I don't know if you guys have seen or read this yet, but Joey Mathews' dad wrote a letter to the editor about his son's treatment at the U of Tennessee. Mathews is a local kid who was benched in favor of a highly recruited star QB (Clausen) due to injury. Not to rehash old stuff, but can you imagine how much worse this letter would have been if it had been written by Major Applewhite's dad. When I first saw this I was like Joey who? Anyways, its very interesting reading. To: The people of Sevier County and the state of Tennessee; Jim Davis, Keith Jones, editorial staff of The Mountain Press who told the true story about Joey Mathews and his four years at the University of Tennessee. From: Dean and Sandy Mathews. We would like to thank everyone that supported and defended Joey in his collegiate football career at the University of Tennessee. We as parents have had our ups and downs that all of you shared with us. As you know, Joey could have gone to any Division I school and started, however his blood runs orange and in the end, the orange blood doomed him and cut a promising football career short. Not only that, it cut short his boyhood dream of playing at the next level. He has suffered humiliation and been degraded by the ones that were supposed to mold him into a man. Through it all Joey held his head high and was more of a man than his elders at UT. All of you Joey Mathews fans were there when Joey committed to UT and shared our joy. All of you were there when Joey paid his dues. All of you were there when Joey started his first and last game against Southern Mississippi only to be used as a pawn by the UT hierarchy to achieve their ultimate goal. That is, to put Casey Clausen in as their starting QB. They set Joey up to fail. As they did with A.J. Suggs. Thereby setting the stage for the Golden Boy. Joey was never given the chance that he deserved. I never thought that politics and money would override talent and ability. I say this because all you have to do is look in the UT program under donors and you will see what I mean. We as Joey's parents, like most in Sevier County and Tennessee, are working people. We don't have money to pour into not only the University of Tennessee, but to the athletic department at the University of Tennessee. Joey was never beaten on the football field. He was beaten by back room politics and more money than most of us will ever see in a lifetime. These same donor parents are allowed to strut all over the field during game day with all their family and numerous friends and are treated like royalty. I have never witnessed the Mannings, Shulars, Henrys or Stephens' strut themselves as such. They were far better players than Casey Clausen will ever be. My wife and I knew something was amiss after Joey hurt his knee in the Southern Mississippi game. Because up to that point all the coaches were warm and cordial toward us. After that, it was like we had the plague. I sincerely believe there was a gag order in place or everyone knew what was about to transpire and couldn't look us in the face. When Joey's knee healed (after the LSU game) my son and I had a meeting with Coach Fulmer. I asked him why Joey hadn't been given a chance to compete for his starting job back? Coach Fulmer stated, "Joey just got caught up in an unusual situation." The only way that Joey would play or any other QB would play is if Casey fell flat on his face, which he has done several times; and he continued to play. I asked Coach Fulmer what Joey had done so bad that he was placed on third string and benched. He stated, "Joey has done nothing wrong, as a matter of fact Joey has done everything that we have asked of him both on and off the field." He (Fulmer) kept alluding to the fact that "Joey just got caught up in an unusual situation" and would not elaborate. I whole-heartedly believe this was all preconceived for Joey to fail. Joey was just recruited by UT to keep him from going to another SEC school so Coach Fulmer would not have to hear, "I told you so" when Joey or that school beat UT. Joey was not only smart on the field, he was also smart off the field. He has been all academic SEC ever since he has been at UT. He graduated with a 3.5 GPA in sociology. I doubt that Casey will ever come close to that or even graduate. On the field, Joey was always in the film room, studying the playbook and in the weight room. There's something that was not published by UT; that Joey broke all Tee Martin's records in the weight room with the exception of one (bench press). I wonder why? Could it be that it was not Casey? The Knoxville-based radio sports talk show was informed of this. They stated, "We will have to check this out." Nothing was ever mentioned. It wasn't Casey. Again the Knoxville newspaper and sports talk shows were negative and their fan base looked at Joey negatively. They should have backed a local boy, but Joey was from Sevier County. If Joey had been given the chance that Casey had (with the people in front of him) Joey would have surpassed all records that Casey has attained. When Joey talked to Coach Fulmer about not coming back for his final season, I believe Coach Fulmer made a statement on the evening newscast that he "offered Joey a graduate assistant job with UT." That was never offered in their meeting. The final slap in the face to Joey was at the Citrus Bowl, when with 13:42 left in the fourth quarter Joey was told to warm up, that he was going in the game. Coach Fulmer overrode that decision by Coach Sanders. At approximately two minutes left Coach Fulmer conceded to allow Joey to go in the game. Joey at that time refused. I cannot blame him for that action. As a matter of fact, I applaud him. Coach Fulmer, I'm a firm believer that what goes around comes around. I remember you sitting in my family room begging Joey and promising him the world if he would commit and play football at Tennessee. I remember visiting your house at Christmas and you telling your daughter that the only thing that you wanted for Christmas was for Joey to commit to Tennessee. Joey fulfilled his commitment. But you did not fulfill your commitment to him. Coach, you forgot a little place at Winchester, Tenn., and your roots. You have come a long way, but you have forgotten what it is like to be a struggling football player with dreams of a promising career at the next level. Because of you, Joey has all but lost that dream. Joey will succeed in all endeavors that he attempts. Thanks to you, these are secondary endeavors. To see the hurt and humiliation in a son's eyes because of politics and money is devastating to a parent. Knowing that your son has the talent, ability and character to be successful, only to be stymied by people like you. I, as a parent, must further add, if you are a high school senior thinking about playing football (especially from Tennessee) I suggest that you think twice before committing to Tennessee. There are other players at UT who are being done wrong. We were all supposed to be a UT family. But nowhere have I ever seen a family member do another member wrong. This letter is written from the heart of a father and mother and is meant to give insight to all people who have no idea of the inside of UT football. A certain few will read this and say that we are parents disgruntled over playing time. That is not the case. We just wanted an even playing field. For those who say this, I hope it doesn't happen to your sons or daughters. Again, thanks to all who supported Joey. We will never forget. Above all, thanks Joey, for being the man and class act that you are. You have made all of us proud. Dad, Mom, brothers, sisters and the whole Mathews Family http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?...1&PAG=461&dept_id=169695&MaxRows=2&StartRow=1 Thoughts? Comments?
Agreed. I think the Mathews' were too critical of Clausen and his parents. It makes them sound like bitter people. That takes away from their message. I don't doubt politics had something to do with Fulmer's decision to go with Clausen. We might never know what really happened at Texas because its highly unlikely Major will burn any bridges with an open letter. I wish I could see Fulmer spinning this letter to recruits and their parents.
