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  • Apparently the grass is not always greener

    Hurry to get to the comments before Brian gets butt hurt and deletes them like he does when he disagrees with someone.
    First, I wanted to wish all Lion fans a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank you all again for the support you have given to us, especially with how trying this sports year has been, but we know better days lay ahead. Also, Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish readers (I DO KNOW…

  • #2
    I'll post a few before they are gone.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------




    Jack Kelly

    December 27, 2022 at 7:54 pm
    Why has this site turned into a Tim McMurray PR firm?

    First it was “Tim is moving on to greener pastures” and now it’s “Tim was railroaded.”

    Well, which is it? And why was your story been changed?

    Did Tim give you a great Christmas present this year ?

    Turn the page on him. Or tell the truth. Maybe the department has no money become Tim lost a bunch of it and that is why he was forced out?

    It seems like you are saying that The University lost a bunch of money and they are making it seem like was Tim and the Athletic Department‘s fault and they are being punished.

    Even if is the case, we should move on. None of the few athletic people left who are not coaches were around who lost the money. They all quit or were arrested. We as an alumni are in a great debt to these few who have had to work so hard this last season. So we need to move on and stop being up up Tim.

    Comment


    • #3
      Joe Carmichael

      December 30, 2022 at 2:56 am
      I’ve been reading this site for 4 years and I appreciate what these two guys do. Also, as someone who has 3 degrees from Old ET, I can tell you this much, Mr. McMurray was a damn fine AD. I have heard that he rubbed a few malcontents the wrong way but if you want omelets you have to crack some eggs. I also doubt he was even a fan of the move to Division I. He raised funds, worked hard, and we were contenders is pretty much every sport. I heard from some friends that the President (who is a total west coast cry me a river in the tank liberal sissy boy) and who has the thinnest of skin, did not like Mr. McMurray and they had to divorce. Good job, Mr President, running off a great AD with solid business acumen. This cow manure about Mr McMurray not managing the funds is totally untrue. I requested an open records act and it looks like the Bleeding heart President made an “institutional decision” to go DIV I which was as stupid as pissing off 2/3 of your giving base by lying about a former President and changing two University landmarks. We had not had this kind of broad athletic success since I was getting my Undergrad degree in the 1970’s as we had under Mr McMurray. You self involved fools can try to fling mud hoping it sticks but any jackass can kick a door down but it takes a damn fine carpenter to build one, to quote our alum the late Sam Rayburn. Russell and Brian keep on and HAIL ET!

      Joe Carmichael
      BA 1974
      BBA 1976
      MBA 1979

      Comment


      • #4
        Aaron Talbot

        December 31, 2022 at 6:00 am
        President’s Rudin’s First D1 season 8 part Masterplan:

        1. Announce the move to D1 less than a year before it occurs, so there is no time to plan ahead.
        2. Force the AD out by blaming a large University deficit on him.
        3. Refuse to hire a replacement AD or to even search for a replacement.
        4. Take Athletic Budget away from Athletics and put people in charge of it who have no idea about Athletics.
        5. Gut the Athletics administration staff. Because of the instability and no direction from the top, A dozen athletic staff quit in the summer.
        6. Refuse to let any of the dozen open positions be filled during the summer or the first d1 season except one (he was so bad apparently he lasted about a month before he was forced out in a big scandal).
        7. Make the few staff left work to death keeping the department operating by having them do duties which would be shared by half a dozen people at other same sized schools and while getting paid the least in the country.
        8. Fire a football coach who went 3-3 in conference play in the first year of d1 with a roster full of d2 players and was not fully funded and had terrible health at QB.

        Anything I miss?

        Comment


        • #5
          Steve Alberts

          January 1, 2023 at 3:46 pm
          Or….

          1. The move to D1 began in 2018 and Timmy just failed.

          2. He was asked to leave or be fired because of his lack fiscal control or desire to be
          held accountable.

          3. Timmy was always tolerated but never respected by the University Community. It
          is well known that he and his minions rubbed many respected employees of the
          Institution the wrong way, but Ray Keck tolerated him. In the words of Joe
          Carmichael “If you want omelets you have to crack some eggs”

          4. Rudin took the Athletic Department budget away from them because the fiscal mess
          created by Timmy. Maybe Rudin no longer trusted the Athletic Department and put
          people in charge of financials he could trust. Texas is a Right to Work State. The
          Athletic Director works at the pleasure of his supervisor which in this case is Dan
          Rudin the President of TAMUC. Rudin can’t possibly hire or place an
          adequate Athletic Director into this environment until this mess is cleaned up.

          5. The Athletics Administration staff is used to be gutted and instability. Timmy ran
          off on average 5 employees a year during his tenure as Athletic Director.

          6. To fill vacate positions you must be able to afford them, and people must want to
          come to work at Texas A&M University – Commerce. Under Timmy’s reign it was a
          well-known fact the salary structure was heavy at the top. Timmy only
          cared about himself. FYI, no employee at TAMUC is paid at fair market wage.
          Quit crying about the salaries of athletic personnel. During Timmy’s time at TAMUC
          the wins and losses of the athletics program had no significant impact on
          enrollment. Each year while he was Athletic Director the University’s enrollment
          declined. The Athletic Department prospered by charging an exorbitated student fee
          to every student and draining the resources from other far more important
          academic departments/divisions of the Institution who have a significant role in
          increasing or maintaining enroll.

          7. All Higher Education staffs are worked to death keep to their department operating.
          Every academic program at TAMUC is whining to Dan Rudin about work life balance
          and being paid a fair wage.

          8. The football coach needed to go. He had underperformed since riding Carthel’s coat
          tails during his first year. The football team’s record declined every year since the
          first season. Timmy hired one football coach during his time at TAMUC and he got
          it wrong. He gambled that hiring a former D1 football coach at a D2 program would
          bring success on the football field and help him with his plan to become a D1
          Athletic Program. Sometimes when you gamble you lose all the Athletic
          Department’s Budget.

          Did I miss anything?

          Comment


          • #6
            Aaron Talbot

            January 1, 2023 at 9:28 pm
            Stevey,

            Huh?

            1. If that is the case, then Timmy should have been fired years ago. Not in the summer before the D1 move.
            And also, when schools go D1, they hire an outside firm for a report to see if they should go D1 or not and it gives them a plan on what they should do. That obviously wasn’t done. We went D1 on a prayer. And that has been obvious as well.
            2. I agree. That is well known. I don’t know why you are bringing that up. I’m not defending Timmy.
            3. Same as #2.
            4. I agree with the first part. But not having a timeline or a plan or having one and keeping the Athletic staff and coaches in the dark about it is not good leadership.
            5. While that is true, you can’t be going D1 with 5 staff members. It has never been this bad. More staff must be added when you go D1, not subtracted.
            6. This one is an absolute head scratcher. It seems you do not care about sports at all. Which is weird because you are commenting on a sports site. It’s okay if you don’t like sports or you want to cut sports and/or you are defending Rudin at all costs, but just admit it.
            You really showed yourself on that one.
            7. Ok. That does seems like a problem. Maybe Rudin should do something about it.
            8. That is a common opinion. I agree with some of that and I honestly was on the fence with keeping Bailiff or not.

            Reply
            • Steve Alberts

              January 1, 2023 at 11:02 pm
              6. I am a huge sports fan. I have played and coached football at the High School and College levels. The last thing I would want to do is cut sports. I am also not a Rudin fan, but I do have some insight to how Athletics has been funded at TAMUC since Timmy arrived. He was not shy about boasting about his “so called plans, accomplishments, and vision” to become a Division 1 Athletic Program.

            Comment


            • #7
              This was fun reading. The former Commerce AD did some things that I didn't like (like firing the softball coach), but he at least seemed to care about football.

              Comment


              • #8
                Politics has always gotten in the way at East Texas State now TAMU Commerce. I grew up in the area and remember students telling me stories about what was going on there when I was in Jr High. They almost closed the university in the 1980s and some in Texas Government wanted to move the whole thing to Texarkana. I remember the school President taking another job elsewhere with no one knowing thinking the ship had sunk. There was a myriad of financial problems as well when I went to grad school there.

                It didn't shock me when they didn't let anyone know until the last minute the University was moving to D1 because that is how the school has always operated. Last minute details will just have to take care of themselves. At this point and time Commerce is what I would call a Hybrid between D1 and D2. The school like Tarleton has outgrown D2 and needs to start planning on how to make the upgrades needed to be able to compete at the D1 FCS level. Unfortunately, many are stuck in the mindset that what we have is acceptable thus the Ancient of Days Football Stadium hasn't been upgraded in years. I'm talking structure not bells and whistles that are add ons.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Techster88 View Post
                  Politics has always gotten in the way at East Texas State now TAMU Commerce. I grew up in the area and remember students telling me stories about what was going on there when I was in Jr High. They almost closed the university in the 1980s and some in Texas Government wanted to move the whole thing to Texarkana. I remember the school President taking another job elsewhere with no one knowing thinking the ship had sunk. There was a myriad of financial problems as well when I went to grad school there.

                  It didn't shock me when they didn't let anyone know until the last minute the University was moving to D1 because that is how the school has always operated. Last minute details will just have to take care of themselves. At this point and time Commerce is what I would call a Hybrid between D1 and D2. The school like Tarleton has outgrown D2 and needs to start planning on how to make the upgrades needed to be able to compete at the D1 FCS level. Unfortunately, many are stuck in the mindset that what we have is acceptable thus the Ancient of Days Football Stadium hasn't been upgraded in years. I'm talking structure not bells and whistles that are add ons.
                  I saw earlier than ETSU had won the football NAIA natty 50 years ago. This film looks more like 1932 than 1972 though. https://digitalcommons.tamuc.edu/scua-1972-football/28/

                  At the time WTSU was still D1, though they had fired their long time successful coach, Joe Kerbel, a couple of years before, replacing him with someone who had no business being a head coach in college football at any level, That sounds familiar, doesn't it?

                  It does seem like Commerce and WT have been heading in opposite directions since then. I used to go to mens basketball games while a student there, and we played some great opponents in the Amarillo Civic Center. It was a cheap date. No I never thought of going to a womans basketball game, even though I was friendly with their best player. I was already getting burned out on basketball, even at that level.

                  No telling where Wendler will take WT next, maybe to D3, or maybe he will outsource the campus buildings to Amarillo College and CISD for $1/year.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by WT_TKW View Post

                    I saw earlier than ETSU had won the football NAIA natty 50 years ago. This film looks more like 1932 than 1972 though. https://digitalcommons.tamuc.edu/scua-1972-football/28/

                    At the time WTSU was still D1, though they had fired their long time successful coach, Joe Kerbel, a couple of years before, replacing him with someone who had no business being a head coach in college football at any level, That sounds familiar, doesn't it?

                    It does seem like Commerce and WT have been heading in opposite directions since then. I used to go to mens basketball games while a student there, and we played some great opponents in the Amarillo Civic Center. It was a cheap date. No I never thought of going to a womans basketball game, even though I was friendly with their best player. I was already getting burned out on basketball, even at that level.

                    No telling where Wendler will take WT next, maybe to D3, or maybe he will outsource the campus buildings to Amarillo College and CISD for $1/year.
                    I feel the same way about WT. I personally think they are a hybrid like Commerce. They have outgrown D2 but really don’t want the expenses of D1 FCS football and the upgrades for the other sports. Caught between the Scylla and Charibdes.

                    It doesn’t help that a backwards thinking Methuselah is your President.

                    The last time I was at Tarleton I had the good fortune of speaking with their former President Dottavio who was still President at the time. He was a really easy to talk to down to earth kind of guy. He explained how in his mind you grow a university. Obviously he was very successful. He also told me he was going to retire and just teach and enjoy all of what had transpired since he came to the school.


                    In my mind, you are either growing or dying. Your leadership determines how your school will look like a decade from now.



                    Comment

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