This time I am going over the edge. I am going to directly question the leadership at the University of Memphis. It really pains me to do this. But after a trip to Orlando and the Central Florida campus I’m beside myself with total disgust with the lack of effort that the current administration.

UCF is a beautiful campus. It has new buildings for academics. It has a new indoor practice facility so big you could put two of ours inside of it. They have a 40,000+ new football stadium. The campus in Orlando has undergone a facelift like nothing I’ve ever seen. Oh wait, I have seen it before. I saw it at Louisville and Cincinnati. And just like those two schools the stated goal of UCF is an invitation to a BCS conference. And for that reason alone they have aggressively acted on improving their campus. They have succeeded in their preparations and the invitation will be forthcoming.

It has led to me ask, “What has our administration done to get us an invitation?” All I have heard coming from the Athletic Department is some secret meetings, an AD who said he didn’t want to “raise false hopes” and a constant battle to get them off the snide to accomplish anything. There have been no public plans to improve our facilities to make us on par with the elite of C-USA and in line with schools in BCS leagues. See the fact of the matter is that you have to have top notch facilities in order to get an invitation. So when R.C. Johnson says he doesn’t want to raise false hopes it is because he simply doesn’t wish to do the work to make our facilities good enough to get invited. The invite won’t come unless we do something about it.

I liken us to a pretty girl who wants to get invited to a dance. For us to get invited we need to put on some makeup, get a new dress and make ourselves attractive so we can get our invitation. The problem is our AD and President don’t want to raise and spend the money for the makeup or the dress. They don’t realize that getting invited to the dance means we get to enjoy the fruits of being at that dance. They simply want to hope for an invite or don’t want to bother with it as they would be required to do some work. I’m beginning to suspect the latter. The fans and boosters I know would be more than willing to help pay for new facilities if we are presented with a plan and a stated goal. Right now they wish to have someone do the work for them. As in Dr. Raines’ statement last week when she said no one has presented a plan for an on-campus stadium. Shouldn’t the leadership at Memphis be preparing a plan with a multitude of options for improving our athletic department? That’s like the manager of a restaurant asking for recipes because they don’t want to do the research and development new ones.

There can also be the thought they simply don’t believe that getting into the BCS is the best thing for us. If that is what they’re thinking, they are … how do I be nice here? … blind. There must be something to this BCS thing because it seems those that aren’t in it want to be. Could it be that big fat check all these schools get every year? Dr. Raines says academics are more important. And I agree with her. Her vision of improvements seem to be an either/or situation to which many of us ask, “why not both?” But getting into a BCS league will also raise the perception of our academics. Louisville was a tier 4 just like Memphis but the year after they went to the Big East they became a tier 3. I guess that was just a fluke.

The things I am saying probably should have been said many years ago. Someone should have been questioning the leadership of our university for years now, especially since 2003 when we were passed over. Sure they’ve managed to do some things but quite frankly what has been done isn’t good enough. More needs to be done to prepare us for the future. Building a softball stadium and improving the baseball facilities are well and good but the fact of the matter is that more needs to be done. UCF has seen this and has taken the “whatever it takes” approach and we need to follow their model.

The administration will argue against this idea because “the money isn’t there.” I ask you this and if you can answer to the contrary, then I’ll admit I’m mistaken. Has the administration ever asked the rank and file fan base for money to improve the facilities? They have always looked to the big dollar donors for handouts but never have presented a plan for the future that would get the regular fans excited. They hem and haw about what can’t be done without making any effort whatsoever to accomplish any goals. R.C. Johnson bad mouths the efforts of others by belittling their stadiums or ideas. It has become quite evident that Johnson and Raines just want to do as little work as possible. There can be no other justification for their lack of production.

When they raise money for something, they drag their feet in doing what they raised the money for. There was a fundraiser for a new baseball scoreboard that raised some $140,000 I’m told. Is there a new baseball scoreboard yet? The money is there but they simply haven’t done the work to get it up.

They don’t “waste their time” on developing relationships or building a stronger donor base. They are concerned only with “big dollar” donors. The idea that only the big dollars make the difference is misguided and lazy. If you have one $250,000 donor and he gets upset and walks, then you’re screwed. But if you have 1000 $250 donors then it is very difficult to upset them all. The difference is that it would require more work on their part and they don’t seem to be willing to do that.

When it comes to publicly discussing moving into a BCS league and our plans to do so I don’t buy the “don’t rock the boat” approach that our leaders seem to adhere to. I think the statements have been “We’re happy with C-USA” or “Our future is in C-USA.” UL, UC and USF never minced words about wanting to get into a BCS league. UCF and ECU have been quite proactive about getting into a BCS league. All the while Johnson and Raines rave about C-USA and our future in it. The only future that is in C-USA is a D-2 football program within 20 years. C-USA has put on the Tigers on the road for every conference football opener since the inception of the league. They care nothing about our best interests and have done plenty to show that they don’t. But without Memphis in C-USA would be an afterthought for the most part. We are the only school in that league that garners national attention because C-USA doesn’t have a school with a national ranking other than Memphis. It is my opinion that we are the big dog the C-USA pound and act like a wet whipped poodle.

All this leads me to probably the most difficult public statements I’ve ever made about our school. I really want to toe the party line. I really want to blindly support our leaders. But I and many others have reached a breaking point. We have seen what other schools are doing to make themselves “BCS ready.” And we know that there is nothing being done at the level that it needs to be done at Memphis. Nothing like what we’ve seen on so many other campuses has even been discussed much less done by our leaders.

The time has come to publicly question R.C. Johnson and Dr. Shirley Raines about what they are doing to improve our chances to go on to the next level. It is also time for our large donors who control things to question the leadership. They have a lot of money at risk and the leadership is wasting it because simple laziness in the athletic department. It is time for us to ask why the things to get us into the BCS are not being done. R.C was right when he said he didn’t want to raise false hopes if we were expecting an invitation because he’s not doing what it takes to get us there. Only he and Dr. Raines can change that. They need to do their jobs so that we aren’t disappointed when that time comes. It is time for us to stand up for a program that we have spent our whole lives supporting. It is time for the leadership to either do their jobs or get out of the way. I guess what the most frustrating part is that little ole me means nothing to them. Dr. Raines and Mr. Johnson will read this and laugh. They do that to all of us little guys because we just don’t matter to them. They don’t care what we think. But I have to say this even though it will mean nothing to them or the money people behind our programs.

If R.C. Johnson and Shirley Raines do not start actively start taking the steps to move us up the NCAA football food chain then they should retire or quit. I’m afraid if they continue do what they haven’t done they will destroy a lifelong passion for so very many of us, the University of Memphis and its athletic programs.