Coach Napier's EXit

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Originally Posted by Jacob81

I think more than money, Napier will eventually leave because this fan base has proved it won’t support a successful program.

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Of all of the his accomplishments, this has to be one of his biggest disappointments. At the end of the day, fan support solves many problems and engenders all things positive for a program.

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Originally Posted by HOUCajun

Butler and Mitchell could also leave for the draft

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If they do, it would be a bad decision, based upon history. On average 90-95 underclassmen declare for the NFL draft over the past 5 years. The average number drafted is less than 30 and the G5 underclassmen drafted average less than 5 and those are mostly within the first two rounds.

Unless they REALLY need the money, the odds of them being drafted are slim and then they are going the UDFA route, which is usually better than a 6th or 7th round pick, in terms of making the team.

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Originally Posted by SlickRick

Of all of the his accomplishments, this has to be one of his biggest disappointments. At the end of the day, fan support solves many problems and engenders all things positive for a program.

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I realize the south Louisiana/Lafayette economy hasn’t fully recovered but definitely agree that the performance over the past 3 seasons support should be stronger.
Fingers crossed for a strong finish with all Saturday game days.

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Originally Posted by shof

I realize the south Louisiana/Lafayette economy hasn’t fully recovered but definitely agree that the performance over the past 3 seasons support should be stronger.
Fingers crossed for a strong finish with all Saturday game days.

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The family 4 pack is such a steal. People would just rather spend their money elsewhere. Especially after covid taught us all we really don’t need sports or need to be at a sporting event. Honestly I don’t think we need more than 25k seats after the renovation. 25k plus the hill is perfect. It is a shame though that the best 3 year stretch in football history is averaging below 20k in that span. The kids and staff deserve better.

The mid-week game kills us. Also, it would be nice to play someone at home other than Ohio, Idaho(U Da Ho), New Mexico St., or the like. I'd love to watch us play Memphis or Houston, Tulane or Tech, at Cajun Field on a Saturday NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Cajun_RAP53

The mid-week game kills us. Also, it would be nice to play someone at home other than Ohio, Idaho(U Da Ho), New Mexico St., or the like. I'd love to watch us play Memphis or Houston, Tulane or Tech, at Cajun Field on a Saturday NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

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Coming soon to a Cajun Field near you...USM, Marshall, ODU, JMU...you get the idea...

Well, we are getting an education on scheduling from the CFP committee.

Scheduling 2 P5 schools, including a top 10 program, and winning both is not enough to get into the playoffs.

However, it might be the new minimum to make a NY6 Bowl.

Schedule accordingly.

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Originally Posted by Jacob81

I think more than money, Napier will eventually leave because this fan base has proved it won’t support a successful program.

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6 good weather Saturday home games we would be averaging close to 30k a game.

What is your expectations for attendance?

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Originally Posted by Million$Mullet

The family 4 pack is such a steal. People would just rather spend their money elsewhere. Especially after covid taught us all we really don’t need sports or need to be at a sporting event. Honestly I don’t think we need more than 25k seats after the renovation. 25k plus the hill is perfect. It is a shame though that the best 3 year stretch in football history is averaging below 20k in that span. The kids and staff deserve better.

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Always a “fun” debate. I do agree that “today” we don’t NEED 41,000 seating capacity. Heck, there are several P5 stadiums smaller than CF. But we also can’t go crazy making it much smaller. I think we all pretty much agree that the modernization effort with slightly reduced capacity will meet our needs for now. As many have stated, make it a place people want to be and the entertainment dollars should follow; especially with the current product. But we definitely need to fill it more than once every couple years! And I know I’m being generous with that statement….

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Originally Posted by shof

Always a “fun” debate. I do agree that “today” we don’t NEED 41,000 seating capacity. Heck, there are several P5 stadiums smaller than CF. But we also can’t go crazy making it much smaller. I think we all pretty much agree that the modernization effort with slightly reduced capacity will meet our needs for now. As many have stated, make it a place people want to be and the entertainment dollars should follow; especially with the current product. But we definitely need to fill it more than once every couple years! And I know I’m being generous with that statement….

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So yeah, I think the ~35K goal is a good one. If....once....attendance improves, we can add an upper deck on the east side, and even over the sez if needed.

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Originally Posted by LaCajunsFan

So yeah, I think the ~35K goal is a good one. If....once....attendance improves, we can add an upper deck on the east side, and even over the sez if needed.

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Hahaha. Hwat? Dude, quit dreaming. MDM is on the $ with 25k, and that will be plenty. Create a demand and people will fill it. Local sidewalk fan can't find a ticket? Great! Makes having season tickets more important.

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Originally Posted by Esqueleto

Hahaha. Hwat? Dude, quit dreaming. MDM is on the $ with 25k, and that will be plenty. Create a demand and people will fill it. Local sidewalk fan can't find a ticket? Great! Makes having season tickets more important.

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Don’t worry, he doesn’t even know where we play the next three weeks . .
Small number . . . Create demand . . . Look good . . .

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Originally Posted by Esqueleto

Hahaha. Hwat? Dude, quit dreaming. MDM is on the $ with 25k, and that will be plenty. Create a demand and people will fill it. Local sidewalk fan can't find a ticket? Great! Makes having season tickets more important.

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At 25k we would have had 2 sellouts this season. You guys act like we have anything but a losing tradition.

Hudspeth gave this program a tiny glimpse of what it can be like. Napier is building the foundation of this program. Give it time. We have 35 plus years of neglect to make up for. It doesn’t happen overnight.

In fact if we get 5 Saturday home games, with good weather and Napier still the coach next season. We will average over 30k per game. Especially if the game times are at 4pm or 6pm.

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

At 25k we would have had 2 sellouts this season. You guys act like we have anything but a losing tradition.

Hudspeth gave this program a tiny glimpse of what it can be like. Napier is building the foundation of this program. Give it time. We have 35 plus years of neglect to make up for. It doesn’t happen overnight.

In fact if we get 5 Saturday home games, with good weather and Napier still the coach next season. We will average over 30k per game. Especially if the game times are at 4pm or 6pm.

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Want to bet?

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

At 25k we would have had 2 sellouts this season. You guys act like we have anything but a losing tradition.

Hudspeth gave this program a tiny glimpse of what it can be like. Napier is building the foundation of this program. Give it time. We have 35 plus years of neglect to make up for. It doesn’t happen overnight.

In fact if we get 5 Saturday home games, with good weather and Napier still the coach next season. We will average over 30k per game. Especially if the game times are at 4pm or 6pm.

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That’s why I said 25k seats with overflow on the hill. Could fit another few thousand on there. I’d rather have 20k really nice chairbacks with 5-7k bench style seats for the student section.

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Originally Posted by Esqueleto

Want to bet?

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Absolutely!!!

You understand that we need 15 more wins to be a .500 program right?

What everyone here is seeing is not the peak of this program. Yes, we can’t win much more than 10-12 games a year. But this program is in its infancy stages of winning tradition.

Nicholls 26k
Texas St 28k
ULM…..good weather 28-30k
SBC Champ game…good weather 30k+

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

Absolutely

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This ought to be interesting . . . Just trying to set the parameters . . .

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

Absolutely

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Probably a very safe bet. The chances of Louisiana having five Saturday home games next year start just about nil and go down from there.

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

At 25k we would have had 2 sellouts this season. You guys act like we have anything but a losing tradition.

Hudspeth gave this program a tiny glimpse of what it can be like. Napier is building the foundation of this program. Give it time. We have 35 plus years of neglect to make up for. It doesn’t happen overnight.

In fact if we get 5 Saturday home games, with good weather and Napier still the coach next season. We will average over 30k per game. Especially if the game times are at 4pm or 6pm.

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Since there is < a 1% chance we have:
5 home games
With good weather
In the desired time slots

I guess I agree with you?

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Originally Posted by SlickRick

Of all of the his accomplishments, this has to be one of his biggest disappointments. At the end of the day, fan support solves many problems and engenders all things positive for a program.

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I am not as worried about this as some. Reason is all our mid week games. 2 of the 3 have occurred 5 days after a Saturday home game making it difficult to promote. Our 2 Saturday games would have both been sellouts at Tulane. Would be interesting to see what the support would be with only 1 midweek home game. Now if we get to host the championship game with good weather and it is not well attended, he will be disappointed.

I am at the point in life where attendance don't mean much. I sit with one on my left and one on my right. So that's sold out. I read here that some say "scale down because of our attendance, others say build for the future of having 40K. I would hate to think if we sold out at 25K and 10K are outside wanting tickets to get in.....

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Originally Posted by Rainman66

If they do, it would be a bad decision, based upon history. On average 90-95 underclassmen declare for the NFL draft over the past 5 years. The average number drafted is less than 30 and the G5 underclassmen drafted average less than 5 and those are mostly within the first two rounds.

Unless they REALLY need the money, the odds of them being drafted are slim and then they are going the UDFA route, which is usually better than a 6th or 7th round pick, in terms of making the team.

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Max Mitchell projects as a fourth round pick. He won't return.

Not sure why folks want to have a stadium that isn't at capacity. Build it for 25k people, having a sell out every game with people looking for tickets is exactly what you want. Otherwise there isn't much pressure for fans to buy season tickets when they can always get them elsewhere. IMO you always want the demand to be a bit more than the supply when it comes to sporting events.

Think back when the Icegators were selling out games every night of the week. It was the it thing to do and people either bought season tickets or you missed out on lots of games. You can't tell me that we can't sell out 5-6 home games/year in football when hockey was selling out 4-5x that many games/year on a regular basis. That's the kind of demand you want from our football team and stadium capacity.

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Originally Posted by Cajunsmike

I am not as worried about this as some. Reason is all our mid week games. 2 of the 3 have occurred 5 days after a Saturday home game making it difficult to promote. Our 2 Saturday games would have both been sellouts at Tulane. Would be interesting to see what the support would be with only 1 midweek home game. Now if we get to host the championship game with good weather and it is not well attended, he will be disappointed.

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I am assuming tickets for the championship game will be expensive. So there won’t be companies handing out hundreds of tickets, and McDonald’s promos. Will 40k people rally shell out 30-40 bucks to watch UL? I HOPE so. But I have my doubts.

Hopefully students will be let in for free. If not…

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Originally Posted by BananaHammock

Not sure why folks want to have a stadium that isn't at capacity. Build it for 25k people, having a sell out every game with people looking for tickets is exactly what you want. Otherwise there isn't much pressure for fans to buy season tickets when they can always get them elsewhere. IMO you always want the demand to be a bit more than the supply when it comes to sporting events.

Think back when the Icegators were selling out games every night of the week. It was the it thing to do and people either bought season tickets or you missed out on lots of games. You can't tell me that we can't sell out 5-6 home games/year in football when hockey was selling out 4-5x that many games/year on a regular basis. That's the kind of demand you want from our football team and stadium capacity.

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BINGO! This man gets it