pep amid administrative turmoil

Silva, Anderson, Rivera and Davis outlined a number of grievances concerning Coston and the band’s direction ranging from insensitive comments to inconsistent schedules, empty promises and unrealistic expectations. For example, all four cited a meeting in 2016 in which Coston referred to a former high school student who had publicly criticized his leadership as untrustworthy because “her mental health wasn’t always there, and she was a cutter, so the things that she said may have been exaggerated.”

“That was the immediate thing that made me lose all respect for him as a human being,” Rivera said.

Additionally, Silva, Anderson and Davis illustrated a collective effort by Coston and VCU Athletics to excommunicate them as a result of their voicing complaints about the band’s direction. All three former Peppas said they had holds placed on their accounts because they hadn’t turned jerseys in and were ostracized from band engagement.

“I didn’t really get a chance to leave or get kicked out. I couldn’t make it to most of the fall events because I had night classes. At the time, Duane seemed understanding,” Silva said. “Then the first men’s basketball game came around. I had to leave early, then never heard from the band again. I got taken off the email list. I tried contacting Duane in October, and heard nothing back from him until May. All he said was I had to turn in my jersey.”

“I tried to only go to certain things, and Duane told me I’d literally have to go to everything if I wanted to go to men’s basketball games,” Anderson said “I’m a student, I’m not going to do that. I got to the point where I just said I guess I’m not in pep band anymore.”

“I was at the regular season home opener about seven minutes in — no one around me seemed to care what was going on in the game,” Davis said. “Duane didn’t seem to care, he looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. I realized I wasn’t having fun anymore and I walked down the stairs, packed up my saxophone and never went back.”

Executive Associate Athletic Director Glenn Hoffman said the decision to hire Coston came af- ter a deliberative process in which Coston stood out as the obvious choice to succeed Kopacsi. Hoffman said the athletics department made every effort to be receptive of student’s input over the course of an admittedly emotional transition.

“After looking at resumes it was a no-brainer for us to have Duane involved as our band director. Like any organization, especially after replacing someone who had done great things, there’s always going to be some growing pains with the transition,” Hoffman said.

“As an athletic department we are very pleased with how things have gone. The administration is in a really good place right now. From a sound standpoint — and that’s always open to interpretation and opinion — I can say our fans and our donors rarely, if ever, complain about the band.”

Meanwhile, Rivera said he has remained a part of the band throughout the turmoil and mass exodus of fellow members in an effort to ensure younger students experience something resembling the same loving, compassionate, energetic environment he originally joined the Peppas to be a part of.

“My freshman and sophomore year were wild, it was so much fun — so much movement, so much energy. You had a band who could transfer energy to the crowd and team. Something has just changed,” Rivera said. “Everybody is not happy and screaming and having a genuinely good time … It’s a hostile environment. The band was not perfect back in the day, but the people we had actually gave a shit.”