They’ve Given Up

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Originally Posted by Jacob81

I wouldn’t mind having an athletic director or at least one of the minions being a diehard Cajun fan growing up. Not just someone collecting a check. Is anyone in that office a Cajun fan, from the area. Bunch of Yankees running the ship.

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Despite recent issues, Maggard is by far the second best AD this program ever had. No bubbas, they’ll just be yes men from the start.

AFA making premium seating on the east side, they tried that a decade or so ago under Hud. Didn’t stick. So let’s USL it and repeat what didn’t work. Can’t sell now what you got in the shade.

The best head administrators I worked with were people who hired people that knew what they were doing and got the hell out the way.

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Originally Posted by KajunKrazy

MAT if you think its bad today you should have been around in the late 90s when we had Dr A and he hired fellow CHS Alumn Andrew Dumond for a marketing position. Andrew had come from minor league sports and had some great ideas. It was the first time we had a marketing person for athletics to my knowledge. The fossil shot down every thing he wanted to do to generate money. It was like he hired a guy and wouldn't let him do his job.

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Authement loved micromanaging.

I forget the year but there was one where the State sued Authement because he refused to hire an athletic director opting to handle everything himself.

. . . that would be called Macro Managing, there . . .

Wow...This thread is very disheartening. But I can't say I disagree. I was born and raised in Lafayette and am a lifelong Cajuns fan. I was a freshman at UL in 2011 when Hud arrived. Talk about an awesome year to be a student. Tailgating was amazing. People were attending games. I remember a time where if you didn't get to the student section at least 30 minutes before kickoff you would struggle to find a spot. Lafayette got behind the program. And this University has squandered it all away.

What went wrong? Martin Hall and the administration have received some backlash over the last few years but I don't know enough to comment on it. I personally know multiple long time season ticket holders for multiple sports that no longer have those season tickets. The department has found a way to completely alienate both the die-hards and the casuals. And they're allegedly looking at more ticket hikes and reseating? Is it their goal to completely destroy this athletic program? It's one thing if we were selling out stadiums. If that's the case then sure, supply and demand right? But that obviously isn't the case. We could make tickets free and still wouldn't come close to a sellout at Cajun Field. Things will only get worse at his rate. Dark days lie ahead.

I'm interested to hear the next podcast. When will it be up?

Disheartening? It's worse than that. What airing this out does is terribly hurt those who have been working SO FRICKIN' HARD to overcome the problems stated by MAT and others. A certain segment of our fan base does this over and over again.

Again, quit griping and go to work. Airing this out publicly does ZERO in a POSITIVE sense for coaches, players, donors, and others who are working their butts off for our university. There are people who are seriously contributing TIME, EFFORT, and more importantly FINANCES here at LOUISIANA. This hurts their efforts.

This has happened ad nauseum for the entire history of Louisiana athletics. I tried that. Others have tried. It has done nothing positive, ever. Robe did not whine. He never did.

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Originally Posted by ManAboutTown

Won’t market. Wont sell. Won’t listen. Won’t interact. Won’t implement real solutions. Won’t shoot people straight. Won’t adjust. Won’t work.

Can’t protect media market. Can’t gain trust of the community. Can’t understand that the messaging is paramount. Can’t engage with the general population. Can’t grow the RCAF. Can’t get acceptable gear to the fans. Cant resurrect tailgating. Can’t figure out a mascot. Can’t think ahead.

They want to be App and USM, want to charge the prices of App and USM, but they’re unwilling to understand the people of Acadiana are different and respond to different things. They don’t want to do the work that it takes to get that level of support, either.

Is it NIL? Is it changing landscape of collegiate athletics? Is it incompetence? Does Maggard have one foot out of the door? Maybe all of the above but one thing is very clear: They’ve given up.

And I’ll explain on my final Ragin Review show with Gerry and Nick coming soon.

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It is fine to move on Matt to other things, but Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. Cajuns sports is bigger than the admin and coaches. I am confident after this football season and the stadium renovation Cajun Football will be at a special place going forward.
Thank you for your hard work and dedication to push the brand across the land.
Geaux Cajuns until I die!

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Originally Posted by UL_Cajuns

It is fine to move on Matt to other things, but Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. Cajuns sports is bigger than the admin and coaches. I am confident after this football season and the stadium renovation Cajun Football will be at a special place going forward.
Thank you for your hard work and dedication to push the brand across the land.
Geaux Cajuns until I die!

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MAT never gave up and never will. He stated they gave up, not him.

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Originally Posted by MountainDew

Wow...This thread is very disheartening. But I can't say I disagree. I was born and raised in Lafayette and am a lifelong Cajuns fan. I was a freshman at UL in 2011 when Hud arrived. Talk about an awesome year to be a student. Tailgating was amazing. People were attending games. I remember a time where if you didn't get to the student section at least 30 minutes before kickoff you would struggle to find a spot. Lafayette got behind the program. And this University has squandered it all away.

What went wrong? Martin Hall and the administration have received some backlash over the last few years but I don't know enough to comment on it. I personally know multiple long time season ticket holders for multiple sports that no longer have those season tickets. The department has found a way to completely alienate both the die-hards and the casuals. And they're allegedly looking at more ticket hikes and reseating? Is it their goal to completely destroy this athletic program? It's one thing if we were selling out stadiums. If that's the case then sure, supply and demand right? But that obviously isn't the case. We could make tickets free and still wouldn't come close to a sellout at Cajun Field. Things will only get worse at his rate. Dark days lie ahead.

I'm interested to hear the next podcast. When will it be up?

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They have to actually do the podcast first.

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Originally Posted by RaginScotsman

Geez. What’s this group like when we’re losing instead of enjoying a pretty long and steady streak of success across multiple sports? :)

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How successful are you if you're losing fans/attendance across the board while winning games?

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Originally Posted by jaxmc1023

How successful are you if you're losing fans/attendance across the board while winning games?

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Bingo!!!

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Originally Posted by jaxmc1023

How successful are you if you're losing fans/attendance across the board while winning games?

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Fair point. Separating winning on the field and off it. Just saying it could be worse. Could be losing both. Then this place gets even more positive.

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Originally Posted by Louisiana84

Disheartening? It's worse than that. What airing this out does is terribly hurt those who have been working SO FRICKIN' HARD to overcome the problems stated by MAT and others. A certain segment of our fan base does this over and over again.

Again, quit griping and go to work. Airing this out publicly does ZERO in a POSITIVE sense for coaches, players, donors, and others who are working their butts off for our university. There are people who are seriously contributing TIME, EFFORT, and more importantly FINANCES here at LOUISIANA. This hurts their efforts.

This has happened ad nauseum for the entire history of Louisiana athletics. I tried that. Others have tried. It has done nothing positive, ever. Robe did not whine. He never did.

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No. I’m not gonna grin and bear it while watching friends and family who have been fans anywhere from 5-50 years step away from Cajun athletics because of how disconnected from this fanbase the university/athletic department have become. They are NOT working to restrengthen those connections.