Joke? I got one...
No info on our website for our legendary Louisiana Classics Track Meet. Found this on the ULM website...
https://ulmwarhawks.com/documents/20...Meet_info_.pdf
Pathetic. Inexcusable.
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Joke? I got one...
No info on our website for our legendary Louisiana Classics Track Meet. Found this on the ULM website...
https://ulmwarhawks.com/documents/20...Meet_info_.pdf
Pathetic. Inexcusable.
You can make points about the program and the administration without hyperbole and exaggeration. Give credit where things are fine and vent away where there is legitimate concerns. JMOQuote:
Originally Posted by JamesTheJeweler
Few tend comment at length on items they agree with.
So a comment on the portion they disagree with should not be interpreted as not agreeing with what they didn't comment on.
jmo
While it's not a money sport, Track & Field had a LONG successful history throughout its time for the university. In fact, off all the sports, maybe the most long-term success, especially when you look from about 1970-2002(ish). But also a long history of the university and administration (at least from the time I started paying attention) giving zero ____s.Quote:
Originally Posted by CajunNation
So I'm not surprised someone else's athletic website may have more information about the big meet we've hosted every year since I don't even know, than we do on our own.
Objectively think as an SBC G5 athletic director in 2024.
The landscape of college athletics is fundamentally changing on a yearly basis and speeding towards full-fledged semi-professionalism.
Football: Saban's retirement comments and G5 HCs leaving for P2 assistant jobs are the canaries in the coalmine. Our model of finding, developing, and retaining players that fit the culture has been quickly antiquated. You only get one year out of great game-changing players now at the G5 level. That means that every year you could essentially have a new team. How can you fairly judge a football coach when you don't have the resources to retain the players they develop?
MBB: In a conference of 14 teams, only the team that wins the conference is going to the NCAA tournament. Our current HC is not selling tickets, which is not giving us a great home field advantage, which is not helping us attain a high seed that gives us a better chance at winning the SBC tournament. Either find a guy that can or ask the current HC to take a pay cut and ask the RCAF donors paying his salary to divert the released funds to Krewe Allons to attract/retain difference makers.
Diamond sports: Fine for now, but with programs like Oklahoma openly paying softball players $50,000 in NIL/year, LSU buying a #1 preseason ranked team each year, and Greg Sankey actively lobbying for decreased postseason access for G5 teams...not a great long-term outlook.
I'm not excusing the admin, because there's a lot of low-hanging fruit (as Gerry would say) that can be addressed especially when it comes to fan experience...but it's hard to grade them on high-level decisions when college athletics is fundamentally changing on a year-to-year basis.
How Dr. Maggard grades himself is below:
https://ragincajuns.com/sports/2019/10/30/letsgeaux
Two out of the three objectives are academic/student driven. I guess it goes back to what CajunFun was saying weeks ago. What is our goal as a university with an athletic program? Is it to foster and develop student athletes that are a net-positive on society? Or is it to attract and retain the best athletes to compete at a high-level year in and year out. I think in the past it could be a balancing act, but not anymore. And I don't have an answer.
In reference to the person that started the thread and some of the comments afterwards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbine
I remember that thread/statement, and I'll go back to what I said about it. We need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, which means doing what we can, obviously within our budgetary means, to try and foster an environment where the coaches can go out and recruit and get the best OVERALL best athletes possible for their programs. Overall because yes, you ideally want those who are great athletes but not a pain in the ass in the locker room.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedTails
So it's not an either/or debate, or shouldn't be, unless we're too scared to walk and chew gum at the same time. And if we are, then fine. Everyone just get settled in to understand that even amongst our peers in the Sunbelt, our realistic destination is about the 5th-7th best athletic program in the conference. We're going to be passed up QUICKLY, and we already have by some, if we're scared.
Honestly T, I fail to see the exaggeration or hyperbole in his post. This admin is a huge fail.Quote:
Originally Posted by CajunT
So, we suck in Softball and Baseball?Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesTheJeweler
Stay tuned.....we're getting there. To think they can be as inept as they are with basketball and football, but are completely opposite with diamond sports is short sided. Big things coming for baseball soon. This admin deserves EVERY SINGLE BIT of criticism it's getting.Quote:
Originally Posted by CajunT
Like?Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesTheJeweler
Dr. S has done a great job academically moving UL to Carnegie R1 status. What he needs to do now is commit UL athletics to a comparable status athletically. That means increased funding for athletics, demonstrating a commitment to the public, completing total facility upgrades, and making a move for better conference alignment that will change the perception of UL by the public. It will take a combination of academics AND athletics to achieve that. Make the commitment, announce to the public and start a major athletic fund raising campaign, demonstrate that commitment by making certain coaching changes and hirings, change policies that make events more fan friendly, change how events are marketed, address improving the fan experience at games, and let the world know it is no longer business as usual for UL athletics.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cajunrunner
And there is net negative, like this...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...na-rcna143624#
Bro- you keep leaving us hanging.Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesTheJeweler
All of that requires the community/fans putting substantially more financial resources into the program than they do now. That has to be done despite not necessarily assured of immediate success on the field. Are there enough people alive with the means and more importantly the will to do so? That is a question I can’t answer. I will agree we have to do a better job of marketing the program and in ASKING for the help needed.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonCajun
Do you actually think people will support UL financially if the administration and under performing coaches are still employed? That is delusional and not going to happen. I wish and pray it could be different.
Another delusional fan. WW and his team kicked our butts this year as did LA Tech. Maybe if aren't going to make a real commitment to improving the teams on the fields and courts we should go back to the SLC. No one goes to the basketball ball games so I feel sorry for the players.
Marlin is predictable and WW has beaten Marlin twice especially when UL was supposed to have the better team.
Maybe the administration is thinking like this poster instead of doing the smart thing.
somebody is scratching an itch
I used to plan my life around UL football, basketball and baseball. Now I have a huge hole in my life because I will no longer support my university with the status quo.
I guess I have a lot of free time on my hands and money to donate elsewhere.
Louisiana and those similarly situated are really more a victim of the system than they are of themselves unless you let the handful of noisy posters here control the latter. Yes, there are things we could do better, but it is never as bad as portrayed here.
All I can hope as a supporter of Louisiana is that other supporters make up their own minds based upon valid information they source as oppose to most of the yelling that is found here.
Look hard and you will see how few we have controlling the narrative here. Do you want to let those few control your dollars?
I agree that we are a victum of the system that has been created. But to say we as fans need to do better is kind of misleading.Quote:
Originally Posted by CajunVic
The administration doesn’t know what direction to go in. We are spinning in circles. If that’s not the case then they do a terrible job of conveying that to their fans/consumers.
Can we compete with the big 4 conferences?
Do we have donor support that rivals the big 4?
Do we cultivate a new fan base?
Where will NIL money come from?
Who will buy season tickets at ultra premium prices, when we can’t compete financially? When the consumer knows we can’t compete.
What is our identity as an athletic program?
What is the direction of this program as a whole?
There are so many questions that are just hanging out there that everyday normal fans are beginning to ask and we get no answers. Just told to shut up and support us. What does UL Athletics want to be?
If this place is the face of Louisiana, no one should ever become a fan of any sport there. There is no wonder.
Thats not the elephants trunk you are holding on to, its the tail.Quote:
Originally Posted by CajunVic
:;Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbine
Well, it is a hell of a ride if you can hold on.