I can’t help but think of Thomas Jefferson after reading message boards and hearing folks complain over the past 20 hours. Jefferson said, “What is popular is not always right, what is right is not always popular.” Do you think Jefferson was clairvoyant about Memphis football?

It seems the misguided popular opinion is that Memphis needs to fire Tommy West. Message boards are covered with posts about letting him go. Local talk show hosts are all abuzz about West’s future at Memphis. Some fans muttering it as they walk out of stadiums. It seems everyone has an opinion about it.

The funny thing to me is that many of those that are on the airwaves aren’t even Tigers fans. These “anti-Tigers” are happy as a pig in….. right now. They love when the Tigers struggle so they will fill the phone lines on talk shows taking their shots.

Tigers fans are also clamoring for a change in the leadership too. I understand their frustration. I am feeling that same frustration. I was miserable walking out of ASU’s and UCF’s on-campus stadiums in the last six days. I have been bummed all day today. Losing those games hurt me as if I played in them. But after some time to reflect I am not ready to give up on Coach West. I don’t think the school will either. We saw what this team is capable of in the first half last night. I don’t know why we pulled back on the reigns but the coaches did for some reason. Fixing the Tigers troubles can be done and this could be bowl season number four in the last five. Yes, I’m being optimistic but that’s what I do.

Firing the coach every six to eight years won’t help either. VA Tech stuck with Frank Beamer despite the Hokies being pretty bad for his first seven years. You see where they are today. I know it is hard to be patient after tasting success. But tearing the whole thing apart would do more damage.

The financial end of it is another thing the fire Tommy zealots are simply forgetting. The school would have to buy West out and that would take well over $2,000,000. Do we have $2,000,000 to fire a coach? That also means that we’ll need another $1,500,000 in order to hire another and a new staff. If we had that kind of money wouldn’t it behoove us to put it into the program with some much needed improvements like a new or refurbished weight room, improvements to the indoor practice facility and new turf for the practice fields. But maybe I’m thinking too logically here. Folks, we’re not Alabama who can fire a coach then find millions to pay another.

Football has the capability of being the cash cow at Memphis as it is as many other schools in the country. It is going to take commitment by the administration, coaches, players and fans to ride out this tough time. It is now obvious that winning doesn’t automatically improve your recruiting. We had three straight bowl bids and we still lose players in recruiting because the facilities at Memphis are no where near what other schools offer. We’ve got a great facility on the South Campus but it is not enough.

I know this might be asking a lot but would you Tigers fans quit calling for Tommy to be fired? It doesn’t make any sense right now. We’ve got eight games left and we have shown the ability to be pretty good offensively. It might be sour grapes but I believe that two of our losses were to inferior teams. We’ve got 5 more home games. If we just hold serve in the Liberty Bowl then a bowl bid is going to happen. This firing talk is hurting recruiting too. Recruits can and do read message boards and listen to the radio. Do you think they would consider Memphis if all they hear is fans saying the coach should be fired?

Keep going to the games. Stay COMMITTED to the program and I truly believe that we will be rewarded in the end. Stay with the Tigers as you would a friend or a relative who is have a tough time. They will get back up and make you proud.