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Is ETSU Football Doomed to be a Bunch of SOBs; the Same Old Bucs?

Marky Billson
10 min readNov 16, 2022

People didn’t see this year’s collapse coming, but it might be more than the coaching change or the departed stars from last year.

Marky Billson

How did the ETSU football team fall from a school-record 11 victory season in 2021 to 3–8 in 2022?

Just two months ago it appeared ETSU was about to become an FCS football power. Ranked in the FCS Top 10, the defending conference champs, they’d routed Mars Hill, 44–7, a Division II team that historically has played ETSU competitively.

The starting quarterback, leading receiver, and a 1,000-yard rusher from the previous season were back.

I’d even speculated if ETSU had changed from a basketball to a football school.

They haven’t. They’re once again a bunch of SOBs; the Same Old Bucs.

What went wrong?

THE RETIREMENT OF RANDY SANDERS

Nobody’s ever really asked Randy Sanders why, after waiting 30 years to become a head coach, then finally landing such a position and achieving success unparalleled in the entire history of the football program, he would quit with the program seemingly on the cusp of even greater riches.

But consider when he came to ETSU, Randy Sanders was still paid by Florida State, where he…

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Marky Billson
Marky Billson

Written by Marky Billson

Innovative sports media personality.

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