicating Stock has been fired or resigned. Other than that, I no longer care. I did not attend MT, so i do not have the emotional bond most of you have. I went to a small school in TX that did not offer football, moved to Murfreesboro and started following the home town team in 1995. I am D-U-N, DUN!
 
We're all fans under the premise that the program/staff/AD are all trying their hardest to win. Sometimes, that doesn't happen - especially at MT's level where resources are limited and we accept that. But there should never be a cause to doubt the will or effort.

Long ago, I stopped believing that the staff/AD/leadership was actually trying to win.

There's simply no indications of any sort of effort or accountability. From the President and AD level, there is no accountability. The marketing is basically non-existent. The salesmanship and will to create any sort of buzz or goodwill is non-existent - the program has the personality of wet cardboard.

The staff is stocked with Stock's buddies. None of them have to produce on the field or on the recruiting trail. The gameday prep is incompetent. The gameday X's and O's and adjustments are better described as blundering and ham-fisted - this from a HC that has 15 years experience! The S&C is year in and year out the worst of any team I remember following - although this may be by design - it's a built in excuse for poor performance.

Roster management makes you think that someone may actually be trying to sabotage the program. Look at our QB room this year - and this is with QB guru TF running the show. How many years have we gone to the GBR roster and seen like 21 'ship WRs, yet, only like 4 catch passes, and our OL traditionally has to throw freshmen in to the fire because we don't have enough of them. It's football-criminal.

Speaking of recruiting - it is zero effort - they're all good kids that graduate, but very few of them are FBS level talents. As best I can tell, we toss a few 'ships to some Cali JUCO kids who no one else wants (golfing in Cali during the recruiting season in Nov/Dec/Jan must be incredible!), and the rest go to some high schoolers across the south who's best attribute appears to be that you don't have to fight any other FBS programs for them.

The program was kept afloat by an all time MT great - who just happened to be living with the head coach. And they didn't even sign him - he had to transfer in!

Anyhow, this is all a re-hash. Everyone knows this.

We all get mad and upset and that's because we love the program and are under the belief that McPhee/Massaro/Stock are all just not good at their jobs. But we're wrong - they're actually very good at their jobs - which is simply be good enough to keep the paychecks coming.
 
Despite my MT plate on the front of my truck looking good and matching the colors of the truck, I plan on removing it from my truck this week. Doing such a thing would have been unimaginable to me for many years that includes many losing seasons and/or mediocrity in football and basketball. At least there was the consoling thought that cash strapped MT would take an extra season or two to correct and improve performance. Now the performance and attitude with MT is so poor that I'm increasingly not wanting to be associated with such poor quality. For crying out loud, it's embarrassing!

To top it off, I was over on campus last year during a regular weekday. I ran into folks I've known for years from campus. It was troubling to hear that the overall atmosphere and morale on campus, separate from athletics, was really pretty poor. It seemed to be about as bad as we are witnessing with athletics on gameday. More troubling was that the strength of MT, that sense of community, seemed to be slipping away in my experience talking to people over on campus.

Sadly, I have little to no confidence that this board of trustees is holding anyone accountable, namely McPhee. This has recently been exacerbated by the virus essentially doing away with public attendance or interaction at board meetings.

In my view, McPhee and the board of trustees are failing the university and university community. In my opinion, it's disgraceful.
 
I hardly ever come on this site anymore, much less post. That's not because I don't like this site, I do. It's just getting to the point where MT Athletics (at least football) isn't even worth the time of day for me to click on a website, much less post.

In my opinion, the entire athletics dept needs to be cleaned out minus a few coaches. It seems like the cruise control button was hit with most of these people about 10 years ago and they've never looked back. Part of me wishes that some of our sports had terrible grades and that would be the end for Massaro. That's the ONLY reason I can see why he is still employed.

Hopefully basketball can take the sting off of what has been an abysmal football year so far.
 
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Usually there are one or two folks in fan forums who will take the opposite side on something like this. Unless I’ve missed it, I haven’t seen a single person rise to defend Stock, Massaro, McPhee, the Football Program or MT Athletics.

I think this speaks volumes.
 
Usually there are one or two folks in fan forums who will take the opposite side on something like this. Unless I’ve missed it, I haven’t seen a single person rise to defend Stock, Massaro, McPhee, the Football Program or MT Athletics.

I think this speaks volumes.
I've seen precious few on Twitter (most were former players) defending Stock. They brought up some good points, but ultimately some changes will need to be made to MT FB to compete in CUSA
 
Walker took FB 1A and led rapid growth. I think he was ran off by the state for a lap dog in McPhee.

We won't see anymore success in FB, MBB, WBB or baseball.
 
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I've seen precious few on Twitter (most were former players) defending Stock. They brought up some good points, but ultimately some changes will need to be made to MT FB to compete in CUSA

Even the players are running out of defenses though. Seen quite a few start pointing the finger directly at Massaro.
 
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Someone has to change the narrative. Not being in the power 5, I think the coach HAS to be a huge part of fundraising. Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney may not have to fund raise but at this level you have to. I don’t see how a school like Middle progresses without it. I really like Stock. Players like him and he does a good job in relating and connecting with prospective recruits,no doubt about it. I think he is a great guy with solid values and was it was needed at the time he took the role. I always wonder what we look like if we let him go to ECU or Memphis. Do we turn into revolving doors like WKU or Arkansas State for a time. They have experienced a lot of success considering the movement. The thing that bothers me is no conference championships. In these time, in the role in at a mid major I think this is and should be a must. I know former players defend him, and by all means they should because if they didn’t we have a HUGE problem but now some change is needed. I struggle with who in the department is really leading the charge to grow this program. Who is talking to the Mega donors locally? What big wins have they shared in fundraising? Where is the money they‘ve supposedly already raised? Does anyone think in today’s cooperate world this would be tolerated for this amount of time without a championship? Just my 2 cents and hope for better days.
 
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Even the players are running out of defenses though. Seen quite a few start pointing the finger directly at Massaro.

You are right.

They all are saying Massaro, then when someone says it, they back off and say don’t put words in their mouth.

Edit for typo -autocorrect
 
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Someone has to change the narrative. Not being in the power 5, I think the coach HAS to be a huge part of fundraising. Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney may not have to fund raise but at this level you have to. I don’t see how a school like Middle progresses without it. I really like Stock. Players like him and he does a good job in relating and connecting with prospective recruits,no doubt about it. I think he is a great guy with solid values and was it was needed at the time he took the role. I always wonder what we look like if we let him go to ECU or Memphis. Do we turn into revolving doors like WKU or Arkansas State for a time. They have experienced a lot of success considering the movement. The thing that bothers me is no conference championships. In these time, in the role in at a mid major I think this is and should be a must. I know former players defend him, and by all means they should because if they didn’t we have a HUGE problem but now some change is needed. I struggle with who in the department is really leading the charge to grow this program. Who is talking to the Mega donors locally? What big wins have they shared in fundraising? Where is the money they‘ve supposedly already raised? Does anyone think in today’s cooperate world this would be tolerated for this amount of time without a championship? Just my 2 cents and hope for better days.

At our level - I think the revolving door is probably the best thing we could be.

Programs like WKU and Arkansas State - they win because they continue attract great coaching - coaches know they can win there, they'll get a bigger job. So, when one guy leaves, you have a pool of attractive coaches who are competing for that job. Pick the right one and you're golden!

As for fundraising - so many people, and particularly the MT AD, have it all wrong. Obviously winning sells. Send $100.00 and be a champion!

Losing sells too though! I've seen it here in Knoxville. An angry fan base is still a fan base that's engaged. Plus, you can sell hope to angry fans - you can sell a snazzy press conference with a new staff. Everyone loves a new beginning and a fresh start! Get on board for the rebuild - send $100 today!

Losing doesn't kill. What kills is apathy.

Apathy, boredom, and repeated mediocrity. It's like watching the same C+ movie over and over again every season. Sure, it was fine the first time, maybe you watch it again later on. At some point, you're going to find something else to do with your time or entertainment dollars. And once people find other stuff to do, they ain't coming back. Send $100.00 so we can go 6-6 again! No thanks.
 
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