Defining Season!

Recruiting can't really be assessed until at least December 21st, early signing day. We are on a good track, but we have a long ways to go. Recruiting is the dominate reason to being successful on the field. It's why Napier was able to get the Cajuns on top of the SBC. It wasn't because Napier had a highly sophisticated, tricky approach to the game, he was very basic in fact. Great defense and a solid running game with few turnovers. It wins a lot of games, especially against the G5, not so much against the P5 teams (that's another topic).

Dr. Maggard strayed away from what was successful on his first Head Football Coach hiring and he gambled with an in-house hire. We will see if it works out, and I truly hope it does, because I want our Football program to be on a national level. We all knew the potential was there, for so many years we waited, and we were fortunate to finally get there the past 2 years. We have an easy schedule, especially the first 4 games, so it's possible to get a good start to our season. I can't wait to see what our new Cajuns look like on the field.

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Originally Posted by ULGrad@HOU

. . . Dr. Maggard strayed away from what was successful on his first Head Football Coach hiring and he gambled with an in-house hire. . .

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Just curious as to what specific facts are in your possession at this time to allow you to come to this conclusion that this hire was a gamble as opposed to the previous one when it was made.

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Originally Posted by ULGrad@HOU

Recruiting can't really be assessed until at least December 21st, early signing day. We are on a good track, but we have a long ways to go. Recruiting is the dominate reason to being successful on the field. It's why Napier was able to get the Cajuns on top of the SBC. It wasn't because Napier had a highly sophisticated, tricky approach to the game, he was very basic in fact. Great defense and a solid running game with few turnovers. It wins a lot of games, especially against the G5, not so much against the P5 teams (that's another topic).

Dr. Maggard strayed away from what was successful on his first Head Football Coach hiring and he gambled with an in-house hire. We will see if it works out, and I truly hope it does, because I want our Football program to be on a national level. We all knew the potential was there, for so many years we waited, and we were fortunate to finally get there the past 2 years. We have an easy schedule, especially the first 4 games, so it's possible to get a good start to our season. I can't wait to see what our new Cajuns look like on the field.

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I don't think anyone would suggest that recruiting isn't the key ingredient of any program's success. But once those recruits get to campus, you must have a good staff in place,and coordinators to put the players in the right positions for success. Game management is something you just don't learn on the sideline, it's learned through preparation and game experience. New head coaches still have learning curves, it doesn't happen instantly.

I do disagree with the opinion that, "Dr. Maggard strayed from his successful hiring model he used for Coach Billy Napier." You can only say it was success viewing the hire from today's lenses, no one knew he would be successful here. And, you can't say his decision to hire Coach Desormeaux from within the program is not a good decision because he had not coached one regular season game yet. There is no evidence that it will be looked at in the future as a poor hire simply because he hired from within the program.

I see parallels between the Mike Desormeaux and Billy Napier hires as head coach. The most glaring difference is the obvious one you mentioned, one hired outside the program and the other from within the program. But both were hired from successful models, Napier from Alabama and Desormeaux from the same model his predecessor installed here.

Billy Napier had no resume as a head coach, he was terminated from Clemson after a less than successful tenure as the OC. He was a young bright coach that was a position coach at Alabama and received another opportunity seven years later to be an OC at Arizona State. There was no guarantee that he would be successful here at UL.

Mike Desormeaux is another young coach in a similar mode as Napier. He is a former college QB and considered a good recruiter. He was a position coach until last season when he became Co-OC. He's been schooled and groomed under Billy Napier, in the very system he installed here. So I see many similarities between the two men.

Now I understand the concern of hiring within the program, given our history as an athletic program. But, neither Dr. Maggard or Mike Desirmeaux were part of that history and, both of them deserve the opportunity to be judge based upon their performances today.

I'm just ready to get this party started!!! Can't wait!!

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Originally Posted by ULGrad@HOU

Recruiting can't really be assessed until at least December 21st, early signing day. We are on a good track, but we have a long ways to go. Recruiting is the dominate reason to being successful on the field. It's why Napier was able to get the Cajuns on top of the SBC. It wasn't because Napier had a highly sophisticated, tricky approach to the game, he was very basic in fact. Great defense and a solid running game with few turnovers. It wins a lot of games, especially against the G5, not so much against the P5 teams (that's another topic).

Dr. Maggard strayed away from what was successful on his first Head Football Coach hiring and he gambled with an in-house hire. We will see if it works out, and I truly hope it does, because I want our Football program to be on a national level. We all knew the potential was there, for so many years we waited, and we were fortunate to finally get there the past 2 years. We have an easy schedule, especially the first 4 games, so it's possible to get a good start to our season. I can't wait to see what our new Cajuns look like on the field.

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I’m certainly not saying Napier didn’t recruit well, but he won A LOT of football games with A LOT of players he didn’t recruit here. I think you are under valuing Napier’s process he installed here. We are actually just now about to find out how well the Napier Regime recruited.

CMD has an opportunity to build on the system in place and make it his own. We did well with Napier, however we are still searching for that notch in the belt P5 win. I still think we could have beat Texas last season with a little more creative play calling on offense. I think that was my biggest critique of Napier, he was too conservative at times.

There will be challenges, but at this point our new head coach and staff need our support and haven't had an opportunity to show us the product on the field.

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Originally Posted by CajunT

I don't think anyone would suggest that recruiting isn't the key ingredient of any program's success. But once those recruits get to campus, you must have a good staff in place,and coordinators to put the players in the right positions for success. Game management is something you just don't learn on the sideline, it's learned through preparation and game experience. New head coaches still have learning curves, it doesn't happen instantly.

I do disagree with the opinion that, "Dr. Maggard strayed from his successful hiring model he used for Coach Billy Napier." You can only say it was success viewing the hire from today's lenses, no one knew he would be successful here. And, you can't say his decision to hire Coach Desormeaux from within the program is not a good decision because he had not coached one regular season game yet. There is no evidence that it will be looked at in the future as a poor hire simply because he hired from within the program.

I see parallels between the Mike Desormeaux and Billy Napier hires as head coach. The most glaring difference is the obvious one you mentioned, one hired outside the program and the other from within the program. But both were hired from successful models, Napier from Alabama and Desormeaux from the same model his predecessor installed here.

Billy Napier had no resume as a head coach, he was terminated from Clemson after a less than successful tenure as the OC. He was a young bright coach that was a position coach at Alabama and received another opportunity seven years later to be an OC at Arizona State. There was no guarantee that he would be successful here at UL.

Mike Desormeaux is another young coach in a similar mode as Napier. He is a former college QB and considered a good recruiter. He was a position coach until last season when he became Co-OC. He's been schooled and groomed under Billy Napier, in the very system he installed here. So I see many similarities between the two men.

Now I understand the concern of hiring within the program, given our history as an athletic program. But, neither Dr. Maggard or Mike Desirmeaux were part of that history and, both of them deserve the opportunity to be judge based upon their performances today.

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I respect your opinion T. I disagree, it was a huge difference in hiring process. Des has very little experience as OC, very little experience outside the program, zero experience in a P5 program under various highly successful mentors, a fraction of the personal connections with other coaches across the country. Des has 1 mentor, in our own program. Not even close in my eyes. Even though, I'm not saying he won't or can't be successful. Maybe he will be and I certainly hope so.
I think it's clear, it was a hire to try and reduce the chances of a coach jumping ship quickly by using the Cajuns as just a stepping stone, minimize the financial risk, and attempt to keep the program with similar characteristics and staff. The last part was shaken a bit, and we will see how it all works out.
You and several others have a personal attachment to Des. I don't. I watched him play as our QB and was a fan of his tremendous efforts, mainly his running ability. I have a personal attachment to UL. I only want to see the program be as best as it can be. Again, if he can transition into a very good HC for the Cajuns, I'm all for it. I will be critical of the program as I was with Napier if I think it warrants it.

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Originally Posted by crazycajun

I’m certainly not saying Napier didn’t recruit well, but he won A LOT of football games with A LOT of players he didn’t recruit here. I think you are under valuing Napier’s process he installed here. We are actually just now about to find out how well the Napier Regime recruited.

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I think Napier brought valuable depth (recruiting) to our program that we never had before. I agree, he utilized many of our existing players. He also placed an emphasis on defense, like we never had before. In all my years of watching the Cajuns (and it's a bunch), we have never played defense like the last 3 years.

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Originally Posted by ULGrad@HOU

I think Napier brought valuable depth (recruiting) to our program that we never had before. I agree, he utilized many of our existing players. He also placed an emphasis on defense, like we never had before. In all my years of watching the Cajuns (and it's a bunch), we have never played defense like the last 3 years.

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What I mean is, he took somebody else’s players and brought us more success than we ever imagined, that’s a process and a system.

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Originally Posted by crazycajun

What I mean is, he took somebody else’s players and brought us more success than we ever imagined, that’s a process and a system.

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Understand, agree.