More about Roy King's dismissal - It was ALWAYS about the money

Since the band is suddenly a topic of conversation again, I thought it might be worth noting that the band department website no longer lists scholarships for Tiger Band. Instead, there are now "band department scholarships," with no mention of any requirement to play in Tiger Band.

LINK

(Look under "prospective students" and go to "scholarships.")

Furthermore, there is no mention anywhere of the stipends that Tiger Band members have received for decades as token compensation for the many hours they put in. These were always listed in the past, so the omission can only be deliberate. (Remember that Damon Talley was once overheard by several witnesses complaining that Tiger Band was "underworked and overpaid.")

Again, as many have noted all along, all the bogus charges leveled at Roy King (an LSU alum and loyal employee for over 20 years) were just an excuse to get rid of him since he refused "play ball" and allow Tiger Band scholarship money be used for other purposes.

For what it's worth, I suspect that the stipends may in fact be continued this year, just to avoid too much outrage (although they might be reduced), but I would be greatly surprised if they did not disappear in the near future. So the money that has gone to reward Tiger Band members (and attract quality musicians to the band) in the past will now be used to recruit students for the SOM. (Remember, this is athletic department money!)

Why does this matter to the average fan? Some have noted that the band's quality has gone down a bit in recent years. While Tiger Band is still considered to be among the upper echelon of college marching bands, it's worth noting that Tiger Band's scholarship budget was basically cut in half around the time Roy took over. In particular, it became more difficult to recruit good musicians from out of state. (Imagine what an analogous reduction in scholarship aid would mean for the quality of the football team.) That problem will be greatly exacerbated in the future if this is allowed to stand, and you will definitely notice a difference in the quality of the band, if not this year, then very soon.

It's worth remembering that Todd Queen (dean of the SOM) did EXACTLY the same thing at his last position at Colorado State: he fired the marching band director and took direct control of the marching band's budget.