Bustle!!!

[DestinCajun]

It was somewhat close for a while. Also USM is no Auburn. Put down the Kool aid and pickup a cup of coffee.

90, how about being the first to send in your big check to go towards the buy out.

[HoustonCajun]

_ 90, how about being the first to send in your big check to go towards the buy out. _

That is UL's problem, no money guys to get us over the hump. We rely on minimal contributions and low attendance to salvage the smallest budget in 1A. Most schools don't nickle and dime everything and operate on a shoestring budget like we do. Even LA Tech has people they can turn to to pick up a buy-out and hire a new coach. Most schools don't settle for 15 years of ineptitude. Only at UL. Dr. A killed any large donars and we have no attendance, so where is the money coming from? I sure hope Dr. S says enough is enough. And, I hope some of the big money people in Lafayette step up and say to Dr. S, OK what does it take to turn this around. If UL has to rely on the average guy for significant contributions to change things, we will be having this same conversation in another 15 years. That said, once the big boosters put up the big dollars to turn this around, the average guy can make a difference with season tickets and attendance at games. You won't see that difference now because there is no incentive to attend games and see another debacle like last year vs. McNeese. It seems like every time we take a major step forward like the IPF and new Turf, we take two steps backward with a humiliating loss, to USM this year, McNeese and ULM last year. And, that is our plight under Bustle.

[CajunPride]

This was a horrible week. I played the worst round of golf in over a year. My golfing buddy said it was hard to focus on the game beacuase of hurricane anxiety. No matter what I kept mishiotting the ball.
The bus to Hattiesburg was late leaving and it took 6 hours to make a 4 hour trip. More talk about hurricanes than football. Nothing went right in the game . Our team gets off to a slow start./ Monsoon starts hitting with the second half kickoff.
Bottom line. I give Bustle and the whole team a pass this week. You can call it a mulligan or a pardon. Whatever. I am not one to make excuses, but Hurricanes can cause a multitude of problems that do not always make sense. If I do not see immediate improvement, I will be working with you to make a coaching change.

[derf]

I don't buy the hurricane anxiety one bit. What's it going to be next week, post-Gustav distress disorder? The team got their butt handed to them in a hat plain and simple. The reason for this is because ole noodle arm still can't throw a pass to someone without looking him down the whole way. But I don't really blame Dez one bit. Why you may ask? Because the guy should be playing corner or wide out. And if he must be in at QB, then we must go to a true option game. He's too fast to be a pocket passer and way to inaccurate.

Next on the list is Juice Williams. If we thought Fletcher cut up our "defense". just wait. Look our guys are shell shocked. If one thing goes wrong they lose confidence. Anyone at the game Saturday could see that. That is a sign of poor coaching. It's the old adage, "Show me a guy who's afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time".(Lou Brock if you're wondering) Our guys are just too used to getting beat and that's a big problem to overcome. And I really don't think our coaching staff has the ability to get these players' heads right.

I hope I'm wrong.but I doubt it.




A bend in the road is not the end of the road. unless you fail to make the turn.

[Kernel]

How much garbage are we to take as fans? I can't stomach this any longer. Bustle has had MORE than enough time. After 6+ years, we are still one the worst programs in 1-A.

HE MUST GO. This cannot be tolerated any longer.

[HoustonCajun]

_ I don't buy the hurricane anxiety one bit. What's it going to be next week, post-Gustav distress disorder? The team got their butt handed to them in a hat plain and simple. The reason for this is because ole noodle arm still can't throw a pass to someone without looking him down the whole way. But I don't really blame Dez one bit. Why you may ask? Because the guy should be playing corner or wide out. And if he must be in at QB, then we must go to a true option game. He's too fast to be a pocket passer and way to inaccurate.

Next on the list is Juice Williams. If we thought Fletcher cut up our "defense". just wait. Look our guys are shell shocked. If one thing goes wrong they lose confidence. Anyone at the game Saturday could see that. That is a sign of poor coaching. It's the old adage, "Show me a guy who's afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time".(Lou Brock if you're wondering) Our guys are just too used to getting beat and that's a big problem to overcome. And I really don't think our coaching staff has the ability to get these players' heads right.

I hope I'm wrong.but I doubt it.




A bend in the road is not the end of the road. unless you fail to make the turn. _

I hate to say it, but it looks like Bustle got a break from the hurricane in that there is no QB Club and Press Conference this week following the debacle in Hattiesburg. No direct questions to Bustle and he is not directly on the hot seat with the boosters. The players aren't even back in Lafayette yet and practice won't likely start until Thursday or Friday. So, Gustav was on the minds of the players last week and interferred with practice this week. He is already looking for a repreive for the first two games of the year. We will limp into Cajun Field vs. Kent State before a packed house of 12,000 - 14,000and 0-2. Not unexpected, just demoralized at the level of readiness and actual play vs. USM. I didn't catch a score on Kent State's opener vs. Boston College. They also play Iowa State this week and Delaware State prior to UL.

BTW, I don't know if anyone noticed in the Football Media Guide, but the schedule on the back cover does not match the schedule on page 88. The ULM and N. Texas game dates are reversed, although they are both away games. By the time we play our second home game of the year vs. Ark. State (who beat Texas A&M last week), we will have played 6 games, 5 of which were away. Based on our first game, that does not bode well for UL.

The other thing I noticed is that there are very few postings this week on this board following the USM game. I fear total apathy is finally settling in. If apathy does in fact settle in among us diehards, there is little hope for the rest of Lafayette and Acadiana. The university would do well to address this matter soon.

[CajunFun]

Ricky Bustle must be let go at the end of this year if not before. Our administration must pony up the dough and pay a real coaches salary and start a new era in Cajuns Football. This move should have been made last year.

Absolutely.

You and I know more about what's going on back there than those fools who do this day in and day out.

We should turn the University over to casual fans. Then UL will be one of the great universities of the world.

I'm behind you 100% on this.

[RCAJUN90]

_ 90, how about being the first to send in your big check to go towards the buy out. _

I thought Bustle was such a great guy he would just step down? I'll pay what I can to get rid of this parasite. We should have never given him an extention!

[Corndog308]

_ Ricky Bustle must be let go at the end of this year if not before. Our administration must pony up the dough and pay a real coaches salary and start a new era in Cajuns Football. This move should have been made last year. _

As my wife ALWAYS preaches to meYou get what you pay for. We need to by us a Cadillac instead of a Geo Metro.

[USLJim]

_ Ricky Bustle must be let go at the end of this year if not before. Our administration must pony up the dough and pay a real coaches salary and start a new era in Cajuns Football. This move should have been made last year. _

Always the athletic department fork out the money, always the wealthy alum fork out the money. If you want Bustle gone, I suggest you fork out a couple of thousand dollars to release him. All I read is let someone the University needs to do it. Hey until we get everyone involved in a RCAF, I can't see spending a couple hundred thousand dollars on something like this. Granted, I am disappointed also, but where are we gonna get that kind of money at this point with all the uncoming improvements to Cajun Field, Baseball, & Softball. You want to jeapordize having those improvement delay so you can fork out a couple $100,00o away. I am still not convinced we are gonna have a bad season. I was at USM, and was disappointed but we have 11 games left.

Geaux Cajuns

[Damon]

The other thing I noticed is that there are very few postings this week on this board following the USM game. I fear total apathy is finally settling in. If apathy does in fact settle in among us diehards, there is little hope for the rest of Lafayette and Acadiana. The university would do well to address this matter soon.

This is why you will see no movement on the coaching situation until post-season 2010.

No one cares any more. No one, that I can see, is organizing a private fund to fire/hire because, as fans, we feel it will be fruitless.

[CajunZ1]

_The other thing I noticed is that there are very few postings this week on this board following the USM game. I fear total apathy is finally settling in. If apathy does in fact settle in among us diehards, there is little hope for the rest of Lafayette and Acadiana. The university would do well to address this matter soon. _

The lack of posting is more of a function of the hurricane than apathy. However, your point is still valid.

Microcosm of UL sports:
We score and make it 28-14 with momentum possibly shifting. Less than 2 minutes left. Our defense folds like a lawn chair and we go into half down three scores. Even for a die hard closet optimist like myself, the game was not worth watching anymore after that.

One of my LSU buddies decided to bet on the UL game so he listened to it on the radio, and he made this comment: "UL's commentator seems like he will just flip out at any moment. and understandably so"

I thought that was funny. Is that how you felt Jay? Cause lord knows I did!

[TheRaginCajun06]

I was fortunate enough to be attending UL at the beginning of Bustle's Era.

So much promise and hope going into the seasons. We had huge pep rallies and Cajuns football was a buzz. Slowly but surely that all got away from us. The last few seasons have been horrible. The nail in the coffin to me was the loss against McNeese. That was our chance to show the world we were ready to play. I thought before that I would never see a sell out at Cajun Field. Now my best chance of seeing that atmosphere is at a local high school game.

It's over for Bustle. He had his chance and a long chance at that. Now is the time to bring in someone with fire and passion.

I'll never forget a conversation I had one night with some OL at the Bulldog. I asked them if Bustle was tough on them. I asked because it seems he's always making excuses for the players. The response I got was that he doesn't strike any type of fire into the players. One guy told me that his high school coach would have screamed and yelled and made them run for hours if they made some of the mistakes made at UL. Even the team is complacent with losing. It's really become a culture. We aren't supposed to win this week, so if we lose it's no big deal. That's what it feels like.

[zephyr]

_ Always the athletic department fork out the money, always the wealthy alum fork out the money. If you want Bustle gone, I suggest you fork out a couple of thousand dollars to release him. All I read is let someone the University needs to do it. Hey until we get everyone involved in a RCAF, I can't see spending a couple hundred thousand dollars on something like this. Granted, I am disappointed also, but where are we gonna get that kind of money at this point with all the uncoming improvements to Cajun Field, Baseball, & Softball. You want to jeapordize having those improvement delay so you can fork out a couple $100,00o away. I am still not convinced we are gonna have a bad season. I was at USM, and was disappointed but we have 11 games left.

Geaux Cajuns _

I am also not convinced that our season is lostYet. I truly believe these young men can turn it around and that we do have enough talent to make some things happen. However, it is going to cost us a lot more than a couple hundred thousand dollars to correct the current situation. If you want a truly worthy coach to come here, you're going to need to spend in the neighborhood of at least $400,000 and really it needs to be more like $600,000. Jeff Bower has been a popular name coming to mind but his salary at USM was $700,000 plus incentives and not counting his asst. coaches. I don't think we pay that for our entire coaching staff. This administration AND the supporters need to be prepared to do what is necessary to put up rather than shut up if we want a better coaching staff

[zephyr]

_ This is why you will see no movement on the coaching situation until post-season 2010.

No one cares any more. No one, that I can see, is organizing a private fund to fire/hire because, as fans, we feel it will be fruitless. _

If you are referring to Bustle's contract, that is not necessarily true. He has an extended two years ONLY if he meets certain criteria like getting a winning season and/or winning conference which would probably coincide with one another. If he has a losing season this year, we can fire him without any financial penalty.