Many of you have probably seen the growing internet rumors about the #PrideoftheSouthlandBand, pending cuts to the band and their involvement during football games. Instead of jumping on the bandwagon without fact checking, we went right to the sources. Here is a response we just received from Chris Fuller, Senior Associate Athletics Director. Please read and SHARE with all of the #VolNation. ************************************************ I appreciate more than you know that you didn’t just join the herd and rush to conclusions. Let me try to hit the concerns top-line with the thought that we may issue some kind of statement at some point: · UTAD has reduced its financial commitment to the band in the past couple years. It’s worth noting that in the past two years, UTAD has reduced its overall budget by almost $10 million. Virtually every sport and department have been impacted. · As a result the full band does not travel to as many away games as it has in the past. · We have not reduced in any significant way the amount of time that the band plays during the game. We haven’t added “commercials.” We’ve asked the band to work with us to better coordinate the breaks – with the goal being to make sure we’re creating the best competitive atmosphere possible in Neyland Stadium. We have weekly Football Production meetings. The band participates in those meetings – there aren’t any surprises on Saturday. The use of canned music is part of our overall strategy and can be an effective part of it. · We have not told the band they can only play “Rocky Top.” In fact, we’ve told them that after we score, the Pride has the whole break. They can start with “Rocky Top” and then move on to other selections at their discretion. If we do anything on the video board during this time, it doesn’t have audio, i.e. “Vols in the NFL” or “SEC Leaders.” · We’ve said to everyone involved in football production, including the band, that we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. The team deserves it. · We have not “threatened” to reduce the number of student tickets. In fact, we’ve engaged the student leadership regarding any and all student plans and we’ve consistently assured them that we will accommodate all students that want to attend, even if that means adjusting the allocation from year-to-year or even in-season. SGA leadership would be happy to back this up. There is a whole lot of misinformation involved with this petition. Perhaps the saddest part of this is it comes days after we all witnessed the Neyland Stadium of old. While devastated by the loss, I was very proud of our team, our fans, and our students. It’s a shame that some have decided to put themselves above the University as a whole. Regards, Chris Fuller Senior Associate Athletics Director, Development and External Relations University of Tennessee Brenda Lawson Athletic Center 1551 Lake Loudoun Blvd. Knoxville , TN 37996 865.974.1734 [email protected]
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 16:28:05 +0000
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