I was in both the Wind Ensemble and the Pep Band that year. The previous year I had set up a council for the Wind Ensemble and was elected Vice President. This year, in the Wind Ensemble, I was President. Mr. Fournier, the Wind Ensemble director, expressed interest to me in directing the Pep Band. Supposedly, if he got the Wind Ensemble and Pep Band, he would get a full-time position at UCI as director of bands.
I mentioned this to fellow Pep Band members, and the general reaction from a number of people was that they would quit if Mr. Fournier took over the group. He never did. However, this marked a change in how the music department would view the group. The previous year, they chose to ignore us. This year, we were seen as a stepping stone in one man's advancement.