Friday July 03, 2009

Friday E-Mail Bag

Friday E-Mail Bag
Each Friday I publish your comments and answer your questions. To submit a comment or questions please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com.

Editor’s Note: On Wednesday we wrote a blog about the Director’s Cup standings and received a couple of posts that I wanted to answer in-depth. The first two e-mails in today’s blog are actually posts on our blog.

Certainties in life:
1. Death
2. Taxes
3. Criticism of Barker and the top 20 goal in Plyler's blog every day
Since you obviously feel this is a problem, perhaps a future blog could deal with your ideas for changing things. Not just generalities, but specifics. For example:

-What do you feel our academic goals should be?
-Who should our peer institutions be academically and athletically?
-How should we respond to the state budget cuts for higher education (which, if you haven't noticed, occur every year)?
-Should we make school easier for the athletes (you alluded to this in a blog last week)?
-Who should be fired, and who would you replace them with?
If you're going to spend so much time criticizing, you owe it to your readers to offer your solutions.
Judge Keller

Judge Keller,
I think if you check the facts you will clearly see that I do not have criticism of Barker and the top 20 goal every day. It is actually much less frequent than criticism of me or my blog. However, my job is to publish a blog and I can take the criticism. In fact, I was pleased to see your thoughtful response today.

So to answer your questions, if have noticed I have said very few things about the Top 20 mission unless it pertains to sports. This blog is mainly about Clemson sports and I don’t comment in most cases unless it concerns sports. I would much rather talk Clemson sports but do have opinions on other things. I might add that the idea of a Clemson Nation that is so divided hurts and that is one reason I love Dabo and Purnell. I love the idea of "One Clemson". Unfortunately, it seldom happens.

Also, I am not the president or the athletic director. I am not qualified to do either job but would welcome the chance (and the pay raises). I do think it is OK for everyone to express their opinions and mine are not pleasant on this subject. Since you asked here are a few of my opinions:

1. I think the academic goals should be consistent with the will. Clemson was founded to help the state of South Carolina rebuild. The world has changed and the goals should now be to help a bigger area but I think Clemson should not care about what a magazine says about the quality of education. I don't think decisions should be made based upon the magazine and that has clearly happened. I think millions of dollars should not have been spent on the top 20 goal itself. Millions of dollars have been spent marketing top 20. I think the students should come first and their education should always be the first concern. Those millions should have been spent where the students would have directly benefitted. There is nothing wrong with hiring the best professors available and building the best facilities available. I don't see the need to spend millions chasing the magazine's approval. I also don't think it is OK to manipulate data. Clemson obviously does that in terms of class size. Some courses at Clemson have hundreds of students but are divided into sections because of the superficial use of a few TAs. Class size stats are being doctored and that is not right. I think a public institution should be a little more transparent. BTW-I think a majority of the faculty is now against the top 20 mission as well. I don’t think it is OK to rank Clemson ahead of all of other schools in a survey. I think that was a reach and really shows just what a farce this chase has become. No wonder schools are withdrawing from consideration of the magazine’s rankings. Clemson was a terrific school before the top 20 goal but we have lost our uniqueness in chasing the magazine’s rankings. We have lost our way and should return to who we were.

2. I think it OK to expect to compete for ACC titles in athletics. Don't shoot the messenger here. Are four ACC titles in six years enough? One men’s ACC title in six years is not acceptable.

3. I do think tuition hikes have gotten out of hand. Clemson is the eighth most expensive public school in the country. I wish it was more affordable for everyone.

4. All state agencies are being cut. Do you think the prison systems want to let out criminals because of the cuts? Schools all over the country are being cut. I think Clemson should cut the millions it spends on marketing Top 20. Also, some legislators find it insulting that the president and board rip them for their lack of support yet Clemson sends lobbyist to kiss up in Columbia every day.

5. Athletes should not have an easier road. But their hours are clearly longer. I do think Vickery Hall and the graduation rates are highly successful. This is an area Clemson should be very proud of. This is a success and a blueprint for other schools.

6. I think it is clear who needs to go. I am not qualified to say who is interested in the jobs or who is qualified. I just think a lot is broken and needs to be fixed. Give me the power to make the changes and I would love to. However, this hypothetical is not going to happen. Let me see the interested parties and let me do the interviews and I would have a much better idea of who to hire but again we all know this is not going to happen nor should it.

7. Athletics are not the most important but I was reminded of what Bill Russell said when asked about his championships (11 NBA, 2 NCAA and 1 Olympic Gold Medal). He said, “The game is scheduled. I have to play, so I might as well win.”

8. For some reason people think it this is just athletics vs academics. Did you notice how many top academic institutions did well in the Directors Cup?

9. Clemson has issues with the administration and athletics but it also has issues within the athletic department. Those issues are magnified when you don’t win titles. This is what is happening now.

10. Coach Ford said it years ago that some in power in Sikes Hall consider many of us the ‘football crowd”. He knew it was a condescending term. In my opinion Clemson people should not be looked down upon. I know some in Sikes or on the board that consider many of us as irrational fans who only matter when you send in your IPTAY dues. They consider themselves superior in intelligence but still covet your money.

We all have opinions. No one has all of the answers. I don't know all of the reasons but some things are clearly broken. I don't know how to play the guitar but I can listen to music and tell who can and who can't.

Your response is a well thought out and appreciated. It was better than another ticker tape response or a family picnic response. I enjoy learning more about people’s opinions and this is what this forum is about. I do think it is somewhat of a diversion though. The blog was about facts. The facts are that Clemson athletics are not as successful as they once were. Don’t shoot the messenger. Facts are facts.

The blog is about my opinion and learning more about the readers’ opinions as well. Again, I appreciate your questions today.

Mickey
I agree with you, Mickey, but I also agree with Judge Keller that you need to outline the steps you think we should take in order to get back to where we "should" be. You obviously disagree with the firings of some of the coaches over the past couple of years, but we have been way down on the list for quite some time, so maybe changes needed to be made? If we had fired TDP and kept the coaches who were let go, then would we be higher up the list? Would we be higher up the list if Clemson sent more money to the athletic department? We could lower the cost of tuition, but that would decrease the revenue coming into the university which would probably result in even more cuts in the athletic budget. I don't know the answers, but would love to know your thoughts.
LocoTiger

LocoTiger,
I hope the above response answered some of your questions. I am not qualified to be the athletic director at Clemson but I am qualified to know when things are not going well. We are not as successful as we once were and that fact is hurtful. I would not have fired the women’s basketball, men’s track or soccer coach. Those men won titles in the past and earned the right to keep their jobs. I am qualified to say that. I am qualified to say the athletic department would benefit if it did not have to send money to the university to help fund their budget. Lower tuition would help baseball and soccer because out of tuition is difficult for the partial scholarship sports. Also in-state tuition for all student athletes would help IPTAY and thus help the athletic department and facilities.

Believe or not, I am not comfortable being someone who rings this bell this often. I wish I could talk more about the student athletes and the conference titles. I am not a negative person and hate reporting negative news. However, I hate Clemson losing more. I am not encouraged by the direction of so many things going on here and I do think it is OK to tell the truth about such events. Some want to stick their heads in the sand but the facts are that we are not as successful and that hurts.

Mickey,
Concerning JK's 1st quest regarding academics: We should not strive to be something we are not. We should strive to be the best in areas in which we have always been great: Engineering and Agriculture. We attract great talent from all over the world to our engnr and ag depts. Not to put our other depts down, but let's face it, no one is going to come to Clemson from CA to go to our business school. However, if we decided to pour more resources into ag and engnr and became one of the top 5 public engnr/ag institutions in the country, we would certainly continue to attract better and better talent in that academic arena. We should not be striving to become a top academic institution in the country by meeting 50 different criteria set by Lord knows who. Instead, we should improve upon what we have always been great at, and we will be recognized as a top 20 public university because we have developed the best public engineering and ag depts in the country. That's how we should be focused concerning academics.
2) Who should our peer institutions be academically? Other Engineering/Agriculture Schools across the country. We should compete with NC State and GA Tech in ACC concerning Engineering. Not sure which other public universities in the nation are known to be the best agriculture schools or engineering schools, but those should be our competition. Athletically, you know better than I who our competition should be.

Paws4Effect

Paws4Effect,

Thanks for putting time and effort into your e-mail. I appreciate your thoughtful response.

Mickey -

- Jim

Jim,
Thanks for the e-mail and your respectful nature. My comments on the radio were about Clemson’s disadvantages compared to powers like Southern Cal, Texas, Ohio State and Florida. Clemson is in a small state. There are more people in Atlanta (5.5 million) than South Carolina. The state of Florida puts out many more players. So does Georgia. More people live within 30 miles of Southern Cal’s campus than live in South Carolina. Those schools have more alumni. They have more money. They have advantages.

Mickey,
When did Clemson begin to explode into the mega attendance/business it is today? Was it the 70's? I remember seeing Clemson play at Furman in 1962 in Sirrine Stadium and the visitors side(Clemson) was full but not packed. I sat on the visitors side and there was room for more people to sit around me. I would guess the attendance was around 13-14,000. Just wondering when Clemson really begin to take off. Thanks, Steve

Steve

Steve,
Thanks for the excellent question. Death Valley held a little more than 50,000 until 1978 when the upper deck on the home side was built. In 1983 the upper deck on the visitor’s side was added. Clemson did not go to a bowl game from 1959 until 1977. I think Steve Fuller and Jerry Butler’s teams in 1977 and 1978 helped create a new enthusiasm towards Clemson football. Also, more alumni and the growth of college football has also added to the 80,000 plus we see today.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Mrs. Kathleen Bowers, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey, Kaitlyn L, William Perry, Delores Weaver, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey.