The cancellation of a five-game football contract between TheUniversity of Memphis and the University of Tennessee has manyMemphis students and alumni asking questions.
It was announced Wednesday by Tennessee Athletic Director MikeHamilton that UT would be canceling scheduled games against Memphisin 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010 and possibly next season. The moveappears to be in reaction to Memphis's refusal to play the Vols inbasketball.
A buyout clause in the schools' contracts requiring any teamwishing to exit the agreement to pay $10,000 for each game it wantsout of, but it is unclear if Tennessee will be able to opt out ofnext year's scheduled meeting in November.
Memphis officials refused several requests for an interviewsaying that The University would not make any statements untillawyers for both schools finished negotiations.
Although representatives of The U of M Athletic Department hadno comment, students and alumni of the school were happy to givetheir opinions.
"I think it's silly for multiple reasons," said Ross Boswell, analumnus of The U of M. "The athletic department is losing money,and everyone knows they need money. It's not often that a smallerschool like Memphis gets the opportunity to play their largein-state rival on a home-and-home basis. It's something that otherschools would kill for, and we're just (throwing it all away)."
For a football program that operated $2 million in the red andan athletic department that was $1 million over budget last year,the move to let go of a sure sellout with the Tennessee footballgame doesn't make fiscal sense to many fans.
"I think it's crazy to walk away from that when the budget is amillion dollars in the red," said David Williams, U of M alumnus."I don't think there's not a team out there of Tennessee's staturethat is going to be willing to play us home-and-home and who is alegitimate top 10 team."
Williams said if the entire reason the series was cancelled wasbecause of Memphis' refusal to play a home-and-home with Tennesseein basketball, he doesn't blame the Vols for walking.
"To me, the Tennessee basketball program is not aDavid-Lipscomb," Williams said. "It's a legitimate Division Ibasketball program. I don't think that is too much to ask for inorder to play them in football."
Chuck House graduated from Memphis in 1989 and said he viewsMemphis' refusal in the basketball series as an ill-advised powerplay.
"I think it is a very bad thing for the athletic department,"House said. "It is a series many people fought years to bringabout, and we are (throwing) it away because of our egos. That'svery foolish, and many longtime fans are very upset with thesedevelopments."
Fans that support the decision to eliminate UT from the footballschedule may be singing a different tune in a few years, Boswellsaid.
"I'm just afraid that if we throw that away we'll never be ableto get it back," Boswell said. "Ten years from now, some of thesefans who are advocating getting rid of them will probably beraising hell.
"I'm a Memphis fan and I can't stand Tennessee, but I like itwhen the Tigers play Tennessee. It's exciting, and I think it's ashame to give that up."
