Reaction still raw in aftermath of coach firing

CONWAY -- A week after the dismissal of David Bennett as Coastal Carolina University’s football coach, one of the Chanticleers’ most notable former players sounded off in a fiery letter to the school’s Board of Trustees as reactions remained strong Friday regarding the decision to move on from the only head coach the program has known.

Across the road from the Wall College of Business, a CCU donor and son of a trustee tried to organize a rally in support of Bennett, while inside the building the Board of Trustees convened for a regularly scheduled meeting as the university’s most hot-button topic continued to linger.

D. Wyatt Henderson, board chairman, would not reveal what was discussed in the group’s closed-door executive session, nor did he comment on the letter authored by former CCU quarterback Tyler Thigpen.

Information was also made public Friday that showed a sharp drop in attendance at football games – a little more than half as many tickets were sold in 2011 compared to 2005 – one of the primary reasons officials said Bennett was removed as head coach.

“Executive committee met today and we went into executive session to discuss a personnel matter, and no action was taken today,” Henderson said Friday in his brief comments prior to the board’s open session.

That was not the response Thigpen – a backup quarterback for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills – had hoped for after writing a strongly-worded letter addressed to the board and CCU President David DeCenzo stating his intentions to disassociate from the university.

The letter was passed along to area media Thursday night.

“I am writing to express my sincere disappointment and utter disgust in the dismissal of Head Football Coach David Bennett and request his immediate reinstatement as Head Football Coach,” Thigpen’s letter opened.

The quarterback, who led the Chants to three Big South Conference championships and a 2006 FCS playoff appearance, alleged a “hidden agenda from the University administrative personnel” while expressing that he doesn’t feel the reasons given for Bennett’s ouster as head coach “add up to the facts printed by the media.”

Thigpen also stated he would no longer donate money to Coastal Carolina or allow his image to be associated with the university unless the decision was reversed.

“If Coach Bennett is not good enough for Coastal anymore, nor am I,” Thigpen wrote. “... As of today, Coastal Carolina no longer has an NFL quarterback as a booster, fan or alumnus.”

Henderson said a little after 1 p.m. that he had not seen Thigpen’s letter, while CCU athletic director Hunter Yurachek also said he had not yet seen the letter and DeCenzo said through spokeswoman Martha Hunn that he had neither received the letter nor read it and also would not comment.

Bennett said over the phone Friday afternoon that he had not seen the letter either and that he preferred not to make any more comments.

“We’re going to let the lawyers handle it,” Bennett said.

Late Friday afternoon, meanwhile, the university released information included in the thorough evaluation of the football program that Yurachek had been asked to prepare for DeCenzo while a decision on Bennett’s future was being considered.

The information details the ticket sales and spending figures DeCenzo and Yurachek used in determining that the football program was not providing a significant enough return on the university’s investment.

That explanation has not satisfied some supporters of the Coastal football program, including Marshall Biddle – the son of trustee Larry Biddle and a donor to the school.

Biddle called for an “Occupy CCU” rally Friday morning in support of Bennett that was advertised on a Facebook page the previous couple days. He was joined briefly by his wife and daughter for the start of the rally at 8:30 a.m. and later by a couple of friends as the gathering remained small across the street from the Wall College of Business.

“We’re just here to support the community and Dave Bennett and Coastal,” Biddle said. “I know that the board’s got decisions that they’ve got to make, and that’s not our place. We’re here simply to support Dave Bennett and the community. We believe that he’s the right man for the job. I think this is going to affect the university negatively financially, economically. I think we’re going to lose sponsors. I think we’re going to lose patrons, we’re going to lose ticket holders. It’s going to have a gross negative effect on the university.”

Biddle was trying to organize the vocal supporters of Bennett, who have expressed their frustration and disappointment since he was removed as Coastal’s football coach last Friday after nine seasons. Credited with building the program from its humble roots, Bennett had a 63-39 overall record with the Chants and is well-regarded for his involvement in the community, but DeCenzo cited the team’s 29-28 record over the last five seasons – which included a 7-4 mark in 2011 – and declining fan support for the program as reasons for making a change.

“There’s a lot of outfall from this that I think it could have been handled in a totally different way,” Biddle said. “It just looks like the best thing would be just to make things right.”

He said he’s heard from fellow donors who “have expressed that they will not renew their obligations to the university” in the wake of Bennett’s removal as head coach. Biddle, who said he serves on the board of visitors for the business school as well as CCU’s athletic foundation board and who describes himself as a supporter of all the Coastal athletic teams, said he is not sure whether he will continue to donate money to the university.

He was greeted by his father Larry and trustee Billy Alford, the former chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees, before the two entered the meeting.

An hour after the rally was to begin, a car drove by with “We want Coach Bennett” written on the back window and a Coastal window flag attached to each side. The man joined the contingent of three, but the small gathering was not quite what Biddle had in mind.

Thigpen’s letter, though, generated plenty of buzz Friday as he said he is “ashamed to call myself a graduate of this institution” in the wake of the decision to part ways with Bennett midway through a 10-year contract. He added that the situation has “basically killed my love for the school.”

“As an alumnus, I vow that I will not donate a single penny to this institution again nor take part in any University function which may assist the school in raising any money until something is done about this,” Thigpen wrote. “This means that I will not allow my image, autograph or name to be associated with the University in any manner which violates my wishes.”

He asked that the banner with his picture hanging on the front of Brooks Stadium be removed immediately and requested that his donation for the naming rights of the quarterback coach’s office/meeting rooms inside Adkins Field House be refunded “as I now consider those funds obtained under false pretenses. I no longer wish to have my name associated with those rooms.”

Thigpen wrote that he felt Bennett has not received enough credit for his help in securing donations toward naming rights for the football field and stadium and for the field house.

He challenged DeCenzo’s statement that attendance at football games has fallen sharply in recent years and claims a disadvantage for Coastal’s football program relative to other FCS programs in the areas of facilities, staff salaries and an operating budget “that has stagnated at best.”

Figures provided Friday by the university – as included in Yurachek’s report to DeCenzo – state that the football program’s operating budget jumped from $325,000 in 2006 to $513,000 in 2007 and a high of $642,000 in 2008 before settling in at $598,000 for 2010 and 2011.

The information also claims that the budget for total salaries in regard to the football program increased from $605,076 in 2006 to $1,016,067 in 2011 (including a 13-percent increase from the 2010 total of $902,945).

As for the claims about attendance, the information released by the university states that season ticket sales have dropped from 3,090 in 2007 to 2,383 in 2011 despite the expansion of Brooks Stadium to include end zone seating and the offering of a $25 “Family Zone” season ticket starting in 2010.

The information also shows that those season ticket numbers have increased each of the last two years from a total 1,781 in 2009 – before the addition of the end zone bleachers.

Meanwhile, total ticket sales for 2011 were reported to be 11,712, accounting for 25 percent of the stadium’s capacity over the duration of the season. That number represented a drop from 12,463 (27 percent) in 2010, while back in 2005 total sales were reported at 21,345 (46 percent of total capacity).

Also included in the report were details of a Jan. 3, 2011, strategic planning meeting Yurachek conducted with the entire football staff, in which he asked the staff to identify eight priorities to ensure the growth and success of the program.

In the report to DeCenzo, Yurachek outlined if and how those areas were addressed while noting, “I was disappointed that an increase in staff salaries was identified as the number one priority for growth and success of the program, as this does not follow the student-athlete focus of our department’s mission.”

Thigpen, meanwhile, claimed that Bennett paid out of his own pocket for the those banners of he and several other former Chants that hang from the front of Brooks Stadium, alleging that the university didn’t do enough to promote the program.

“No one wanted to see the football program grow and compete for a national title more than Coach Bennett,” Thigpen wrote. “But no one offered to do any heavy lifting to help Coach Bennett and his staff reach such lofty if not irrational goals for a 9-year-old program.”

Yurachek’s report to DeCenzo also included Academic Progress Rate data, a breakdown of the end-of-season records of Coastal’s opponents over the last five years, NCAA rankings corresponding to various team and individual statistics, a breakdown of the football program’s 2011-12 operating budget and overages and year-by-year lists of CCU coaching salaries.

All of that information came out after Thigpen’s letter; a call to his cell phone Friday night seeking further comment was not returned.

Though, given the bite to his words, it’s unlikely his feelings had changed at all.

The school’s leaders “underestimated Coach Bennett’s place in the University and greater Grand Strand/Pee Dee community as they believed him to be far less valued, respected and loved than he is,” Thigpen wrote.

On the other side of the decision, Henderson simply remained quiet Friday as to what exactly what was discussed involving that “personnel matter” or whether any of the other trustees have voiced questions or criticism of the move.

“However,” he said, “we’re very excited about the future of the university, and we thank everyone for their support.”