Pride of Oklahoma Changes

[BoulderSooner]

also this site has popped up Fire Justin Stolarik

[MsProudSooner]

In case anyone is on Facebook, there is a new Facebook page called Restore the Pride of Oklahoma:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Resto...ocation=stream

It has a total of over 2,800 followers. It's picked up over 700 since 6 PM today,

Restore the Pride now has over 5,000 followers.

[ou48A]

I still can't hear the OU band.
They had some of the worst sloppy lines that I had ever seen when they marched off the field at half time when playing
Boomer Sooner.... They don't look like they are having fun.... and they should.

But the student section in general sucked today as there were thousand of empty seats.
If the Students are not going to show up OU should reduce the number of seats in the student section.

[mugofbeer]

I wasn't able to go to the game. Is the pre-game show back to the traditional version or is it still the same as on game #1?

[MsProudSooner]

I wasn't able to go to the game. Is the pre-game show back to the traditional version or is it still the same as on game #1?

It's not back to the traditional version. Supposedly, the 40 - 50 'alternates' who have been left in the stands during the first three games will be marching by the next home game.

[SoonerDave]

Latest round of rumors I heard is that Boren is so sick of hearing complaints about the Pride that he's told staffers to stop routing to him any correspondence about it, and he's apparently still getting a bunch of it. Stolarik is allegedly refusing to speak to senior band members (with proper "cred") about the problems they see and believe need attention, special practices, all stuff that an apparently experienced band director is supposed to already know. Other rumors suggest that Stolarik, himself, has been so upset about the negative commentary and the calls from within the band for additional practices to learn his "schemes" allegedly drove him to tears and leave practice recently.

Some have suggested its too late in the season to revert the pregame to the real/classic version, and as there are only three home games left, we're stuck with this disaster the rest of the year. We can only hope that cooler heads prevail in the offseason and this disaster can be cleaned up.

David Boren has done a lot of good for OU. His management of this situation has, however, been abominable, and the hiring of Stolarik an inexcusable mess, regardless of any alleged regent pressure brought to bear on the hiring. It's apparently understood by everyone involved the guy really isn't qualified to run the band, and that lack of experience is what has the senior band members asking him for special practices and the like. He's not even understanding that the request is to support him, to help the band get better, so ultimately everything I've heard and read is that this entire situation is an unequivocal disaster.

And its equally clear David Boren doesn't care.

As an OU alum, although absent any band ties myself, this situation is a real embarrassment. Worst of all, it was entirely self-inflicted.

[MsProudSooner]

The latest is that all but 3 members of the tuba section boycotted practice yesterday. There's an article about it in today's Oklahoma Daily.

This letter was posted on the Restore the Pride Facebook page (which has nearly 6,000 members now). It's a very powerful letter that outlines the ramifications of this fiasco to the entire music school. I can barely find middle C on a piano myself, but this guy knows his stuff.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/smzbzdlhzd...%20Swinney.pdf

[kevinpate]

Don't know the author. Never involved myself in band after high school. Still, that was indeed a spot on letter, addressing the far more serious issues of what the future may hold under the present course.

[MsProudSooner]

Don't know the author. Never involved myself in band after high school. Still, that was indeed a spot on letter, addressing the far more serious issues of what the future may hold under the present course.

If that doesn't catch the attention of the Board of Regents, nothing will.

[SoonerDave]

If that doesn't catch the attention of the Board of Regents, nothing will.

Here's the thing that catches my attention: You have a significant number of (apparently) upper-class members engaging in staged walkouts - and the article indicated this was only the "first section" to take action. That tells me more such walkouts are ahead, and it is my opinion that those kids wouldn't engage in such an action if they didn't have at least some informal orchestration from someone higher up, someone with some measure of influence.

If what I consider the worst of the rumors to be true - that the guy literally ran out of practice in tears, openly sobbing due to complaints - the guy has no business in the position.

That the situation has evolved to this is embarrassing.

[LocoAko]

Some members of 'Pride of Oklahoma' refused to practice | Oklahoma City - OKC - KOCO.com

[ou48A]

Boren needs to buy out this guys contract and make ''Coach" the interim Band director.

[mugofbeer]

So what I am reading on some other sites and in the Oklahoma Daily is that the band members seem to be saying there are changes being made but that the changes take time. They are saying most band members don't necessarily dislike the band director but that he has some faults.

Too bad wisdom didn't play into this for the new director. Here is a comment from former band director Britt made several years ago:

"Fans had two concerns when I took over in 2001,” Britt said. "They wanted to know if I was going to change the pregame show and whether the drum major was still going to do the famous strut down the field. I told them I wasn't coming here to make this my band; I was coming to be the next caretaker of this band. That meant ensuring that the kids had the same great experience I had when I was (a student) here. I decided things would change on an evolutionary basis rather than on a revolutionary basis.” Mr. Britt

Old article from 2008.
band/article/3286945

[ou48A]

A good read on the band
http://www.soonerguys.com/?p=7410

[MsProudSooner]

Berry Tramel's article: Oklahoma football: The band has become OU's biggest controversy | News OK

Note the comments following the article.

[Chicken In The Rough]

I often watch the band on YouTube. I was first shocked at the change, then saddened. The old pregame was exciting to watch and it appeared the band had a lot of pride bringing it to us. This is not true of the current pregame show.

[SoonerDave]

Several music education blogs and websites have now started picking up on this story - I suspect at least in part because a conventional newspaper like The Oklahoman made it a story - and the whole thing is really making OU leadership look bad. This is starting to damage whatever reputation might have had in music education circles because it now seems our band director's hiring process was fishy, and the stories are emerging that the guy really is out of his depth.

Now comes the story that either today or yesterday, Stolarik engaged in a screaming tirade against the entire Pride during practice, and "forbid" them from speaking to any of the media.

This is not going to end well. It already hasn't ended well. Whatever it may cost Boren in personal pride or Weitzenhoffer's (alleged) art donations, its time to cut losses and get rid of this guy today. The damage to the University isn't worth it. The guy can't possibly be that good - and clearly he's demonstrated he's far from it.

[SoonerDave]

Restore the Pride now has over 5,000 followers.

Last time I checked, it was now over 6,800. The thing is gaining steam, and Boren is in the precisely in the middle of the eye of this storm he created himself.

This is Boren's fault. He needs to fix it. Now.

[MsProudSooner]

An online survey about The Pride of Oklahoma:

Pride of Oklahoma Survey

An online petition regarding The Pride of Oklahoma:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/129/3...marching-band/

[ou48A]

An online survey about The Pride of Oklahoma:

Pride of Oklahoma Survey

An online petition regarding The Pride of Oklahoma:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/129/3...marching-band/

Thanks for posting this^
Its interesting?

[ou48A]

It's Picasso-gate

[Head]

Yikes. So apparently the all mighty dollar can trump tradition at an institution like OU? You would think Boren would have a stronger backbone to stand up to radical donors like this.

When a photographer friend of mine told me that Toby Keith had offered her a drink during the game, I asked "Did he have a flask or something?"
"No, in his suite, dummy!", she said.
Which only means to me, "If you have enough money, the rules don't apply."
The almighty dollar trumps your life, and mine, on a daily basis.