Coach Tim Welsh’s Friars have been middle of the road.

AP / Paul Beaty

PROVIDENCE — When the scathing e-mails and phone calls from horrified Providence College fans and alumni began filling Bob Driscoll’s mailbox, he quickly grew curious.

When PC’s athletic director spoke with the office of PC’s president, Rev. Brian Shanley, and heard a similar amount of consternation from Friars fans across the country was pouring in on the other side of campus, he got mad.

It seems that during Monday’s nationally televised (ESPN2) PC-Georgetown game, announcers Sean McDonough and Doris Burke spent long stretches of the game discussing the challenges that make winning Big East games at Providence a tough row to hoe. Smallest student body, smallest endowment, no on-campus arena, no football money, a shallow recruiting base. On and on it went, according to Driscoll, who has since viewed a tape of the telecast.

“That was when we were winning the game. Against the first-place team in the Big East,” Driscoll said. “I’ve watched a couple of times and it was unwarranted and unfair.”

The impetus for describing PC’s challenges was the fate of head coach Tim Welsh. McDonough and Burke, both of whom know Welsh personally, were discussing the job the coach has done in his 10 seasons at PC and the hurdles all Friars coaches face. To say both were throwing Welsh a crutch when he clearly needs one would be close to correct.

“We were stating facts, as I recall,” said McDonough. “Tim’s situation seemed to be all everybody was talking about in Providence when I was in town. My point was, they have to give the coach there the resources to fight a fair fight.”

PC fans who watched the game or read this newspaper have heard the justification for average success (or worse) before. The Friars have never come close to being a power in the Big East. They’ve never won a regular-season title and hold only one (1994) tournament championship. In seven NCAA tourney trips during their 28 Big East seasons, the Friars have won games twice (1987 and ’97).

Welsh hasn’t moved that meter forward very much. While he put together two outstanding regular seasons, in 2001 and ’04, the Friars’ failure to win either a Big East Tournament or NCAA game in either year soured those successes. The tail end of Welsh’s run here hasn’t gone well. If the Friars don’t rise from the ashes over the next two weeks, they’ll finish out of the Big East Tournament for the second time in three years, and PC would boast just one postseason tourney (the NIT in 2007) in the last four seasons.

But the doom and gloom hovering over the program has become wildly overstated. Can the Friars contend for the Big East title? History tells us no. Are they the worst program in the conference, forever doomed to mediocrity? History refutes that claim as well.

Even this season, the Friars are just a few bounces away (Notre Dame and St. John’s come quickly to mind) from the 6-10 slot in the conference. With Sharaud Curry, it would be surprising if the Friars weren’t in that mix. That slot is a more than realistic landing spot every season.

“I believe PC can experience success in the Big East,” said Burke. “Of course I believe that. It’s just that it’s very, very hard and people might not appreciate that.”

McDonough echoes the same theme, but he says PC needs to look at its infrastructure, not the coach.

“They need to prioritize the things they need to do to become more competitive. Things like better dorms, a practice facility, and more charters. If they’re starting with the coach, that’s the wrong order,” he said.

Under Welsh, the Friars have produced middle-of-the-pack results, not those of a cellar-dweller. And the program is on the move off the floor. While Welsh hasn’t enjoyed the benefits, a renovated Dunkin’ Donuts Center promises to be a help, not a hindrance, in recruiting, once it’s completed next fall. The sparkling new fitness center on campus is long overdue. PC flies charter aircraft to four to five games a year, and the fans continue to support the product, as last weekend’s two sellouts attest.

These are all steps that don’t elevate PC above the Big East leaders but at least get the program in the game with Louisville, Syracuse, Connecticut, et al, for the first time. None of those positives was discussed on national TV.

“The remarks on that broadcast were disrespectful of the hard work that my staff, Father Shanley, the people at The Dunk and our donors have all put forward,” said PC’s Driscoll.

Driscoll says the mistake people are making is equating the past with the present and disregarding a concerted effort to advance the program.

“We’re not sitting here saying, ‘Oh, we’re bottom-feeders. That’s just the way it is.’ That’s totally unacceptable to me,” he says. “If Marquette and Georgetown can do it, we can do it. Words are cheap, I understand that. We will compete. I guarantee we will, or we’ll die trying.”

A few hours after the loss to Louisville, PC held its annual athletics Hall of Fame inductions. Burke, a former star hoopster in the 1980s, was the emcee. She said that after listening to one inductee after another speak of their years at PC, she saw hope for all of PC’s teams.

“Each and every athlete that spoke was eloquent,” Burke saud. “They spoke of their time at PC and captured the essence of Providence College. PC affords you the opportunity to participate in a major athletic conference on a campus that embraces everyone and is a welcome, open community. That’s what I experienced. I told Father Shanley that if his coaches can capture the message of what those Hall of Famers said and sell that, that’s what makes this place special.”

kmcnamar@projo.com