Joe Rexrode’s article is a pretty good summation of the various bits and pieces I’ve managed to gather about Vanderbilt’s view on athletics over the years, but the word that stood out to me in this piece, as used by a source of his, is the word “threat”.
I’ve never gathered in my own experiences with Vanderbilt that athletics was viewed in that light, at least not overtly. Behind? Of course. Ill-advised? Sure. But a threat? That goes from general malaise to more purposeful action.
But the more you look at the situation and the decisions that have been made over the years, the more you realize that, whether certain stakeholders are willing to say it or not, there is clearly a contingent that views it that way, and that contingent has a powerful voice.