University of Memphis Athletics
Mele Kalikimaka: A Christmas Letter from Laird Veatch
Dec 25, 2021 | General
Dear Tiger Family,
As I sit and look out onto beautiful Waikiki Beach on Christmas Day, I am reminded how blessed I am to serve as your Athletics Director. My family and I were able to extend our stay and enjoy a special holiday in paradise. Thank you for your incredible support and for the opportunity to serve you and all Tigers in this special role.
Now that I have had some time to reflect, I felt it was important that I touch base to provide some insight related to the challenges we've faced over the past several days. With that, I apologize in advance for the length of this correspondence, but a lot has happened in a short time!
First, I want to express our extreme disappointment for not being able to compete in our recent men's basketball games and of course in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve. We are especially disappointed for our football seniors, including many who came back for an additional year. Exactly 27 years ago today I competed in my last football game as a player on this same island. While my team lost the game, I recall the emotion of playing to the end and knowing I was taking the pads off for the final time. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to lose that opportunity at the last hour.
Still, I am very proud of how our teams have handled this adversity. As I watched Coach Silverfield at his press conference yesterday morning, I was once again impressed by his professionalism and sportsmanship. These are remarkably difficult and rapidly changing times, so it is important that we are not quick to judge other coaches or "pile on" other teams in the midst of navigating these unique challenges.
I am also proud that our teams desperately want to compete. Whether that be the men's basketball games we missed or our Bowl game, I love how our Tigers want to play and beat everybody. Coach Hardaway and the team were coming off a big win over Alabama and were ready to take on the Volunteers, and as Coach Silverfield mentioned yesterday, had we known a few days earlier or already been in the States, we would have jumped at the opportunity to play in another Bowl game. Given the timing and travel distance, it simply would have been too much to ask of our staff and players to turn around and compete that quickly upon our return.
Here's answers to two of the other more common questions I'm hearing regarding the Hawaii Bowl cancelation.
Question 1 - can we count it as a victory? Although ESPN and the Hawaii Bowl were good enough to appropriately award us the trophy and count us as Hawaii Bowl Champions, we are technically not able to count the game as a win. That's because NCAA regulations preside in non-conference contests and those regulations currently allow only for a "No Contest" designation when a game is not played. So we're Bowl champions but finish the season 6-6… Weird, I know. These are strange times.
Question 2 - what are the financial impacts? Contrary to what some might expect, Bowl games are not financially advantageous. In fact, unless you're in a NY6 game (as we were in the 2019 Cotton Bowl), Bowl games cost more than they bring in. Still, because the AAC covers the cost of the charter flight to the Hawaii Bowl and our staff has managed the Bowl wisely, we will operate within the AAC bowl stipend and supplemental Bowl allotment we budgeted for prior to the fiscal year. And we fully anticipate that ESPN and the AAC will fulfill those obligations, since we were fully prepared to fulfill ours.
There are certainly a lot of lessons earned by navigating these rough waters, including learning from our own mistakes. For example, I would like to acknowledge that we could (and should) have been more transparent with our communications surrounding the cancelation of our men's basketball game against Tennessee. I am very confident that we followed all of the standard protocols and made the right (although difficult) decisions. However, while it can be hard to find the balance between player confidentiality and providing clarity to media and fans, I believe we could have avoided some confusion and frustration by being more clear in the heat of the moment.
While positive COVID-19 cases and subsequent contact tracing are pieces of determining whether a team can play or not, other factors must be taken into account. For instance, our men's basketball team also has a handful of injured players and redshirts, which meant only four players were available for the game. Some of the injured players and redshirts are among the 11 vaccinated players on the roster, so as you can see, situations that arise in the era of COVID-19 can quickly become exceptionally challenging to navigate.
Unfortunately, we would be naive not to anticipate further challenges given the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. I can assure you, however, that we will continue to learn and manage through as best we can, competing every time we can safely do so.
To be clear, our expectations are to compete for championships, and we will continue to support our coaches and teams in their efforts to do so. And we would not be able to do what we love or manage through these challenging times without your support. So THANK YOU for keeping the faith and staying loyal and patient as we continue to fight and improve.
We have a great deal to be optimistic about at the University of Memphis, and we're excited to continue the pursuit of our #MemphisRising vision in the new year!
Mele Kalikimaka and thank you, Tigers!
Laird
As I sit and look out onto beautiful Waikiki Beach on Christmas Day, I am reminded how blessed I am to serve as your Athletics Director. My family and I were able to extend our stay and enjoy a special holiday in paradise. Thank you for your incredible support and for the opportunity to serve you and all Tigers in this special role.
Now that I have had some time to reflect, I felt it was important that I touch base to provide some insight related to the challenges we've faced over the past several days. With that, I apologize in advance for the length of this correspondence, but a lot has happened in a short time!
First, I want to express our extreme disappointment for not being able to compete in our recent men's basketball games and of course in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve. We are especially disappointed for our football seniors, including many who came back for an additional year. Exactly 27 years ago today I competed in my last football game as a player on this same island. While my team lost the game, I recall the emotion of playing to the end and knowing I was taking the pads off for the final time. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to lose that opportunity at the last hour.
Still, I am very proud of how our teams have handled this adversity. As I watched Coach Silverfield at his press conference yesterday morning, I was once again impressed by his professionalism and sportsmanship. These are remarkably difficult and rapidly changing times, so it is important that we are not quick to judge other coaches or "pile on" other teams in the midst of navigating these unique challenges.
I am also proud that our teams desperately want to compete. Whether that be the men's basketball games we missed or our Bowl game, I love how our Tigers want to play and beat everybody. Coach Hardaway and the team were coming off a big win over Alabama and were ready to take on the Volunteers, and as Coach Silverfield mentioned yesterday, had we known a few days earlier or already been in the States, we would have jumped at the opportunity to play in another Bowl game. Given the timing and travel distance, it simply would have been too much to ask of our staff and players to turn around and compete that quickly upon our return.
Here's answers to two of the other more common questions I'm hearing regarding the Hawaii Bowl cancelation.
Question 1 - can we count it as a victory? Although ESPN and the Hawaii Bowl were good enough to appropriately award us the trophy and count us as Hawaii Bowl Champions, we are technically not able to count the game as a win. That's because NCAA regulations preside in non-conference contests and those regulations currently allow only for a "No Contest" designation when a game is not played. So we're Bowl champions but finish the season 6-6… Weird, I know. These are strange times.
Question 2 - what are the financial impacts? Contrary to what some might expect, Bowl games are not financially advantageous. In fact, unless you're in a NY6 game (as we were in the 2019 Cotton Bowl), Bowl games cost more than they bring in. Still, because the AAC covers the cost of the charter flight to the Hawaii Bowl and our staff has managed the Bowl wisely, we will operate within the AAC bowl stipend and supplemental Bowl allotment we budgeted for prior to the fiscal year. And we fully anticipate that ESPN and the AAC will fulfill those obligations, since we were fully prepared to fulfill ours.
There are certainly a lot of lessons earned by navigating these rough waters, including learning from our own mistakes. For example, I would like to acknowledge that we could (and should) have been more transparent with our communications surrounding the cancelation of our men's basketball game against Tennessee. I am very confident that we followed all of the standard protocols and made the right (although difficult) decisions. However, while it can be hard to find the balance between player confidentiality and providing clarity to media and fans, I believe we could have avoided some confusion and frustration by being more clear in the heat of the moment.
While positive COVID-19 cases and subsequent contact tracing are pieces of determining whether a team can play or not, other factors must be taken into account. For instance, our men's basketball team also has a handful of injured players and redshirts, which meant only four players were available for the game. Some of the injured players and redshirts are among the 11 vaccinated players on the roster, so as you can see, situations that arise in the era of COVID-19 can quickly become exceptionally challenging to navigate.
Unfortunately, we would be naive not to anticipate further challenges given the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. I can assure you, however, that we will continue to learn and manage through as best we can, competing every time we can safely do so.
To be clear, our expectations are to compete for championships, and we will continue to support our coaches and teams in their efforts to do so. And we would not be able to do what we love or manage through these challenging times without your support. So THANK YOU for keeping the faith and staying loyal and patient as we continue to fight and improve.
We have a great deal to be optimistic about at the University of Memphis, and we're excited to continue the pursuit of our #MemphisRising vision in the new year!
Mele Kalikimaka and thank you, Tigers!
Laird
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