2016: Alden Report Released by University of Louisiana Athletics

I have always wondered why we don't utilize the communications department for camera angles at our games. It would be great training for the students and a benefit for the sport it is covering.

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Originally Posted by Duggie35

Lot's of good stuff in that report. It is apparent that what some have said here for years is true. In some cases you have to spend money to make money (marketing, investing in production equipment, etc.)!

It will be very interesting to see how quickly, and to what degree, the administration moves on some of these suggestions.

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Agree Duggie35, there are number of things that this report has stated and have been discussed on this forum many times. 1) Better Football scheduling, Game Day Management and Sponsors, Branding and potential revenue (student fees and reseating). None of us have backgrounds in sports administration, but it's been clear for years now that had we had people capable of doing these minimal task as our competition has had, we would be much further along in development. Sadly this report only reinforces what I've thought has been our problem for sometime now in the athletic department, the lack of leadership and competency at certain levels.

Two good things moving forward, we have the roadmap and we will retain the services of these consultants. Now let's see what we can do with this master plan going forward.

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Originally Posted by LaCajuns_fan

Much to absorb in just the 'Branding' section, but so far this really sticks out to me:

"LARC" as a 'ticker' instead of ULL. LARaginCajuns.

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Interesting that he talks about the importance of branding us as LOUISIANA, yet throughout the report, he calls us Louisiana Lafayette. You would think he would call us LOUISIANA throughout the report once he made the official reference, like he did using UL. A lot to still digest.

A recap of Ragin' Pagin' ramblings over the last 15 years.

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Originally Posted by LaCajuns_fan

Much to absorb in just the 'Branding' section, but so far this really sticks out to me:

"LARC" as a 'ticker' instead of ULL. LARaginCajuns.

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The fine print under that clearly says that what he meant to say was: "The people UL has been employing in marketing, branding and promoting clearly were moonlighting from their day jobs as donated clothing sorters at LARC."

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Originally Posted by HoustonCajun

Interesting that he talks about the importance of branding us as LOUISIANA, yet throughout the report, he calls us Louisiana Lafayette. You would think he would call us LOUISIANA throughout the report once he made the official reference, like he did using UL. A lot to still digest.

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I had those same thoughts: kudos to him for the UL part, but it is actually just as annoying ...... if not more so .... to have to keep reading la Lft over and over again.

The sections on marketing, branding, advertising, game day management and media production/distribution were an absolutely blistering indictment of the way we do things here. I will be very interested in what changes are made in those areas.

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Originally Posted by VObserver

The sections on marketing, branding, advertising, game day management and media production/distribution were an absolutely blistering indictment of the way we do things here. I will be very interested in what changes are made in those areas.

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My thoughts exactly. Although, it is difficult to find a section that is NOT a blistering indictment of the way we've done things.

So much potential...left sitting on the table.

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Originally Posted by HoustonCajun

Interesting that he talks about the importance of branding us as LOUISIANA, yet throughout the report, he calls us Louisiana Lafayette. You would think he would call us LOUISIANA throughout the report once he made the official reference, like he did using UL. A lot to still digest.

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This gives me the feeling, that although constructive, this report was written by multiple people. The person ultimately responsible did a ____ poor job editing the document when it came to branding THE REPORT ITSELF!

My favorite: "You need to execute this plan and not put it on a shelf."

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Originally Posted by ZoomZoom

This gives me the feeling, that although constructive, this report was written by multiple people. The person ultimately responsible did a ____ poor job editing the document when it came to branding THE REPORT ITSELF!

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Perhaps, but does it change the findings outlining how inept we have been in many areas in our athletic department? We've hired people that actually know how to get things done, the hard truth is going to be hard for some to accept.

$125.00 each semester X 18,000 students x 2 = 4.5 million annually.

But could we get it blessed today?

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Originally Posted by nathancpike

My favorite: "You need to execute this plan and not put it on a shelf."

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Yep! That is the key point. No plan will work if it sits on the shelf.

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Originally Posted by ZoomZoom

$125.00 each semester X 18,000 students x 2 = 4.5 million annually.

But could we get it blessed today?

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We need to quit using lack of student fees as an excuse for doing nothing. Yes, it would be nice to have them, but in the meantime let's go raise an additional 10 million by doing things in our control the right way.

What an interesting pseudonym for Steve Hale to submit a report under.

There's a lot of good recommendations in this report, particularly about branding. My hope is that those in charge don't sit on their hands with these recommendations. Its not exactly ground breaking. But I really like the part about recognizing we have a unique identity as the Ragin' Cajuns, both from the standpoint that there are no other Ragin' Cajuns in the NCAA and that we've got the French influence in the University and surrounding area. These branding recommendations give life to what it means to be a Ragin Cajun. It puts substance behind that brand. The "Where every game is Mardi Gras" is a unique tagline and can push some of what we're about in South Louisiana, into our athletic identity. In marketing, when you've got something totally unique, you rally behind it, make it your strength and PUSH it.

In order to build a strong fan base, you've of course got to strengthen appeal and involvement of our student and alumni bodies. But you've also go to reach out to the casual fan. The "sidewalk fan" so to speak who doesn't have ties to the University but sees whats going on and says "I want to be a part of this". You do that by consistently winning but also by building that strong identifiable brand. People see our logo or hear our name and automatically know who we are and what we're about.

I'm also glad they pushed the mascot portion. Its just somebody in an expensive costume but its important roaming embodiment/characterization of our university. You've got the obvious part, that it appeals to children. Parents take their kids to games and see the mascot, take pictures. You create that appeal early with the kids and create longer term pleasant memories and associations with Cajuns sporting events. Beyond that, a great mascot with a story can resonate with adults and students too. I've been to LSU football games where the Mike mascot comes to the student section and the students high five him, take pictures etc. You also see mascots in commercials. Think of WKU's Big Red. He's unique and gotten their school some notoriety. Cayenne was generally awful. People hated the Ragin' Peppers branding and then there was the question of "Why?" How does Cayenne represent our identity? How do I relate to a pepper as a Ragin Cajun fan?

The question is how do you embody Ragin Cajuns in a mascot? I know we had Cajun Man, but he's not particularly memorable. He was ultimately just kind of a guy. I'm from Shreveport and we had the Mudbugs hockey team. Their mascot was a crawfish named Claude. When I think of a mascot that might work for us, this stands out. A Crawfish represents something we can relate to in South Louisiana and its a unique mascot among NCAA teams. Lets not forget, that April Fools crawfish helmet got quite a bit of press.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7...00/claude4.jpg

Boy, this is definitely a Ragin Pagin thread. A 79 page document that validates, corroborates, and cements what we've all said needed to happen to further our program for years, crafted by outside professionals that have taken a good look at us with a critical eye and made suggestions that will get us there if implemented, and half the posts about it are folks btching about the name.

Never change, you guys.

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Originally Posted by BrockMeaux

Boy, this is definitely a Ragin Pagin thread. A 79 page document that validates, corroborates, and cements what we've all said needed to happen to further our program for years, crafted by outside professionals that have taken a good look at us with a critical eye and made suggestions that will get us there if implemented, and half the posts about it are folks btching about the name.

Never change, you guys.

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LOL!! You noticed that, but it is part of branding.

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Originally Posted by VObserver

We need to quit using lack of student fees as an excuse for doing nothing. Yes, it would be nice to have them, but in the meantime let's go raise an additional 10 million by doing things in our control the right way.

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Really, you can't be serious , others in our conference have a student fee, we're talking about a minimue % increase in tuition. And just where do we find the $10 million. We need to find new donors, we've beat a dead horse to dearh

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Originally Posted by Stabil123

Really, you can't be serious , others in our conference have a student fee, we're talking about a minimue % increase in tuition. And just where do we find the $10 million. We need to find new donors, we've beat a dead horse to dearh

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Student fees have to be voted on by students. There is a less than zero chance of that happening in the current economic environment. TOPS covers tuition NOT fees. As such Universities have gone down that road numerous times and you can't blame them. As such a big part of attending college in Louisiana isn't covered by TOPS and the downturn in O&G has compounded the issue. No way you get 50% of the students and their parents to vote this in right now. So it is a mute point.

Per VOB we just need to move on and figure out what else we can do at this time. Maybe someday we can take another look at a student fee but it isn't happening today.

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Originally Posted by Stabil123

Really, you can't be serious , others in our conference have a student fee, we're talking about a minimue % increase in tuition. And just where do we find the $10 million. We need to find new donors, we've beat a dead horse to dearh

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Most of the new money that will be generated by following the guidelines set out in the proposal will be coming from previously untapped or underutilized sources. We will not be beating the old dead horse. Not that we won't need more from those of us who have been giving, but most will be coming from new sources.

Just one example of a non traditional revenue source covered in the Report. If you enjoyed watching our baseball series this weekend, thank stAte's AD the next time you see him. stAte produced that programing and sold it to ESPN at a profit to provide content for ESPN3. No doubt they used the fact that they were playing us to enhance the value of the product.

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Originally Posted by VObserver

Most of the new money that will be generated by following the guidelines set out in the proposal will be coming from previously untapped or underutilized sources. We will not be beating the old dead horse. Not that we won't need more from those of us who have been giving, but most will be coming from new sources.

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We're all entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts. People with money in this area have stepped up, I asked just where will the $10 million come from , why not increase Tuition by 1 or 2 %, and what are the new sources or in your case I guess we need to find 1,000 people to put up $10,000 each, good luck with that.

Couldn't we just charge every student a ticket fee every semester that gets them into every event? Add a ticket fee as part of tuition. Why would that need student approval? $125 per semester per student is a hell of a bargain. Considering all the sporting events we have in all sports, that would come to just a couple of bucks per event. Why should they automatically get into every event free? Like us, students want to see UL excel and take pride in having a nationally recognized program and degree. A very small price to pay. I work with a Texas A&M alum and he said they did that there, except it was more like $250 a semester.

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Originally Posted by Cajun90

Student fees have to be voted on by students. There is a less than zero chance of that happening in the current economic environment. TOPS covers tuition NOT fees. As such Universities have gone down that road numerous times and you can't blame them. As such a big part of attending college in Louisiana isn't covered by TOPS and the downturn in O&G has compounded the issue. No way you get 50% of the students and their parents to vote this in right now. So it is a mute point.

Per VOB we just need to move on and figure out what else we can do at this time. Maybe someday we can take another look at a student fee but it isn't happening today.

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As someone that has paid a number of fees that TOPS doesn't pay as a parent and continue to do so at this time, it needs to be discussed. I don't argue that the climate is not right today, but when will it be in the future? For too long, our students and parents have paid much cheaper tuition then most other state university students and college students in our region. At some point the fee needs to be addressed and allowed to go to vote. If it does not pass, then students should be charged the public cost for tickets to all sporting events period. Its all part of raising athletic revenue.