Phil Steele on the Ragin' Cajuns

[NewsCopy]

Phil Steele expects to see improvement from UL's football team next season. At least, that's what he predicted in his 2008 College Football Preview. Steele picks the Ragin' Cajuns to finish fourth in the Sun Belt Conference standings next season. He has defending conference champion Florida Atlantic in first, followed by Troy and UL Monroe. Even though UL plays four of its seven conference games on the road, Steele said the Cajuns are "one of the most improved teams in the country giving them a shot at bowl eligibility." The rest of the story Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • July 8, 2008

[IHateLaState]

Well its almost time for football so let me chime in.... 4th in the worst football conference in America is NOT acceptable in year 7 of this regime.... If those predictions hold up we had best not even have a debate... It is time for a new coach...

[cajun4life]

Well its almost time for football so let me chime in.... 4th in the worst football conference in America is NOT acceptable in year 7 of this regime.... If those predictions hold up we had best not even have a debate... It is time for a new coach...

When your entire athletic budget ranks around 200 or even lower then you get what you pay for. Until we triple our athletic budget so we can go out and actually pay a head coach a decent salary we will continue to struggle.

[cajuns67]

Monroe, Mcneese ??????????

[NOCajun]

_ When your entire athletic budget ranks around 200 or even lower then you get what you pay for. Until we triple our athletic budget so we can go out and actually pay a head coach a decent salary we will continue to struggle. _

Do NOT forget that UL's budget is, and always HAS BEEN larger than Mon-Ro's and yet they have OWNED us for the last several years!!!

[Hammer58]

_ Do NOT forget that UL's budget is, and always HAS BEEN larger than Mon-Ro's and yet they have OWNED us for the last several years!!! _

Jack its not that much larger. The kind of differential it takes to make that much of a difference between two programs is much larger than that. And while Monroe may have the edge on us in head to head games they have yet to have a winning season in D1A.

[DestinCajun]

_ _

Looking at a football program in July and trying to say what its record will be in December reminds me a bit of people standing in front of an abstract painting and having different ideas about what it really is.

In this case Phil Steele looks at the 2008 version of Ragin' Cajuns football and pretty much sees the same things I see. If we learned anything at all in 2007 the experiences should translate into smarter ball and better results.

[Sharp Square]

This should be a very interesting season for cajun football , i would hope to see some vast improvements from last season esp on defense and i agree some of last seasons expereinces should be learned from but guess well have to wait and see. I think the present regime have done a fiar job over the years but maybe they have taken the program as far as they can and new leadership may not be such a bad thing , i also agree that the expectations of the program shouldnt grow outside its means and a budget increase is severly needed. If we finish in the area that mr steele is projecting then i would consider it a so-so season at best with as always some disappointment , and although i appreciate what coach bustle has done and his hard work i wouldnt be against change.

[cajun4life]

Monroe, Mcneese ??????????

What about Monroe and McNeese?

ULM beat us and we had over 200 more yards on offense than they did. That tells me we were a softer team than them, mentally and physically. McNeese, well we choked period no excuses. Having the second lowest budget in 1a does not warrant dominance over 1aa or other bottom budget teams. We are 2nd to last in the country in overall athletic budgets, Ghandi couldn't coach this team to a 10 win season.

[CrazyCajun]

_ What about Monroe and McNeese?

ULM beat us and we had over 200 more yards on offense than they did. That tells me we were a softer team than them, mentally and physically. McNeese, well we choked period no excuses. Having the second lowest budget in 1a does not warrant dominance over 1aa or other bottom budget teams. We are 2nd to last in the country in overall athletic budgets, Ghandi couldn't coach this team to a 10 win season. _

if you read the post he was responding to, i pretty sure he is trying to say that having the 2nd to lowest budget in america is no excuse. because monroe kicks our ass in football on a consistent basis and we all know what mcneese did. monroe managed to defeat the almighty nick saban in bama with the lowest budgeted program in america and we get smashed at our own house by mcneese. not beat, but smashed! its always something with this coaching staff or should i say bustle. well, we played pretty good for awhile but we just couldnt pull it off or you know i thought we moved the ball well,at times, but penalties and turnovers killed us. defense played well offense didnt, the offense played well the defense didnt. or how about my favorite when your 1-6 and we had a whole new 5 games season. we were undefeated in this new 5 game season. every preview that you read says we have the talent in place to make a run, if we dont who's fault you think that is?

[DestinCajun]

"because monroe kicks our ass in football on a consistent basis" _ _

They did in '06, '02 and '99.

We've flat out given them a bunch of close games (like '07) and they took them.

[cajun4life]

if you read the post he was responding to, i pretty sure he is trying to say that having the 2nd to lowest budget in america is no excuse. because monroe kicks our ass in football on a consistent basis and we all know what mcneese did. monroe managed to defeat the almighty nick saban in bama with the lowest budgeted program in america and we get smashed at our own house by mcneese. not beat, but smashed! its always something with this coaching staff or should i say bustle. well, we played pretty good for awhile but we just couldnt pull it off or you know i thought we moved the ball well,at times, but penalties and turnovers killed us. defense played well offense didnt, the offense played well the defense didnt. or how about my favorite when your 1-6 and we had a whole new 5 games season. we were undefeated in this new 5 game season. every preview that you read says we have the talent in place to make a run, if we dont who's fault you think that is?

Like I said in my post, athletics in college is a business. You get what you pay for. Buslte is doing the best job he can do, is he the right guy for the job? Probably not at this time but he was the right guy when he took over. There is not a person on this planet who can sustain success at UL with its current bidget. Can he win 2 or 3 years in a row? Sure, but Spurrier, Saban, Miles, Carrol, and any other top tier BCS coach could not win with a total budget that is less than current contract will pay them.

2 games, that is all it takes for LSU to make more money than our entire budget. Still some people on this board assume that we can compete year in and year out with our current budget, is ludicrous. It will take 1.5 million dollars in salaries to get high quality head coaches and assistants to change the culture of Cajun football. Our OC/DC should be paid what Bustle is currently making, it was a miracle that we were able to lure Buslte away from Va Tech, hell he was probably making more money there than he is here.

It is time that UL's athletic department pony up the dough so we can compete.