Thomas Must Go

Count Florida A&M President Dr. James Ammons and his Bethune-Cookman counterpart Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed as two more folks who are tired of Dennis Thomas.   Amidst speculation and innuendo of FAM and BCU backing off their stances of not competing in the MEAC/SWAC challenge, Ammons and Reed released a joint statement this past Monday to the Tallahassee Democrat, making it quite clear that they will not participate in any game in Orlando that is not the Florida Classic.   Instead of looking at this as an “inmates running the asylum” situation, Ammons and Reed should be applauded for standing up for the conference’s signature sporting event and not going along with the commissioner’s status quo, which is painfully outdated and out of touch.

Thomas felt compelled to move the MEAC/SWAC Challenge – which will never be confused with the Red River Shootout or the World’s Largest Cocktail Party (Florida vs. Georgia) – from Birmingham, AL to Orlando, FL in order to appease ESPN, with whom the MEAC has a flawed TV deal with.  Disney, the company that owns ESPN also ended its sponsorship of the Florida Classic, making the MEAC-SWAC move to the Magic Kingdom all the more suspicious.

This entire fiasco is just one of many “huh, say what” moves that have been made in recent years since Thomas has pledged to “raise the profile” of the conference.   Sadly, making the conference look like a laughingstock that’s pulling itself in 15 different directions is what passes for raising profiles these days.  Aside from potentially alienating the Florida schools entirely, pick something ridiculous that has happened under Thomas’ watch in the last three or four years.  

Accepting Winston-Salem State as a MEAC member immediately after they reclassified as a FCS (formerly Division I-AA school), yet keeping original MEAC member North Carolina Central on hold after they have been in FCS for a year?  Check.  Going away from Raleigh as the host site for the men’s and women’s basketball tournament when the city was indeed willing to bring it back?  Check.  Meackie?  Dear God, Meackie.  Check.

If there wasn’t a sense of urgency for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference to begin searching for a commissioner with vision, a plan and more importantly, common sense, the time is now.  Before the risk of ticking off two of the conference’s best-known schools and crippling its major event becomes a certain fact, MEAC presidents have to know that Dennis Thomas is not the answer now, nor has he ever been.  The conference can thank James Ammons and Trudie Reed for making that obvious fact public.