Last week I published two different takes on what the future should look like when it comes to Lion Football and whether Clint Dolezel should be a part of it long term.

One side is frustrated with losing winnable games, not recruiting the FBS transfer portal the way many in our conference are and feel that the program is undisciplined, finds ways to lose, and believes the entire coaching staff is less than impressive.

The other side believes that Dolezel is a proven winner and fine football coach due to his time in the Arena Football Leagues, handicapped by job that is incredibly tough, a fan base that demands too much and supports too little, worse that subpar facilities, and a move that to Division I that is now determined by who has the deepest pockets.

I published two sides of an argument and got hate from both sides for committing the sin of letting both sides have their say, so this is my unfiltered opinion on what is going on.

When Clint Dolezel became head football coach, he walked into a mess that had been created by the people that had been running the athletic administration on an interim basis, and also the school administration, and its not his fault. His predecessor had left not because he wanted to, but because there was no way a man with a resume like David Bailff was going to stay in Commerce while sheperding a move to NCAA Division I with a bare bones budget, an aging stadium, and a low ball contract that would make him the lowest paid coach in all of NCAA DI football.

Clint Dolezel, the man who showed up to East Texas State when they were in the middle of a run of successful seasons, did what he had done 30 years prior. He walked in and said “I’ll do this, and we will win.”

The past 3 seasons have been tough, no doubt, and there have been many games we could have and should have won. There have been players that have left because they just simply did not want to be here or felt like playing football at ET was not what they wanted to do anymore. A lot of these complaints are justified, because no coach or program is perfect.

I firmly believe Clint is not the issue. I believe the following are the issue-

1. Our school administration. From the President and everyone who controls the purse strings. I have said this before and I will say it until the mountains fall. This move to Division I had no plan, no timeline, no studies, no feasibility, and no thought to it whatsoever. Usually that kind of malpractice would get someone fired, but not in Commerce, TX. The Southland Conference rang our bell and asked if we wanted to come and only did because they were losing members left and right. The Southland came to us out of desperation and we answered out of desperation. SFA, Sam Houston, Lamar, and Abilene Christian were leaving for the WAC, and they scrambled. It was the the equivalent of the girl you wanted to take to prom asking 4 other guys and they all had gotten dates already, and so they went with you instead because they knew you were desperate and would say yes. This was not some great seeking out, it was a conference that was losing members left and right and needed some schools to move now. The school administration jumped at this because of every shallow reason and here we are. Get to say we are Division I. Be on ESPN. Yada yada. But would we be national championship contenders? Would it increase giving and the name status of the school? It was going to be a tough job, and who on earth would do it for the peanuts that were being offered in compensation?
2. I was looking at the stadiums and football facilities of the conference, and after researching everything from capacity to location, we have the worst stadium aside from Houston Christian. HCU gets the butt of jokes because a CVS is behind the visiting team, but do you know what HCU is doing? They are taking that land that the CVS sits on and telling them that once their lease is up, they are going to knock it down and complete their stadium. Clint Dolezel has been here and barely a word has been said about the future of Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium. I don’t blame Clint for that, and you can’t. His job is to put a winning product on the field. AD Jim Curry has been working furiously to try to get some traction on a rennovated stadium, but it is hard when specs have not been drawn up or if they have, at least not been released to the public and the time to start making moves is yesterday. We are in desperate need of a new or rennovated stadium, and we need them NOW. The dirt should have started turning years in 2021.
3. Speaking of facilities, Dolezel has no decent practice facilities. The top programs in the FCS have indoor facilities as well as good outdoor stadiums. Do you know what else is missing? Quality nutrition for the players, a strength, nutrition, and conditioning program, and a weight training facility dedicated to them. Those are absolute musts in this level of college football, yet not one administrator has said a word about that. Only Jim Curry and Tim McMurray before him expressed any desire. Somone needs to get down to College Station with people in tow and speak to the regents about how the move has been more expensive than anyone realized and we need these facilities in order to be successful.
4. Something that we do not realize is that we have a great advantage in having a Fieldhouse with 60,000 square feet of space and room that can be easily turned into an indoor football/soccer practice field, an indoor track, and plenty of space for strength and conditioning for all the other sports. Rennovate the outside and inside and you have yourself a prime athletic performance facility.
5. When it comes to recruiting, we all have our opinions, but we know this much. We do not have the ability to pay players the same amount of money as other SLC schools. McNeese has natural gas and major city money, San Antonio has the Catholic Church which has a parish full of donors. Nicholls has the Manning family. SFA has the UT system, which treats is system schools much better I must say than A&M has for the longest time. That said, only the coaches know what who they can get and until people start paying for big time players to come here, we will have to work with what we can get here and become the strongets and most disciplined team you can be that will outwork everyone. Lamar almost won the conference this year on grit and discipline alone. If they can do it, we can.

So let’s go through the list.

Get Clint Dolezel ALL the money he needs. Every red cent, so he can hire the best assistants and pay the best young and aspiring to coaches to help him.

Make the recruiting process one where the recruits see the University as a whole as a great place to play sports, get an education, and win championships. Like Ryan Ivey’s mantra was; “A degree in one hand, a championship ring on the other.

Fans…..give. Give as much as you can. Serve as a booster, reach out to the football program and see if there is anything you can do if there is not, write a check and attend fundraisers, or host them yourself.

Get Clint Dolezel and the entire football program what they need. A new stadium, more stands, more modern ameneties, and use every red cent that is allocated to make the football program great again.

Give Clint Dolezel these things and then judge his performance. It is then and only then that you can do so fairly. You cannot give a man minimal funds, lackluster facilities, bland fan support, and a Division II budget and expect Division I success. Nobody could do that.

You can’t keep expecting a harvest even when you don’t water the seeds, expose it to sunlight, and tend to a garden, and you cannot call a farmer a bad farmer when he has not been given the chance nor the equipment to reap a harvest, even when he is trying his best. I don’t think anyone could.

Clint Dolezel has given his all to this program, the question is, who all else has?

Something to think about.