RE: Louisiana Monroe
My suggestion, making a copy of this letter and mailing, emailing it to Hemphill. You can cc Selig but we know that'll get us nowhere:
Dear President Hemphill,
I have been a supporter of ODU’s athletic program since XXXX. In all that time – good and bad – I never envisioned feeling compelled to write such a letter.
In short, my family is very concerned about the state of the athletic program, primarily basketball. This season is the culmination of several straight years of mediocrity – something we are not even going to achieve in 2023-24.
Not only is the basketball team listless and (mostly) lacking energy, according to those in attendance for Saturday’s horrible showing against bottom-dweller Louisiana-Monroe, the interaction between the coaches and players led them to conclude the team is arrogant, rebellious and, basically, playing for individual glory. Players screaming at assistants, removing themselves from huddles during timeouts? Whoever heard of such a thing?
I call up the results of the last few seasons because the university’s convenient reply would be to call the illness of Jeff Jones as the reason this has happened. That wouldn’t be close to the truth.
During his stay at ODU, the Monarchs have almost never qualified for postseason NCAA (1) or NIT (1) tournaments. They have lost in the first round of the conference tournament as often as they have advanced.
In protest, many of us have stopped buying MBB season tickets, contributing to ODAF, or have dramatically cut our previous donations. Never have we heard anything from anyone in the athletic department asking why, or seeking our input on what could be improved. It is terrible customer service to be so disengaged with your fans.
I cut our annual pledge by 50% this year and will continue to trim it until something assertive and positive is done in terms of replacing underachieving coaches and athletic administrators.
I am calling for the termination of Wood Selig and, assuming it is not already under consideration, most or all the men’s basketball coaches. (I understand there is one assistant on staff that is responsible for what seems to be a small recruiting resurgence.)
Because we are under the impression that letters like this never reach your desk (intercepted) I am going to call your office once a week until I am told that you personally have seen and intend to react to this note. With all else you have going on, it is silly to have to resort to this to know that complaints have been seen, but the (lack of) performance by your AD, etc., makes us feel compelled to react this way.
My wife said to me the other night, “I really miss going to ODU basketball games; they were so much fun.”
They were, and that feeling may return down the road. But you have to act and the time to start is now.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Phone: 757-xxx-xxxx
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