Re: CUSA Officials at the Bowl game
interesting read when Scott Farmer was hired
Do you think there's a ceiling here?
[Chuckle] No, I don't. I think the sky's the limit. I see a great community that embraces UL, and the Ragin' Cajuns. I see a community made of strong businesses, and business leaders who are very anxious to support their local institution. Going through the parking lot at UL games, people come up and say, "I got a check here and I don't know who to give it to." Trust me, you don't get that everywhere in the country.
It's just a great community with great people, and great students... 17,000 is really a good-sized university, and it's probably going to grow. This is a place coaches can recruit to. We have some facilities that have to be taken care of, but as soon we get that done, then we'll be able to greatly enhance our recruiting. Because the first job of a coach is to recruit, and everything follows from that.
On a personal level, we thought Lafayette was just a great place to raise a family. I have an 8th grader and a 5th grader, and the educational and cultural opportunities afforded to them here are just fantastic.
Did anything about Lafayette and UL surprise you?
The gracious reception that the Farmers have received in Lafayette has really surprised me. People have opened their homes, their tailgating parties, their camps, and their hearts to us. And I have said repeatedly, we're not planning to leave Lafayette anytime soon, maybe never.
What's your vision here? What are your goals?
My goals are to position this athletic department to accept membership in the best conference that comes calling. I'm not knocking the Sunbelt by any means, it's a good conference. But there are changes coming in the future, conferences are going to shift, and we don't want UL to be left out because 5 years earlier we hadn't positioned ourselves properly. So I want to position the Athletic Department-- meaning the budget, the facilities, the teams, the attendance-- so that we can be ready for whatever opportunities appear, and whatever conferences come looking.
Do you have any idea what UL's future conference might look like?
No. But I think ADs around the country are starting to realize the importance of regional competition. It's almost like we're going back 50 years, when all conferences were regional. I think you're going to see that attitude, that philosophy, come back. I think you'll see us playing schools like Houston, Rice, USM, Tulane, and Tech, because regional opponents excite people, and bring people to the games. Even LSU saw some of their biggest crowds when they hosted UL. Whatever conference we end up in, I think you'll see us trying to schedule more regional games.
What does UL need to get into another conference?
There are two things that are critical: fundraising, and facilities. Facilities help us recruit, and recruiting helps us move up to the next level. But to get the facilities, we need the fundraising.
We hope that this Spring we'll announce some big news concerning fundraising and capital projects; not just one announcement, there are several large very projects in the works.
Tell us about the internal changes that have taken place since you've arrived here.
First of all, we've already reorganized the Athletic Department, and tried to align jobs and tasks with the strength of individuals in the Department. At the same time, we're trying to cover some of our pressing needs. And our internal assessment, quite honestly, showed where our true weaknesses are. We are hopeful that with fundraising, we'll be in a position to approach the Administration for more staff.
Internally, we're also looking at all of the UL marketing inventory that has been outsourced, and we're trying to evaluate where we are and how we can do things better. We want to publish our own schedule cards, posters and produce a lot of our other materials.
We need to control our product.
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Originally Posted by Hammer58
