Tuesday February 13, 2007

Where Do We Go From Here?

Where Do We Go From Here?

Clemson baseball is ranked number-one in the country and Clemson basketball is on the verge of making the NCAA tournament. It is a shame that the AARC issue is the major deal in the athletic department and all across Tiger nation. Wouldn't be nice to talk some Clemson baseball instead.

However, now the issue is where do we go from here?

In the previous two blogs I have tried to refrain from too much editorialism and tried to present more of the facts. I did add some of my personal thoughts but the majority of each piece was listing facts. Please allow me in this blog to add my opinion.

I have had over 300 e-mails on the issue. I have not counted the numerous phone calls I have received. I would guess that I have had 50 face-to-face conversations on the subject. I would estimate that 90-95% of the personal e-mails, phone calls and conversations I have had have been positive towards the two blogs. I would guess fairly less than that percentage of posts I have read on Clemson boards have been positive but still a large majority have been.

Most of the correspondence I have had comes in two forms. First I get people thanking me and second I get people asking what can we do next.

Personally I have done nothing that a majority of you would not have done. I am fortunate to have a blog and a radio show where the audience has interest and I cannot thank you enough for that. I also have great relationships with many people in this community that I am extremely thankful for. I value my friendships with many of the coaches, athletic department officials, faculty and university staff. Living in Clemson is a dream and my family enjoys the friends we have here. Some people post on message boards and ask how do we know you are not lying? I have too many relationships at stake for me to be able to lie even if I wanted to. Almost all of my Clemson relationships are at stake on this this one. I have too much to lose here to lie.

Second, I wish I knew what to do. I only want what is best for Clemson. I only want what is fair for Clemson athletics. I only want a level playing field. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to get it level.

I have been corresponding with a friend that is also very close to Barker and the board and this friend asked me to write a blog to calm the people down. My answer is that I am not the leader of this movement. I have only told the truth and ask them to do the same. I presented facts and people have responded. Not once have I ever suggested any actions.

My argument is very simple:

1. Many athletes that were not allowed to sign with Clemson actually were allowed to sign with UNC, Notre Dame, Georgia and other prestigious institutions.
2. Things have changed on the AARC.
3. The playing field is not level.
4. Therefore, the goals should not be level.
5. The truth is the only thing that matters.
6. Tell the truth. The Clemson people are smart enough to know the truth when they hear it. Tell them what the policies are and let them decide if they agree or disagree.

Terry Don Phillips is a good soldier. He is a company man. He is also working hard to fix things. I understand why he sent down an edict telling all of his employees not to speak about this matter and I respect that because I know he is trying to get it done behind the scenes. But Bowden is also a good soldier and he tried the same thing for several weeks to no avail.

Wouldn't it be nice if people could say exactly what they feel. Currently coaches and athletic administrators cannot do that. Up until yesterday they could with me but now they cannot. What is the administration scared they would say? I know what they would say because they have said it to me over and over again and please respect the fact that I cannot name them because I have to protect them. In many cases they came to me because they could not get anywhere with the status quo. They knew of the power of TigerNet and the radio.

It has been suggested to me that I should have contacted those in power first instead of writing a blog. Please be serious. The power is in the people. The Clemson people. Many did not know this was happening and now they can take whatever action they deem necessary. I tried to tell members of the board of trustees of the one person who was the thorn in the side of Clemson football five years ago and they did not listen to me then. Because of your numbers and your actions, you now have an audience that I could not get.

Members of the media have attacked me (some by name and some by description) for this. They have also attacked those that agree with me by calling them fanatics. I realize that if 50,000 people read a certain blog then a couple of negatives will happen:
1. Some will not agree.
2. Some will attack you.

If you disagree then you have every right in the world to disagree and every right in the world to air your differences. I applaud those that have engaged in this discussion on both sides. I do not think it is fair to attack either side from a personal standpoint. It does not bother me personally but I know some people have families and personal attacks are not the proper way to discuss issues. I think people should not be attacked as a person but their policies are fair game. The same can be said for any person in the public eye.

This morning's State newspaper featured an article where Cecil Huey attacked the football coaches and placed blame on them. Now they have been told they cannot respond and cannot say anything about the issue. Seem fair to you?

This will not be the only spin that comes out of the administration side. Unfortunately the company line will take over. I would guess that Terry Don will come out with a letter that will be a company line letter. Remember he is a good soldier.

Try as they might the spin does not supersede the actions. Again, simply stated, Clemson was not allowed to sign players that signed with UNC, Notre Dame, Georgia, South Carolina and others. Level playing field?

I promise to move on to other issues sooner rather than later and I thank you for allowing me the time to express my personal opinion. You are entitled to express yours as well.

I want the healing process to begin but not before they fix the cause and not the symptoms. There is still a lot of work to be done here. It will start with more internal meetings and eventually advance to putting out statements about the policies and hopefully new policies. But until that time the battle will continue.

I want to leave you with one story about a true Tiger, Bob Bradley. The Clemson legend gave me great advice when I was about 19 or 20 years old. I was working for Mr. B and a story came out that did not portray Clemson in a positive light. I asked Mr. B why the columnist would chose to write such an article and tried to make a point of this guy being biased against Clemson. Mr B had as much wisdom as anyone I have ever met and I connected with him as much as any employee Clemson has ever hired. The Clemson legend turned to me as asked, "What did he say that was not true?" He added, "Don't kill the messenger and remember Clemson is not always right."

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