New ETSU Against Old; More Victories, But Still Disingenuous

“That is all the people need to know!”- Baron Von Raschke

The image at East Tennessee State right now is one of winning.

The Bucs’ football team is coming off their first conference title in 37 seasons. If not for a Quay Holmes fumble at the goal line, who knows? Maybe the Bucs even beat FCS powerhouse Jacksonville State in the playoffs.

ETSU’s men’s basketball team has won a school record 100 games in four years. Perhaps fans would like more postseason success during this time, and questions continue about Patrick Good’s hip injury, but the Bucs figure to be the preseason pick for the 2020 Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Title.

We can discuss if the baseball team got fat on an easy preseason schedule, but they have taken three of five games from Tennessee in the past two years. And yes, the women’s basketball team disappointed mightily last season, but there’s always the chance it’s just one bad year after four straight winning seasons.

It’s a change from old ETSU, which historically was a culture of losing. It was a culture of “we can’t afford it,” be it football or their own baseball park or keeping a football coach from going to a Division II school.

Now, the basketball team gets to tour Europe.

Old ETSU insisted everything was great when everything wasn’t. Who can forget then-athletic director David Mullins telling us that 2007 was “the greatest…