Dear Editor,
I read with interest the article by Seth Bartee about the football team and Mini-Dome.
Back in the 1970s, when I was attending ETSU, Coach Bell, then the football coach, felt that it was a mistake to build the Mini-Dome, as I recall. He wanted a large, outdoor stadium built. However, a Mini-Dome was built anyway. And, actually having attended some ETSU games in the cold and in the rain in the old stadium, I have to say that there is at least some merit to indoor football. Although, on beautiful fall days, one would miss being outdoors.
However, I don’t think that the Mini Dome or the fact that ETSU has always been a suitcase campus is the reason why the football team has not had the support that it deserves. I have long felt that the schedule is what causes problems for ETSU.
If I could select a football schedule for ETSU which would cause the football team to have a great deal of fan support, I would choose such teams as UT at Knoxville, Vanderbilt, University of Memphis, Kentucky, Wake Forest, Clemson, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Virginia, Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, South Carolina and so forth.
East Tennessee is a region where NASCAR racing and football are two of the primary “religions.” People primarily care about UT and whoever is playing the Volunteers. Nobody in the area has ever really given a diddly darn (that is to say, they do not care) about teams like Wofford, UT Chattanooga, Appalachian State and the like.
When I was going to ETSU, with the possible exception of Homecoming weekend, most students who were interested in football would go down the road to Knoxville to watch football games. Most football fans in the area, go to UT to watch football Whether they continue playing in the Mini Dome or whether they ever have an outdoor stadium built, if ETSU will ever schedule football opponents in which people are actually interested, there will be interest in the football program.
However, since this is the last (at least for the time being) year that the football team will play, guess that’s a “moot point” as the lawyers say.
Oh, well, GO BUCS anyway! Hope you all have a good school year!
Marshall Buckles

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