Those who reserved tickets to Kyle Rittenhouse’s “Rittenhouse Recap” tonight at the University of Memphis are reportedly having to re-reserve their free tickets.
Several people took to social media to show that they received emails from Turning Point USA that their tickets had been invalidated. In an email shared to X by Tami Sawyer, event organizers said, “Due to the University’s stringent ticketing requirements, your ticket to tonight’s event featuring Kyle Rittenhouse is unfortunately no longer valid.”
While those who reserved tickets were notified that a new link would be made available at 9 a.m., many expressed they believed this was a tactic to disparage the “empty auditorium” protest, as many reserved tickets with no intention of actually going.
The new ticketing process is through the university’s official ticketing site which requires users to create an account or log in. The site shows that the event is being held by the student group Turning Point USA at the University of Memphis and that Rittenhouse will be “sharing his side of the story.”
“Rittenhouse is an advocate for our Second Amendment in the constitution,” the page reads. “He was proven innocent in trial. He was attacked, he defended himself and he was acquitted. Now he plans to share his story for all to hear his point of view aside from how the media framed him.”
Sawyer took to other social media outlets to share her frustration with the university as she said it seems as if “they’ve dug in their heels.”
“Is the University protecting Rittenhouse from the planned empty theatre?” Sawyer asked on Instagram. “Remember how folks urged everyone to ‘stop complaining, just buy a ticket and don’t go.’ The students did that. Now this.”
The university has repeatedly stated that they are not sponsoring the event, as it’s being held by a registered student group (Memphis TPUSA). They also said that under the First Amendment and Tennessee’s Campus Free Speech Act, they cannot “legally prohibit such events from being hosted by a registered student organization.”`
In an email obtained by the Flyer addressed to students, university officials said they heard the concerns from the campus community regarding the event and they understand them; however, they must uphold the principles of free speech as a public institution.
They also said that the “expression of differing ideas and opinions plays an important role in maintaining a diverse campus environment that is open and inclusive.”
“It is essential that these discussions take place while maintaining a safe environment on our campus,” the university said in the letter. “Speech that includes threats, harassment or attempts to incite violence is not protected under the First Amendment and is strongly prohibited by the University.”
The event is still scheduled for tonight, Wednesday, March 20th at 7 p.m. at the UC Theatre.
Jim Strickland (Photo: Aspaan-19 | Wikimedia |
Creative Commons)
The news is out that Jim Strickland — recently the two-term mayor of Memphis and before that a member of the city council — is the prime candidate to become the next dean of law at the University of Memphis.
There are those who would see that outcome, the appointment of a non-academic, as something strange, or at the very least, untypical. To disabuse themselves of that notion, they should think no further than the name of the institution Strickland would accede to the head of — the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.
The eponymous Humphreys, though, strictly speaking, no academic, achieved his early renown as the head football coach of Memphis State College in the prewar years of 1939-41. He later served as the school’s athletic director. Still later, Humphreys would become president of Memphis State itself, which under his leadership would become the super-charged multi-disciplinary University of Memphis.
Hence, and quite appropriately, his name graces the university’s school of law, which for years led all degree-granting schools of law in Tennessee in the important metric of the percentage of its graduates passing the bar exam, but now, reportedly, has fallen somewhat off that mark.
Could Strickland, who lobbied for the job, be the right man to lead the law school into its next period of achievement and growth?
Consider that he owns a Juris Doctor degree from the law school and currently serves as an adjunct professor there. And though, like any politician, he has his detractors, his service at the helm of Memphis city government was deemed satisfactory enough by his constituents to gain him two full terms and to generate the momentum for a referendum which, had it passed, would have enabled a third.
Consider, further, that Strickland is the first Memphis mayor in almost half a century to leave that office altogether on his own terms. Not since the late Wyeth Chandler resigned the office in 1982 to become a judge had a Memphis mayor clearly done that.
Chandler’s successor, Dick Hackett, was defeated for reelection in 1991 by Willie Herenton, who in his turn was elected five times before bowing to various pressures and resigning in the middle of his fifth term. (“Retired” is how Herenton put it, and arguably he too departed voluntarily, though, to say the least, his tenure had become shaky.)
Next up was Mayor AC Wharton, who served from 2009 until he was upset by Strickland in the election of 2015.
To be sure, Strickland, who once served as chair of the Shelby County Democratic Party, was formally censured by that party this year on account of his support for the political campaigns of assorted Republicans, but, all things considered, his exercising of bipartisan options as a nonpartisan official probably boosted his stock rather than diminished it.
The case for a Strickland appointment was further fortified surely by a study sent to all faculty members by David Russomanno, the university’s provost for academic affairs.
The document, “Non-Traditional Law Deans: Their Experiences and Those of the Law Schools that Hired Them” by one Timothy Fisher, underscored the striking number of such appointees and their successes in office.
I’m appreciative of the people who have stood by us through these hard times. You can pinpoint a lot of things, but the one thing I do know: God doesn’t make mistakes. All of the negativity through this entire thing … these are still kids. They can have a bad day, a bad game, a bad week. That doesn’t mean there’s a disconnect between coach and players because you’re losing. Everything gets heightened here in Memphis. I was chosen to do this, not by the University of Memphis but by God, honestly. I took this job when it was at its lowest moment. I only want to do well for the city. I’m going to be hardest on myself. It guts me, because I want our city to be known for something other than what it’s known for. These are some tough times. Everybody has an opinion. But I know God has a plan, and there’s a plan for this team. I’m happy that I’m coaching this team. — University of Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway, after the Tigers ended a four-game losing streak with a win over Wichita State
On February 3rd at FedExForum, the Memphis Tigers found themselves down 14 points with less than 10 minutes to play against the supposedly inferior Wichita State Shockers. A loss would give a proud program not only its first five-game losing streak in six seasons under coach Penny Hardaway, but the program’s first five-game losing streak in 24 years.
Point guard Jahvon Quinerly — a senior transfer from Alabama — came to the rescue with a three-pointer to give Memphis its first lead of the game with 44 seconds on the clock. (It was the only field goal Quinerly made on an otherwise forgettable afternoon.) After the Shockers evened the score with a free throw, David Jones — a senior transfer from St. John’s — buried a short jumper from the left wing to snatch a Tiger win, as they say, from the jaws of ugly defeat. Losing streak over. A season that found the Tigers ranked 10th in the country merely three weeks earlier had been somewhat saved. At least until the next tip-off. The season has seen dreadfully ugly losses (at SMU) and the kinds of wins that seem to lift an entire region (the “get-back” over FAU in late February).
Like any decent Hollywood production, a college basketball season has a setup (nonconference play), a confrontation (league competition), and a resolution (postseason). This winter’s Tiger flick has, at times, made the popcorn tasty and, at others, forced fans to hurl the bucket in disgust. All with a resolution yet to come.
Point guard Jahvon Quinerly leads the Tigers in assists. (Photo: Wes Hale)
THE SETUP
In over a century of Tiger basketball, never had Memphis run a nonconference gauntlet like the one Hardaway scheduled for last fall. Seven teams from power conferences (ACC, SEC, and Big 10) plus a showdown with Villanova (national champions in 2016 and 2018) in the championship of the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. Making the challenge even greater, four of these teams took the floor against Memphis ranked among the country’s top 25. (For perspective, nonconference foes in 2017-18 — Tubby Smith’s final season as coach — included Northern Kentucky, Mercer, Samford, Bryant, and Albany.)
The Tigers beat 20th-ranked Arkansas in the Bahamas. They beat 21st-ranked Texas A & M. They beat 13th-ranked Clemson. They beat 22nd-ranked Virginia. They handled Michigan, Missouri, and Vanderbilt. Before the year turned, Hardaway and his team seemed to have grabbed a national microphone and collectively screamed, Look at us!
“I love winning close games,” said Hardaway after a two-point victory against Vanderbilt at FedExForum, the fifth in what would become a 10-game winning streak. “They make you tougher.” And the Tigers were masters of the nail-biter early this season: four points better than Michigan, five better than Arkansas, two better than Clemson, overtime escapes against VCU and UTSA. Quinerly drilled game-winning three-pointers near the buzzer in consecutive wins over Tulsa and SMU. Jones earned some national spotlight with 36 points against Arkansas, a performance that launched him onto the short list for the Julius Erving Award, given to the top small forward in the country.
“We never said it was going to be easy,” stressed Hardaway after the SMU win on January 7th. “The rest of the nation thinks it’s going to be easy in this conference. I have so much respect [for the American Athletic Conference]. These kids are capable. They read the clippings about us and [league favorite] FAU. It’s more than a two-bid league. Adversity is okay; you can learn from it.”
On January 15th, a day after the Tigers eviscerated Wichita State in Kansas for their tenth straight win, the Associated Press released its weekly poll and there was Memphis at number 10 in the entire country, the program’s highest ranking so late in a season since 2009, when one John Calipari stomped the sidelines. The nine programs above Memphis? If you pay attention to college hoops, they’re familiar: UConn, Purdue, Kansas, North Carolina, Houston, Tennessee, Duke, Kentucky, and Baylor. (Six of these programs have won at least one national title since 2012.) If the Memphis program was indeed screaming into that proverbial national microphone, the right folks were listening.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin has provided an energy boost at both ends of the floor. (Photo: Wes Hale)
THE CONFRONTATION(S)
Then came the freeze. The Tigers took the floor against USF on January 18th in a virtually empty FedExForum. That week’s winter storm had left Memphis streets so icy that the U of M actually released a statement advising fans to stay home (in which case ticket-holders could exchange for a later game). The Tigers raced out to a 20-point lead … before the team from South Florida made things that much colder, earning a 74-73 upset with a late-game comeback.
Three days later in New Orleans, another supposedly undermanned squad knocked off Memphis when Tulane won, 81-79. A week later in Birmingham, old rival UAB beat the Tigers, and rather easily (97-88). But the three losses that knocked the Tigers out of the Top 25 were merely prelude to January 28th, when the Rice Owls — 7-13 at tip-off, and 1-6 in the AAC — beat Memphis on its home floor.
For 17 games, the Tigers had played with a swagger, if not quite the flash, that reflected their coach’s All-NBA playing days with the Orlando Magic. They won 15 of those games. Then suddenly, shortly after the year turned, shoulders seemed to collectively slump, and Hardaway alluded to discontent between players. When asked about his team’s precipitous drop in confidence after the Rice loss, Hardaway had this to say: “That’s player-led. I’m trying my best, going to games, going to practice, talking about the pride we need to have, to have more fun playing defense, to communicate. It just seems like there’s a huge disconnect with this group right now. I can’t put my finger on it. You can tell in our play. When the game starts, the energy isn’t there.”
Following their second win over Wichita State (and the end to that four-game losing streak), Quinerly shared some perspective on what he hoped was a team-culture shift. “We didn’t have any player meetings,” he noted, “but you could tell the communication and the focus was different at our practices and film sessions. You could feel the tension in the air. Guys were super locked-in. It showed. We guarded the ball better [against the Shockers].”
Victories over Temple and Tulane followed, but then came a mid-February trip to the Lone Star State and double-digit losses to both North Texas and SMU (the latter a 106-79 mockery of the Tigers’ win over the Mustangs at FedExForum in early January). On February 24th, the university announced an inquiry involving fifth-year senior Malcolm Dandridge, sidelining an important member of the Tiger rotation entering the most important stage of the season. Memphis partially avenged its 2023 NCAA tournament loss to FAU the very next day. Ups and downs. Downs and ups.
How and why did a team mentioned as a Final Four contender in mid-January fall so precipitously, and so fast? You might start with a pair of hideous defensive measures. Through the end of the regular season, Memphis ranks 348th in three-pointers allowed: 9.1 per game. (This is according to College Basketball Reference, which tracks 362 teams in Division I.) And the Tigers rank 359th in offensive-rebounds allowed: 12.8 per game. These are effort stats. Bottom line: The Tigers haven’t guarded the perimeter and they haven’t hit the glass. In other words, they do a lot of standing and watching on defense. It’s murder on a team’s Final Four chances.
And there’s luck. Had Quinerly not hit those buzzer-beaters against Tulsa and SMU, there may not have been a 10-game winning streak or Top-10 ranking. Right player, right time, right moment … until the same player often looked like the wrong player, in the wrong time and moment. If you’re looking for a mercurial personification of a mercurial team, sadly, it’s Jahvon Quinerly.
Not to be discounted in the Tigers’ plight is the loss of Caleb Mills, yet another senior transfer (from Florida State and, before that, Houston) who suffered a catastrophic left-knee injury at Tulsa on January 4th. The team’s best perimeter defender and cultural “glue guy,” Mills embraced a role off the bench and contributed mightily in the Tigers’ four upsets of ranked teams. “I didn’t know Caleb’s magnitude until he went down,” said Hardaway in early February. The Tigers were 12-2 with Mills on the floor and have gone 10-7 without him.
If the loss of Mills exposed a susceptible Tiger rotation, the addition of Nae’Qwan Tomlin — a 6’10” midseason transfer from Kansas State — may have rescued that rotation’s integrity. (Mills and Tomlin only played three games together.) Tomlin’s ability to impose himself on both ends of the floor while providing visible, emotional energy has called to mind the play of former Tiger DeAndre Williams, the all-conference forward who completed his eligibility with the 2022-23 season. He earned Player of the Week honors from the AAC for his impact in wins over Charlotte and FAU in late February. Furthermore, Tomlin has a strong March track record, having helped the Wildcats to the Elite Eight of last year’s NCAA tournament. “He’s a big part of what we’re doing, moving forward,” emphasizes Hardaway. “We need his scoring ability, his rebounding ability, and his shot-blocking.”
However the Tigers’ postseason unfolds, Jones will leave a historic mark on the program. He’s the second consecutive Tiger (after Kendric Davis) to lead the AAC in scoring and earned first-team All-AAC recognition. He’s the only player in the country to average 21.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists and with 26 more points will become only the seventh Memphis player to score 700 in a single season. Jones is among five finalists for the Julius Erving Award, given to the nation’s top small forward.
THE RESOLUTION?
How does this four-month movie — to this point, a tragidrama — conclude before the credits roll? The happiest scenario has the Tigers banding together around their star trio (Jones, Quinerly, and Tomlin) and winning four games in four days at the AAC tournament this week in Fort Worth for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Once in the field, a rocky regular season would be forgotten in exchange for hopes of a glass slipper that leads to the Sweet 16 (at least). Hardaway teams have done this before, both last year when the Tigers knocked off top-ranked Houston to win the AAC crown and in 2021 when Memphis won a scaled-down NIT in North Texas.
A more likely scenario is a win or two this weekend and a return to the NIT, college basketball’s sock hop for those without prom tickets. Not the kind of consolation anyone near the Memphis basketball program will embrace. “God has a plan for this team,” said Hardaway after the Tigers erased a 22-point deficit and beat UAB by 19 on March 3rd. “For all we’ve gone through, I never gave up. … We have a better resume than all these teams: first four out, next four out. I don’t understand why our name isn’t up there. We’ve won enough big games for us to be in the conversation. We have some great wins.”
Remain in your seats, Tiger fans. However this season ends, it’s become clear we don’t want to miss it.
David Jones (Photo: Wes Hale)
The 700 Club
David Jones hopes to become only the seventh Tiger to score 700 points in a single season.
The University of Memphis cheerleading and dance teams won this year’s Universal Dance Association and Universal Cheer Association college national championship. The competition was held at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, last month. Through a display of talent, collaboration, and hard work, the teams reestablished themselves as strong competitors in the collegiate cheer and dance circuit.
This is the one annual competition these teams compete in to showcase their skills.
“We love to put Memphis on the map, and we know as a spirit squad we represent the city and university,” said four-year cheer member Peyton Cathy.
In the Division IA small coed competition, Memphis Cheer defeated six other teams. Their final rating was 90.8 out of 100. After competing against five other teams on Division IA game day, the dance team emerged victorious, scoring 95.9.
Despite being separate entities, the bond between the cheer and dance teams at U of M runs deep. United by a shared passion and a common goal, they operate as a cohesive unit, supporting and uplifting each other every step of the way.
“I take pride in the fact that our program is family-oriented and it always has been,” said University of Memphis head coach of dance Carol Lloyd. “Cheer and dance support each other all season.”
One of the main reasons athletes want to be a part of these programs, according to Lloyd, is the family-like atmosphere.
“We have always been a very close-knit program,” said fourth-year dance team member Anna Merritt. “Yes, we are cheer and pom, but we come together and make Memphis Spirit Squad.”
This isn’t the first time these two teams won national titles together (they both took home a national title in 2021), making it a two-peat for some of the squads’ current members.
“It feels nice to be able to finish the way I started,” said Merritt who was a part of the 2021 winning team.
These athletes work hard to succeed, not just for themselves but also to see their teammates happy.
Photo courtesy Anna Merritt
“A lot of people come to Memphis just to win and now that they have that win, they can be happy with their retirement of cheer,” said Cathy. “I am just glad I was able to help lead us to a title.”
The success of these teams can be attributed to more than just the family dynamic. Hard work, sacrifice, and leadership helped elevate them to the top. “Leadership alone, to me, is the drive behind all the success,” said coach Lloyd.
The spirit squad is a familiar sight to many spectators and fans at games and school functions, but not everyone is aware of the work these athletes put in behind the scenes. Both the cheer and dance squads spent numerous hours honing their routines and techniques during the training sessions in the months leading up to the competition, aiming to perfect their stunts, jumps, tumbles, and complex choreography.
“There are countless hours, sacrifice, and dedication that a lot of these athletes [give],” said head coach of cheer, Tony Crump.
According to Lloyd, the dance team practices six hours a day, every day, for six weeks straight. Crump said athletes work all year around and the road to nationals starts immediately after try-outs.
Not only have these athletes been growing in the collegiate circuit, but they have also been making waves online, reaching a larger audience. Their performances are shared out on multiple TikTok pages, and social media has led the sport of cheer and dance to gain more attention.
“It’s great to see the sport that you love and work hard doing, being more recognized by people that may not have known what our sport really entails,” said Cathy.
David Jones leads the AAC in scoring (photo by Wes Hale).
When the University of Memphis hired Penny Hardaway to coach its basketball program in 2018, his task was to make Tiger hoops meaningful again, to make Tiger seasons memorable. (What stands out in your memory from the four seasons prior to Hardaway taking over? See how this works?) Hardaway’s first five seasons went well by some measures and fell short of expectations by others. But each, in its own way, was memorable. Which begs the question as March nears: How will the Tigers’ 2023-24 season stand out for local hoop historians? For context, a brief review of the Coach Penny era, seasons 1 through 5.
2018-19: The Year of Jeremiah
Before this season, no Tiger had ever scored 40 points in two different games. Jeremiah Martin did so in the same month (February). A player who averaged 2.7 points per game as a freshman under coach Josh Pastner became the fifth to score 700 in a single season (19.7 average). The pride of Mitchell High School made a mediocre (22-14) season unforgettable.
2019-20: The Year of Our Precious
Many in these parts remember this season as The Year Without Wiseman. The mighty NCAA decided Hardaway had violated rules in his recruiting of James Wiseman, leading to a suspension of the player and eventually his departure from the program. But let’s accentuate the positive. The team’s “other” five-star recruit, Precious Achiuwa, averaged 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds and became the first Tiger to earn Player of the Year honors in the American Athletic Conference. The season ended prematurely with the Covid shutdown, so we’ll never know if that team (21-10) may have rallied in the AAC tourney for a bid to the Big Dance. But again, one player made the season rather remarkable.
2020-21: A National Title (Sorta)
Empty arenas and a team that couldn’t seem to decide its star. Landers Nolley? Boogie Ellis? Lester Quinones? A six-game winning streak late in the season wasn’t enough to get the Tigers into the NCAA tournament, so they headed to a slimmed-down NIT in north Texas. And they won the darn thing, beating Mississippi State in the final for the program’s second NIT crown. Did it fill a void? Meet Hardaway’s expectations? No and no. Did it make for a memorable ending to a pandemic-heavy winter of Tiger basketball? Emphatically yes.
2021-22: Dancing Days Return
This team beat a pair of Top-10 squads (Alabama and Houston) on its way to the program’s first NCAA tournament since 2014. Freshman Jalen Duren (12.0 points, 8.0 rebounds) played his way into the first round of the NBA draft and the Tigers gave top-ranked Gonzaga all it could handle in the second round of the NCAAs. A season that felt like Hardaway and the Tigers were on the right path.
2022-23: The Year of KD
After transferring from SMU, point guard Kendric Davis led the AAC in both scoring (21.9) and assists (5.4), somehow falling short in the league’s Player of the Year voting. Better yet, Davis helped the Tigers knock off top-ranked Houston — the first such upset in program history — and win their first AAC tournament. An overlooked timeout near the end of their clash with FAU in the opening round of the NCAA tournament ended the season prematurely. Davis became the second player to put up 700 points in a season under Hardaway.
How will we remember the current season when all is said and done? As of now, it’s The Midseason Massacre, a four-game losing streak that, in rasslin’ terms, knocked a Top-10 team entirely out of the ring. David Jones leads the AAC in scoring and is the kind of player who could help Memphis make a run in the conference tournament next month. It’s a good time for Tiger fans to remember basketball memories aren’t born but made.
The University of Memphis has the most Title IX complaints out of all state agencies in the state — almost three times the amount of other entities reporting.
The purpose of Title IX is to ban discrimination on the basis of sex for “any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” This includes admission consideration, employment, as well as “treatment of students” and “access to programs and courses,” among other things.
In 2023 the University of Memphis reported 125 Title IX complaints to the agency, according to a report from the Tennessee State Comptroller’s office. Other schools included in the report were Austin Peay State University (21 incidents), East Tennessee State University (19 incidents), Tennessee State University (5 incidents), and the University of Tennessee (24).
While U of M reported the most complaints compared to other agencies, the 2023 numbers show a 3.2 percent decrease from the previous year (129.) This is the third year in a row that the university reported the most incidents.
The report does not say why the university has so many reports, or the nature of them. University officials refused to respond to questions about Title IX complaints, including the most basic descriptions of the types of incidents that cause complaints. They also would not say whether complaints were up because of increased knowledge of campus resources.
“The University of Memphis is committed to providing an environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex and provides many resources to students, faculty, and staff to address concerns relating to discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes sexual misconduct,” the university said in a statement.
When asked for public records pertaining to the Title IX complaints, the comptroller’s office recommended the university be reached for “any records related to the cumulative report.”
Students, staff, and faculty can file complaints through the university’s Office for Institutional Equity.
“It should be noted that a complainant has the right to the complaint being handled as confidentially as reasonably possible,” said the university.
Morgan Linsy is a senior at the University of Memphis, and is the executive director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Coalition (SAPAC). This organization partners with the Title IX office for events and training such as their Healthy Relationships Fair and “Walk A Mile In Her Shoes” men’s march.
Linsy said her organization is advocating for more transparency regarding Title IX so they can tailor programming and support to best meet the needs of students. She understands the university has to protect victims as she also serves as a mandatory reporter for the university.
“They come to us knowing that what happens is going to stay with us and I think sometimes seeing the numbers can be scary for some people,” Linsy said. “It’s important for us to know what those numbers are, but I think we also have to remember that there still is a certain level of privacy that they’re owed, because at the end of the day they don’t have to report; however, we want them to so we can help bring awareness and see how we can increase resources for students on campus.”
Linsy thinks that transparency in numbers and reporting is important campus-wide for current and prospective students as well.
“If we know what’s happening on campus, we’re more inclined to keep each other aware, keep each other accountable, and make sure we work together to help prevent it all together,” Linsy said.
The University of Memphis football program needs to be in a bigger, better conference than the American Athletic. This is a topic much discussed, and one that won’t go away until the dream is realized. The program is just as desperate, though, for a rival. A true, villainous, pure-evil, dressed-in-black-even-when-they’re-not rival. Which made Saturday’s game at UAB fun, and somewhat special as the Tigers work their way through a watered-down AAC schedule. The first “Battle for the Bones” in 11 years meant the heaviest rack of ribs — if not heaviest trophy — in college football would see daylight again. (The trophy weighs more than 90 pounds.) After a slow start, Memphis walloped the Blazers, 45-21, to improve to 5-2 on the season and retain ownership of those bronze bones. It felt like the Tigers turned back a rival.
Is UAB the Tigers’ answer for that role of gridiron gremlin? Not long-term, I don’t believe. They’ve actually only played 16 times (Memphis has won six). Compare that with Arkansas State, a Memphis foe no fewer than 62 times. But can the Red Wolves be considered THE rival for Memphis? Not until they’re in the same conference. Ole Miss and Mississippi State aren’t the answer, both part of the privileged SEC, and both dominant historically against Memphis. Tulane feels like a rival, particularly as the Green Wave has risen to the top of the AAC and won three of the last five meetings with the Tigers. I miss the Black-and-Blue Game with Southern Miss (last played in 2012). I’m not sure which program can play this role for Memphis, but with North Texas, South Florida, and Charlotte coming up on the Tigers’ schedule, I know a void when I see it.
• Saturday’s victory at UAB was the 26th win for Ryan Silverfield as head coach of the Memphis Tigers. It’s a significant number, for me, as it matches the total Justin Fuente compiled over his four seasons (2012-2015) atop the program. This isn’t to suggest Silverfield is as good a coach as Fuente, or has had the kind of impact on the program Fuente had (he has not), but it is a connection to the man we must credit most with turning a moribund program into one expected to play in a bowl game at season’s end, one expected to compete for conference championships. Fuente inherited a bottomed-out operation that had won a total of three games the two seasons before he took over. By his third year, Fuente commanded a 10-win AAC co-champion ranked 25th in the country. There have been few turnarounds in college football history as quick or as dramatic. Silverfield is a beneficiary of that turnaround, having arrived as an assistant to Mike Norvell in 2016 when Fuente departed for Virginia Tech. Will the Tigers win 10 games this season? Win the AAC? Both seem unlikely right now. But is the Memphis program relevant, competitive, worthy of attention? Absolutely. Here’s to 26 more wins, and then some, for Ryan Silverfield.
• Memphis is the only team in the AAC with a player among the league’s top four in passing (Seth Henigan, 265.1 yards per game), rushing (Blake Watson, 84.7), and receiving (Roc Taylor, 79.4). With 593 yards, Watson has already topped last season’s Tiger rushing leader (Jevyon Ducker, 544 yards). With 556 yards, Taylor will likely top last season’s leader (Eddie Lewis, 603 yards) this Saturday at North Texas. A football team doesn’t necessarily require an offensive “big three,” but one can help win a lot of games.
Seth Henigan passed for 269 yards and ran for 64 in the Tigers' win over Boise State. (Wes Hale)
Last Saturday’s game at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium felt like a battle of college football’s misfit toys. On the visitors sideline was Boise State, famous for the blue turf of its home stadium and a recent streak of 16 consecutive seasons with a bowl appearance. Hosting, of course, were our Memphis Tigers, a program with nary a losing season since 2014 and three Top-25 finishes securely in the record books. Yet somehow both the Broncos (Mountain West Conference) and Tigers (American Athletic) remain outside the dance hall as the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and ACC continue to morph into a new quartet (Power 4?) of mega-leagues. Rejects always have each other … right?
On a sweltering final afternoon of September, the Tigers prevailed by a score of 35-32. It was the best game in the country not played by one of those “Power 4” programs. The win improved Memphis to 4-1 for the season with a bye week now before reigning AAC champion Tulane comes to town for a clash (a slash?) on Friday the 13th. It was an important victory for coach Ryan Silverfield’s team and confirmed three important truths we’ve learned about the 2023 squad.
• Resilient. For real. Every coach of every team in every sport likes to claim his group is “resilient,” that his players have the backbone to bounce back when necessary. While this can’t possibly be true for every team in America, it appears to be a quality these Tigers possess as a collective. When Memphis fell behind Boise State, 17-0, it appeared some shine had faded from the team in blue and gray. Wins over Bethune-Cookman and Arkansas State go only so far, and how much does a narrow win over Navy mean? But the Tigers bounced back in powerful fashion, scoring the game’s next 28 points. Better still, when the Broncos closed the Tiger lead to three points (28-25) midway through the fourth quarter, Memphis took possession and drove 75 yards, chewing up more than six minutes of playing time and scoring the touchdown (a one-yard scramble by Blake Watson) that proved to be decisive.
“We had an inexcusable, pedestrian start,” said Silverfield in his postgame comments. “That’s on me. I’ll take the blame. But our guys’ belief in what we’re doing is amazing. They fight, and they find a way to finish. That’s a team win. It took every single person.”
• Blake Watson is The Guy. At halftime of Saturday’s game, the Tigers saluted DeAngelo Williams, the greatest Tiger of all-time and the first Memphis player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Fittingly, Tiger running back Blake Watson carried the ball 19 times for 113 yards for a Williams-like 5.9-yard average and scored two touchdowns, including that game-winner in the fourth quarter. Watson’s emergence separates this team from those of the last three seasons in which no Tiger ball carrier topped even 700 yards. Through only five games, Watson has 455 yards rushing, putting him on track for a 1,000-yard campaign, if not quite a DeAngelo Williams performance. Championship teams, universally, run the ball well. Keep an eye on the Old Dominion transfer as this season rolls along.
• The football gods are smiling. Late in the Tigers’ win over Navy, a Midshipman play that had resulted in a first down deep in Memphis territory was reviewed by the officials and determined to actually be short of first-down yardage. When Watson scored the Tigers’ final touchdown late in Saturday’s game, he dropped the ball before landing in the end zone. But another official review determined that Watson had broken the proverbial plane of the end zone with the football before it was dislodged. Not one, but two critical reviews have favored the Tigers (?!?) in a single month.
Senior linebacker Geoffrey Cantin-Arku made the play of the game against Boise State, blocking a third-quarter field goal attempt, picking up the ball and sprinting 80 yards to seize the lead (21-17) for the home team. The native of Quebec (and former Syracuse Orange) was asked after the game about his play, and what it might represent in a season, so far, going largely the Tigers’ way. “Last year, we didn’t fight like this,” he acknowledged. “The spirit in the locker room is different. We’ve all got each others’ back. We’re gonna come to work.”
The Memphis Sand Aquifer will get continued scientific oversight with a new five-year contract awarded to a group at the University of Memphis (U of M) and a new science director at Protect Our Aquifer (POA).
Researchers with the Center for Applied Earth Sciences and Engineering Research (CAESER) at the U of M will continue to monitor the aquifer’s water quality for the next five years. The group recently won an updated contract from the city of Memphis, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) worth $9.75 million.
Earlier this year, the group reported that the protective clay layer that protects the Memphis-area’s drinking water was once thought to “have a few holes in it” but they thought at the time that “it’s looking more like Swiss cheese.” Before the study, the aquifer was thought to have two to six breaches, now researchers believe the figure could range from six to 36.
“In the past, we probably thought of this clay layer as protective of our groundwater supply,” CAESER’s director, Dr. Brian Waldron, said during an MLGW meeting in April. “It was a continuous layer of clay with a few holes in it. Well, we’re starting to believe that it’s looking more like Swiss cheese.”
Results of CEASAR’s full study of the layer is expected next month.
City leaders and MLGW officials hired the group in 2018 to study water quality and the protective clay layer, concerned about impacts to water quality. While the water “is safe for now,” Waldron said, the clay layer is not as protective as once thought. For this, he suggested a proactive approach to leaders and they awarded his group the renewed contract.
The money will support programs to develop technology to remotely sensing breaches in urban areas, developing computer models to better understand the movement of water and contaminants, and the movement of water between the many aquifers below the city’s surface.
The aquifer will have another scientific eye upon it as POA recently hired its first scientific director. The group hired hydrogeologist and state licensed professional geologist, Dr. Scott Schoefernacker earlier this month.
Schoefernacker spent the past 11 years with CAESER investigating, protecting, and sustaining
groundwater resources in Shelby County and West Tennessee. Prior to CAESER, Schoefernacker worked as a geologist for the Memphis-based environmental consulting firm EnSafe conducting various environmental investigations and site assessments across the United States.
“We’ve been fighting with our science hand behind our back since the beginning”, said POA founder and board chair Ward Archer. “Although every decision we’ve made has been science-driven, having a scientist of Scott’s caliber on our team is going to strengthen our organization.”
The Tennessee Legislature recently passed a recommendation from Governor Bill Lee that will allow for the University of Memphis to receive $5.488 million for campus safety and security upgrades.
According to the university, these upgrades will be for this current fiscal year, and the investment is non-recurring.
In a statement, U of M president Bill Hardgrave said that a “safe, thriving campus,” is their number one priority. The money will be used to “fund proven measures that ensure our students, faculty and staff feel safe on our campus.”
The Flyerreported that the university was named the safest large campus in 2022 by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The university said that the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) and Homeland Security did a campus-wide assessment in 2021, which they used to determine five different areas that would receive investments from the funding. The following breakdown was provided by the university:
$2.193 million for upgrade and installation of LED lighting
$1.46 million for perimeter fencing and parking lot access control
$773,000 for intelligent camera installations
$750,000 for a comprehensive notification system
$312,000 for mobile trailers and patrol vehicle replacements
While the investment will be used to upgrade and install equipment around campus, the university said that they are continuing to work with partner organizations such as MLGW.
“In addition to making the strategic investments [noted above] to improve campus safety and security, the UofM is continuing to work with MLGW to improve lighting on perimeter neighborhood streets,” said the university in a statement. The school will also work with the Memphis Police Department to better coordinate efforts on police patrols on and around campus.
“The UofM will also coordinate with other law enforcement and community partners such as the University Neighborhood Development Corporation to curb crime, specifically auto related crime,” the university said. The majority of crimes on campus are auto-related.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) released its 2022 Crime on Campus report, which provided “information on crimes, reported to TBI through the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System, that occurred on college or university campuses.”
According to the report, a majority of the crimes reported at the University of Memphis were larceny and theft offenses (111.) While 36 of the crimes reported in this category were “theft from [a] building,” there were 26 reports of theft from a motor vehicle, and 32 reports of theft of motor vehicle parts.
There were also 47 reports of motor vehicle theft, according to the report.
The university has previously encouraged students and other members of the campus community to utilize the LiveSafe app, which provides an avenue for students to directly communicate with police services on campus through text, pictures, video, and audio. However, Everbridge Crisis Management will replace the app this summer.
“Everbridge will orchestrate all crisis response activities, teams, and resources to accelerate critical event recovery times and allow the UofM to continue prioritizing safety and security,” added the university.
