I was in band under Dr. Spurlin for 3 years, would have been 4 but I was so disgusted after my 3rd year that I decided to forego my 4th year. Dr. Spurlin certainly knows his stuff and is a good educator, but aside from that I was not a fan of how he handled most things. He would not let band members miss trivial rehearsals for important family events or school related things (I once had to reschedule a test for a class for my major because he would not let me miss a rehearsal). After my first season he started becoming much more strict on things that didn't seem to matter but had a huge impact on my enjoyment of band (for example, he started taking away a lot of band traditions, some of which had been in place since the 80's) and thus being in the AUMB just wasn't worth my time because I was not enjoying myself. The biggest thing for me, though was during my last season Dr. Spurlin was so intent on having a 380 member marching band that he let in several members who had no business being in band; he decided to sacrifice quality for quantity and since then I feel like the overall musicianship of the band has suffered. I think it's worth noting that several alumni do not like how he runs things and that has had an adverse impact on alumni support and fundraising- a few years ago it was decided that a new band facility was to be built to go along with the new band field. They were supposed to break ground on this 3 years ago (someone correct me if I'm mistaken) but construction on this facility has still not begun as funding for this project is still not where it needs to be. Keeping alumni pleased is important as they in turn give money back to the program, but I can assure you that I and several other alumni will not donate a single cent to the band program while he is still the director.