Memphis Coach Tommy West: Give Em A Chance Or Get Out

Chris Littmann has a point about Tommy West’s fiery farewell at Memphis:

It might be boring to be a low-level FBS school, but the only thing worse is being a faux-competitor in the FBS, trying to play with the big boys but knowing you never really can. Unless you’re the beneficiary of a fat TV deal through your league (SEC) or just yourself (Notre Dame) there’s a good chance you’re bleed your athletic department’s budget dry unless your team is one of the true college football bluebloods.

True, but no one’s sure if that’s the point at Memphis, a school where West assailed the culture of negativity in particular. This is presumably a reference to Memphis competing with other larger programs in the region, especially local rivals like Ole Miss and in-state rival Tennessee, something Memphis has been able to do from time to time in the history of the football program. This seemed targeted at Memphis boosters in particular, not towards the greater inequalities of college football in general.

Tommy West's press conference was passionate today, and even saying that is a bit of an understatement.

"Just give him a fair chance or get rid of it." That's certainly a glowing recommendation to any coach coming into the program after West, especially with all of the prominent mentions of negativity surrounding the program he salted liberally into the speech. It's not an outright negative speech. It is also anything but a positive speech, too, and one that gives you a tiny but revealing peek into the side of being a college football coach few besides the coaches ever see.