I don't want to give too much credence to the importance of the Bubas Cup, but there is some related information that does need to be considered when pondering our attractiveness to other conferences. Yes, we all know that football is the major sport viewed when conferences look at an athletic program, but at some point, all the sports a school hosts has to play a factor, especially the success of those sports. Overall, the Cajuns tied for sixth in this year's Bubas Cup. There are 12 schools and 18 sports counted towards the standings, the Cajuns field 16 of those 18 sports.
This year's finish is not unusual for the Cajuns, they normally finish around the middle of the standings. Our success last season came in football (tied for 2nd), softball (3rd), and baseball (tied for 3rd). There were 6 sports in which we were within 3 spots of last place. Two of the teams that finished ahead of us are now gone, we tied for 6th with one of the other two and the other tied for last. Arkansas State and South Alabama normally finish ahead of us in the standings and Western has one more season left with us. With all the other things going against our athletic program, lack of money, substandard facilities, yada, yada, yada, it's also important for us to reach and maintain a level of success in all our programs, not just the "Big 3/5," whatever number you want to put to it.
As we all know, at least I hope we do, money will determine how quickly we advance in our goals for better conference affiliation, better recruits, better facilities, greater success. The two young ladies that are working on the fundraising are meeting with success, as I understand it. It's important for us to give as best we can to RCAF, but also to give leads for businesses that can fund the large sums of money needed for the facilities upgrades listed on the master plan. I hope we are all working hard to make things happen so we can see the improvements in a very short period of time.