The East Tennessee State football team’s season ended this past week in a 27-10 loss to the worst team in the Southern Conference.
With some injuries and questionable moves all season, the Buccaneer coaching staff has been questioned after a 4-8 season.
ETSU has had several winning seasons under the direction of Paul Hamilton, but recently interest has seriously dropped from the program and people are turning their attention in other directions.
People in this area want a conference contender and a team that can make the playoffs consistently.
Why bother paying $10 and $15 to be disappointed, when you can drive 30 minutes down the road and see some competitive and winning football for a much lower price?
It showed in the attendance of the ETSU football games. There were some decent crowds, but no sellouts this season. It’s nothing for a growing team like Tusculum, who has new facilities and a fun passing game, to draw a sellout crowd each week.
There is no reason the Memorial Center shouldn’t give way to a capacity crowd each week in this football hungry area of the state.
The football team was young this season and inexperienced in a lot of key positions. They have plenty of talented youth, and with the right exposure and work ethic, this school could turn out some good teams capable of winning the conference each year.
There has been talk on message boards and websites of people degrading Hamilton, and calling for a change. Hamilton is a great guy and has a good work ethic, but it seemed as if his heart was not in the team this year.
Players across campus appeared to lack the desire and heart. However, the players who showed their heart and effort each week were held back.
Recently, the Bucs have done an excellent job of recruiting local talent, and if done right, they could pick up several quality high school seniors from neighboring counties for the team in future years.
Greeneville and Elizabethton have top high school prospects and have lost some favor with the Division 1-A programs. If more people in the neighboring areas can see an improving change with the Bucs, more money could be invested in the program.
The people in this area want to see a good performance, much like what has been exhibited by the basketball team throughout the past decade. Once the good performances start to roll in, then the talent pool will be filled.
A prime example of this is Marshall University. Marshall was a top-notch football program in 1-AA, and now they have a solid team year in and year out in 1-A.
They have Heisman quality players and can compete with almost anyone their size. Even if the Bucs would look to their track team, they could find one of the best receivers in Tennessee football throughout the past few years.
This season will be a lesson learning experience, and the team will reload again. Let’s just hope they tear the place down.

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