2007 Football preview and offseason fan talk

[McNeese72]

_
IMO the university has in effect passed up hundreds of thousands of dollars giving away prime spots along Bertrand and Congress for free over the last several years. I am like everyone and want a lot for not much, but if UL is ever going to put the finance problems to the rear it needs to take advantage of all it's assets fully. _

McNeese makes good money on our reserved spots and there is usually a pretty good waiting list to get one. Actually, our tailgating situation grew when we started having paid tailgating spots because people knew they could reserve a spot and it would be there for them Sat. no matter when they came. Before that, we had people parking vehicles in the primary areas on Wed. and Thur. just to save the spot they wanted.

We've even talked about getting electricity and water hookups for all our tailgating spots (and, of course, raising the season fee to cover it). I'd love the electricity because it would get rid of all the damn generator noise.

There are also other areas where they could expand the paid tailgating but the administration hasn't yet even though some of the fans have pushed for it.

Doc

[Damon]

Ohhh, those are tailgating pictures. When I first glanced at them, before I read the post, I thought, 'well that must be fun to live in the same parking lot as a lot of other MSU fans.'

HHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!



heh

[Turbine]

If not Blackahm what about across the street between the Lite House and the Hospital?

As soon as UL experiences an uptick in attendance the perfect place for overfow would be between the "Lite Center" and the Hospital that sits on UL land.

Pour some shells, Proactive instead of reactive, charge $5

It football doesn't claim the area soon, it won't be long before there will be a building there and everyone (else) will be walking from Blackham.

jmo

[CajunHeat2]

_ McNeese makes good money on our reserved spots and there is usually a pretty good waiting list to get one. Actually, our tailgating situation grew when we started having paid tailgating spots because people knew they could reserve a spot and it would be there for them Sat. no matter when they came. Before that, we had people parking vehicles in the primary areas on Wed. and Thur. just to save the spot they wanted.

We've even talked about getting electricity and water hookups for all our tailgating spots (and, of course, raising the season fee to cover it). I'd love the electricity because it would get rid of all the damn generator noise.

There are also other areas where they could expand the paid tailgating but the administration hasn't yet even though some of the fans have pushed for it.

Doc _

Thanks for the input 72. We to have selected spots that the school gets paid for, but like I said we need the money, and we need to capitalize on all of our assets.

Tigue Moore field is among the most expensive places I have attended baseball games. I always am impressed in how he constantly wants to upgrade everything,Robe understands you don't give away your assets.

[DestinCajun]

Having a designated area for McNeese tailgaters might prevent some potential conflicts.
Doc _

Doc, I'm sure the National Guard will be out in force for crowd control and suppression of any of those "potential conflicts" you speak of as I'm certain the La. State Police will have the majority of it's resources on I-10 East that day in order to maintain an orderly flow of traffic.

The other thing we'll need is for your man Taillgate to count the attendance like he does at all our games.

[DestinCajun]

_ Ohhh, those are tailgating pictures. When I first glanced at them, before I read the post, I thought, 'well that must be fun to live in the same parking lot as a lot of other MSU fans.' _

I was thinking FEMA village.

[ShowDog]

_ I just hope that we don't live and die by Desormeaux this year.

I realize the dynamic nature of Mike and love the guy. I am just very concerned with his throwing ability and throwing decision making. I know that true athletes tend to pick up on things quickly and I have high hopes that Mike will have taken care of the fundamentals and situational things before Conference games open up. And we can't judge Mike by the 2005 campaign. He was thrown in and had not been preparing to be an every game QB. Due to his obvious lack of confidence in throwing, his instincts took over and we saw brilliance in his scrambling.

I am behind Mike 110% and I think we are a better team with him behind center IF he can throw enough for defenses to not load the box. But if he doesn't or can't, our coaches have to put Hundley in. We can work in Mike other places and he will succeed (see the past two Sun Belt All Purpose awards). I just won't people able to tolerate hard-headedness in the event of Mike struggling at the QB position. If he hasn't shown drastic improvement in his throwing ability at the end of the 2nd conference game or so, Hundley has to go in. He is plenty competent enough and will stretch the field, ultimately opening it up for our bread-and-butter, #32.

Mike is the man. But the coaches (and Hundley) better be ready to make a change if necessary. _

Well said!!

[ShowDog]

_ let me start by saying i think mike will get it done with his arm. The kid can throw the ball, he had alot of dropped passes last year. He knew what he had to work on all spring and summer if he wanted this to be his job. I'm confident he worked on that. I agree if he can't get it he needs to move to wide out/ running back and use his skills that way. However, where i disagree with you, is i think morel should get the nod. He fits our offense better, he is more mobile. Has more game experience and he just over all looked better in the spring. Let's just hope we don't see either hundley or morel b/c that will mean something went wrong. _

According to The Advocate this morning, Des only threw 9 times last year and completed only 2. I don't think a good or bad arm can be determined by 9 thows.

I hope he can throw because with his athleticism, he could be very dangerous with the threat of running or throwing.

[TheFan]

_ I have no problem with you venting. You have asked the same questions that many have asked on this forum and others. I think this coaching staff has to understand that they are now on the clock, thus the changes in staff by coach Bustle. So this staff needs to win games, and a losing season is not going to help this program in any manner.

But before you dismiss the importance of naming Walker as the Athletic Director, let me tell you a few reasons why it was a good appointment. First and formost, Walker has the support of all the coaching staffs in the Cajun Athletic program. In case you missed it, recently coach Robicheaux mentioned that one of the reasons he signed a four your extension was because of Walker and the mans' integrity. Watch closely the next year and see what other coaches might be in line for extensions. Secondly, while Walker is not the high profile personality that you or I would have prefered, he gets results. The scheduling for the football and basketball programs haven't been completed in a more timely manner in years. Negotiations and contracts are on-going for future schedules, infact the football schedule is close to being completed for next year. I can't remember when that was accomplished under the previous Athletic Director. And finally, do you really believe we were going to get anyone that had a proven track record as the athletic director of any successful Div.1A athletic program with our lack of financial funding?

You mentioned Southern Miss. as a model for our program to follow, I think that would be a great program to emulate. But, look at their athletic budget and tell me how many millions are generated from student athletic fees? You can check the other Sun Belt programs outside of Louisiana as well. Once you have done that, please tell me that those dollars are not part of the seperation and are not important. The Cajuns recent income adjustment from the state will not get us even close to the upper income programs in the Sun Belt. So how long can we sustain, or as you have stated maintain in the middle of the pack?

As for recruiting, there is no question we need to win. But I don't listen to talk radio for my recruiting information. I speak to recruits and we are getting alot of positive feedback from some really good prospects. Most of these athletes have mentioned the indoor practice facility and the weight room. We have athletes from Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky considering the Cajun program. So we are not a BCS program, but athletes are starting to look really hard at this program. Winning will take care of the rest.

I don't pretend to have all the answers, but one should look at the whole picture and understand we are not close to were we need to be in the total funding picture. The rest of your questions are going to be played out on the football field and basketball court this year. We need to win, no arguements. _

Great post!!!!!

[CajunNation]

http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...707250348/1006


<<< Waters said the Sun Belt has been approached by three existing bowls about establishing an automatic bid for a Sun Belt team, and one bowl is currently in negotiations with the Sun Belt.

Waters would not identify any of those prospective bowls. However, some likely candidates include the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, N.M. and the Papa Johns Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. >>>