Why we should still care about Tiger football

By Adam Douglas

Sports Editor

Adam Douglas

 

With a 2-14 record as the head football coach at The University of Memphis in two seasons – also equivalent to one full season in the NFL, Larry Porter's resume doesn't actually speak for itself. It may be safe to say that he's still learning how to be a head coach and we need to give him time. But how much time does he actually need? After all, it took John Calipari six years to build the basketball program to what it is now – though it only took a few short months to get our national championship runner-up banner revoked. And his successor Josh Pastner, was heralded as a great recruiter like Porter, and hasn't been a head coach before either – like Porter. And we all gave him a pass when in his first season the Tigers failed to live up to expectations and didn't make the NCAA tournament and lost 10 games. So why beat down Porter when he was given a program that has been mediocre at best even when DeAngelo Williams graced us with his Heisman Trophy caliber seasons?

The fact of the matter is that despite what everyone thinks, we should definitely care more about football than basketball. When you really look at it, the only thing that matters today in collegiate athletics is football, not basketball. Not to knock basketball, but with all this shuffling and re-shuffling of football teams and their conferences realigning, The University of Memphis and its administration need to realize that we may be in deep trouble with our football program if we don't do something about it quick. And it's also really hard and frustrating to sit in the press box to watch and report on a team that constantly gets beat by 40 or more points in an empty stadium on what seems like a weekly basis, all the while not being able to say anything positive about it.  

Because these guys can't win if we don't have their backs and show that we care. We have to start giving the football program the same treatment as the basketball program gets. Sellout the home games, travel to road contests, be proud to say you're from Memphis, stop cheering for the other team and definitely quit allowing other teams outnumber us in our own stadium. We have to support them no matter what. We have to stop acting like one loss means we're not good enough. Quit being a bandwagon fan and stop waiting for the team to win a few games before you start supporting them. They don't owe us anything – we owe them. If we want to compete against conference and regional powers, we have to come out and pack Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium despite the team's record – that's why we should still care.