Disgruntled Boosters Have Chance to Show Power in Positive Way

For several years now there have been very obvious grumblings about the state of the Arkansas athletics program coming out of Central Arkansas.

Most of that has surrounded the football program and has extended up to various administrative positions, including the top role of athletics director. For a while now, at least among some of the boosters, the agreed upon approach of protest has been to sit out financially beyond any obligations already made prior.

Well, that effort has been relatively ineffective of late as other boosters have stepped up to fill the void and gain both power and admiration among the general fans. So, while the efforts came close to being effective, they ultimately appear to have failed as it's been good news after good news coming from the Arkansas Athletics offices lately.

Still, that doesn't mean there's not a way to prove a point. If people with money in Central Arkansas want to continue to voice their protest, there is a more visable, tangible and positive way to go about it. Take a portion of that money that is supposedly being withheld from the Arkansas Razorbacks and send it to the University of Central Arkansas and its basketball program.

Prior to the past couple of months that wouldn't have been a suggestion, even in protest. It wouldn't have helped to throw money somewhere without much hope of a clear result.

However, after all these years, the Bears appear to have finally hired a coach who warrants financial support. John Shulman has proven he is someone who knows how to run a basketball program.

Since joining Division I in 2006, Central Arkansas has only won 20 games once and that was this season when Shulman led the Bears to 22 wins and counting, assuming they will accept some sort of postseason bid after winning the conference title prior to a heart-breaking loss to Queens in overtime of the ASUN championship game.

Look at the excitement UCA generated across Arkansas despite everyone knowing there was no way they were going to make a run at the NCAA Final Four. Imgine how much a protest investment in Shulman's program would affect the entire world of college sports.

In Central Arkansas alone there are always Top 100 basketball players looking for a place to go who often don't want to play for the Razorbacks. Keeping those athletes in-state, plus Shulman being able to go out and get key players to surround that sort of talent with on a nationally competitive level would immediately make them the next Miami of Ohio as far as record, but with a much stronger schedule and no dispute over an at-large bid if needed.

The Bears would easily advance out of the ASUN, but would also capture the hearts of America the way Gonzaga did in the early days and Butler at one point did before its national championship run. Along the way in the regular season, Central Arkansas would have the chance to upset the likes of North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, BYU, Oklahoma, SMU, Missouri and Kansas State.

There's enough meat on the bone to raise eyebrows across the country and people will begin to wonder how it's happened. Well, much like with Indiana football, big boosters saw a coach had been hired who knows how to run a program and get the most out of young men and decided that was worth investing in.

Sitting around being grumpy isn't getting anything done. However, if you give a small portion of what you would have given to Arkansas if you were on good terms to invest in your local sports community by way of UCA basketball, it will show how much you could have been contributing all along to the success in Fayetteville.

Your point will be made much stronger and people will begin to truly ask why these boosters weren't getting in the game at Arkansas, providing a platform to voice whatever the issues may be. As of right now, it just looks like a handful of rich people being petty who want their egos stroked, so no one is going to listen.

Here's the chance to be heard. Show your power and what you can do to affect an athletics program.

If Central Arkansas makes a run in the NCAA Tournament because of the financial support and the Razorbacks don't, then enjoy knowing who made that happen. If the Bears go into Fayetteville and make it close or perhaps even pull an upset, soak it all in.

Should Bud Walton one day be a third full of purple jerseys, feel the power that comes with it. Just stop sitting around grumbling and plotting.

Arkansas is back on a potentially positive path. Prove your own point with positivity and make the community around you a better place along the way.

It will cost far less to make UCA a shining star under Shulman than it would to see a similar impact at Arkansas in a specific sport that would cause people across the state to tie it to a major booster or two like has happened with John Tyson and the overal sports program.

Have some fun. Plot away. Just use the Bears as the vehicle to carry out that plot if you need to feel that satisfaction.

Besides, nothing could be a bigger ego boost than turning a team no one expects into a national power virtually overnight.

Hogs Feed: