The Silence of the Commodores
Things have been eerily quiet of late around the Vanderbilt Athletic Department since the terminations of several members of the school media relations department.
The Commodores also made headlines when allegations of rape arose on social media from three current or former female students who named two previous, and one current player as their attackers.
Through all of that, plus the Southeastern Conferences move to a 10-game conference-only schedule, their announcement of two additional opponents, the #WeWantToPlay movement and all the debate over the season, there's been little public comment from the Commodores.
During all this, only athletic director Candice Lee has, to my knowledge, issued any statements. We've seen nor heard nothing from head football coach Derek Mason concerning the impact of the conferences moves, and their new opponents.
It's not for lack of effort that we've not heard from Mason, as Commodore Country has asked for comment from him but was denied with the email response saying he would speak closer to the start of the season.
While the SEC seems bound and determined to play this season, there is still the chance that things could go sideways, and they follow the other conferences who have scrapped their season. Will we hear from Mason then?
In the last week, Chris Lee, of VandySports.com has released two podcasts with Tommy Smith, the right-hand man for former Vanderbilt athletic director Malcolm Turner, spoke of what went on inside the athletic department during Turner's stay.
There was some interesting information, but still no response from the university.
Now don't get this wrong, we in the media don't expect a public response form everything we write, but when someone this close with inside information speaks publicly, fans and alumni want a reaction from their school.
Still, they remain silent.
We all know that Vanderbilt is a private institution and does things their way, and with the moves inside the athletic communications department, this silence could be a result of getting the staff up to speed.
It could also be because they don't feel the need to respond to anything right now. THat's not playing very well with fans on social media right now, who would like to hear from their head coach other than some daily tweet of a practice picture of a player or two.
As long as the SEC holds strong and plays a season, we will soon hear from Mason, but all bets are off if this thing gets canceled as to when he will speak again.
Oh, and I'm not even going to mention those long-awaited facilities plans that fans are still waiting to see. That would just be piling on at this point.
Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven.
