I see my job as telling people good, bad and indifferent what is happening inside Vanderbilt athletics. The last week or so has been hard for me to know how to handle, and if you're read my posts, you understand why.
If you were on this site at the time of the restructuring, while everybody was laughing at Vanderbilt for how it botched the announcement, we told you the details beneath it—especially in regards to funding—were changing VU athletics for the better. Within years, you saw baseball national titles, an indoor practice facility, and other stuff nobody ever dreamed would happen. It may not have been 100 percent correlated, but it wasn’t coincidence.
Four years now, way out of view, those things begun to erode. To those of you who have seen me as overly negative and alarmist about this, I have been where you have been. When he left, James Franklin was screaming all these things to anybody who wanted to listen. I didn’t see it at the time, and I had plenty of reason not to trust James. When Rivals started to write about Vanderbilt’s lack of commitment to football, which I knew came from James, I personally called Rivals and told them they were wrong. Vanderbilt had just offered him $50 million over 10 years to stay. Case closed, that’s just not accurate.
Oddly enough, we were both right.
It was probably 8-9 months before I started to see that James had some points. There were some other lone voices out there screaming about this, too. By about this time two years ago, I was starting to become convinced they were right. Last week I found out a little more that indicated it was worse than I knew.
Things are coming full circle now. To the same degree that Vanderbilt’s critics had no idea what was happening behind the scenes a decade ago that led to success, its defenders are equally blind to a lot of what threatens to undo it.
A few things before I end:
The one favor I ask is, at least to the extent that it’s not directly in the news, is that we focus on the season ahead. And yes, I realize I have been guilty of this in responding as I've felt my credibility was being attacked directly or indirectly. But at some point we have to move forward. I think everyone has made their points by now and I'm not sure anybody's winning anyone new to their side.
If you'd like to discuss anything, feel free to email me directly at chrislee70@gmail.com. (You may also direct-message me, but occasionally I don’t get the DM notifications or don’t see them for several days.)
Peace, and happy football season to you all. I’m being sincere when I say that I’m personally looking forward to this one perhaps more than any I have ever covered.
Sincerely,
Chris
If you were on this site at the time of the restructuring, while everybody was laughing at Vanderbilt for how it botched the announcement, we told you the details beneath it—especially in regards to funding—were changing VU athletics for the better. Within years, you saw baseball national titles, an indoor practice facility, and other stuff nobody ever dreamed would happen. It may not have been 100 percent correlated, but it wasn’t coincidence.
Four years now, way out of view, those things begun to erode. To those of you who have seen me as overly negative and alarmist about this, I have been where you have been. When he left, James Franklin was screaming all these things to anybody who wanted to listen. I didn’t see it at the time, and I had plenty of reason not to trust James. When Rivals started to write about Vanderbilt’s lack of commitment to football, which I knew came from James, I personally called Rivals and told them they were wrong. Vanderbilt had just offered him $50 million over 10 years to stay. Case closed, that’s just not accurate.
Oddly enough, we were both right.
It was probably 8-9 months before I started to see that James had some points. There were some other lone voices out there screaming about this, too. By about this time two years ago, I was starting to become convinced they were right. Last week I found out a little more that indicated it was worse than I knew.
Things are coming full circle now. To the same degree that Vanderbilt’s critics had no idea what was happening behind the scenes a decade ago that led to success, its defenders are equally blind to a lot of what threatens to undo it.
A few things before I end:
- There are specifics that I just can’t share for risk of burning specific people.
- We don’t have all the pieces, but we’ve got enough to know what goes on. We’ve had at least a dozen sources shed light on the situation, and probably closer to two dozen. They run the gamut of everything from coaches to administrators to boosters and just about any angle you could want. Some people have some pieces and some people have others, but there have been remarkable consistencies in what we know.
- None of these makes my job or life easier.
- This storm that led to the stadium debacle has been brewing for four years now. Some saw the signs and anticipated something like this. Others shot the messenger and wound up being the most shocked when this happened. A few of those people still don’t see the connection, and if you’re one of them, I probably can’t help you.
The one favor I ask is, at least to the extent that it’s not directly in the news, is that we focus on the season ahead. And yes, I realize I have been guilty of this in responding as I've felt my credibility was being attacked directly or indirectly. But at some point we have to move forward. I think everyone has made their points by now and I'm not sure anybody's winning anyone new to their side.
If you'd like to discuss anything, feel free to email me directly at chrislee70@gmail.com. (You may also direct-message me, but occasionally I don’t get the DM notifications or don’t see them for several days.)
Peace, and happy football season to you all. I’m being sincere when I say that I’m personally looking forward to this one perhaps more than any I have ever covered.
Sincerely,
Chris
