Bustle!!!

[DestinCajun]

_ I understand your POV. I guess I am saying if I want to compete and my employee is extremely underpaid, even to most high school jobs, then I have to raise the base regardless of the perceived quality of the coach. So we have to find the scratch which is why the RCAF is 20 years behind the money curve, but we still have to find the scratch. _

It's kinda like comparing what La. pays teachers vs what Tx. pays teachers as a way of explaining why so many more La. teachers move to Texas to teach instead of the other way around.

That has nothing to do with how they perform in the classroom which is a separate matter altogether which IMO is more Zephyr's issue.

[RaginFan2]

_ It's kinda like comparing what La. pays teachers vs what Tx. pays teachers as a way of explaining why so many more La. teachers move to Texas to teach instead of the other way around.

That has nothing to do with how they perform in the classroom which is a separate matter altogether which IMO is more Zephyr's issue. _

You're right, it is 2 separate issues. I think you can raise their pay without it being a "reward" for mediocrity. You can call it a cost of living adjustment.

[Cajun Express]

_ It's kinda like comparing what La. pays teachers vs what Tx. pays teachers as a way of explaining why so many more La. teachers move to Texas to teach instead of the other way around.

That has nothing to do with how they perform in the classroom which is a separate matter altogether which IMO is more Zephyr's issue. _

Last time I checked we had a lot of coaches we wanted to retain moving to Tx, Fl, and such. The way they see it is they need to be paid closer to the going rate.

I just do not subscribe to the idea that paying a teacher more makes them a better teacher, but paying better teachers more definitely makes keeping them in the fold a lot easier.

For the past several years we have been WAY out of the money loop, and to believe you are going to get better coaches, recruiters, and coordinators with less money is just plain STUPID. Not saying you won't get a diamond in the rough, but don't count on finding too many like that.

Now to this staff? If you think they do not deserve a pay raise, fire them, and be prepared to bring in somebody who you think deserves the pay raise that you will absolutely have to pay in order to get most of them.

I understands Zephyr's issue, I think it is wrong minded. The issue is not should we reward THIS crew, but we must reward any crew we think deserves to be here.

[RaginFan2]

I understands Zephyr's issue, I think it is wrong minded. The issue is not should we reward THIS crew, but we must reward any crew we think deserves to be here. _

Again, I don't see this as an issue about "reward". I think it is about "keeping up with the Joneses" or, more accurately, "catching up to the Joneses". I see this as a necessity to keep from falling further and further behind. Many on this board talk about wanting to be competitive at the D1-FBS level, but then squawk when we discuss the need to raise the coaching staff's pay. Like some others here have said, "you gotta pay to play" (at least to play competitively)!

[Hammer58]

_ Last time I checked we had a lot of coaches we wanted to retain moving to Tx, Fl, and such. The way they see it is they need to be paid closer to the going rate.

I just do not subscribe to the idea that paying a teacher more makes them a better teacher, but paying better teachers more definitely makes keeping them in the fold a lot easier.

For the past several years we have been WAY out of the money loop, and to believe you are going to get better coaches, recruiters, and coordinators with less money is just plain STUPID. Not saying you won't get a diamond in the rough, but don't count on finding too many like that.

Now to this staff? If you think they do not deserve a pay raise, fire them, and be prepared to bring in somebody who you think deserves the pay raise that you will absolutely have to pay in order to get most of them.

I understands Zephyr's issue, I think it is wrong minded. The issue is not should we reward THIS crew, but we must reward any crew we think deserves to be here. _

Nor will you likely keep them around for long even if you do find them. I think we have a couple on staff right now. We need to keep them. that is why we need to increase the salaries. Like you said earlier, if you lose these guys you are gong to have to pay more for their replacement and there is no guarantee that the replacement will be as good much less better than the coach you lost.

[UL_Cajuns]

_ I don't know about extensions but I think they definitely need to be ready to give out raises at the end of the season. We need to make sure we keep the staff intact. I'm afraid we may lose some really good assitants to other programs if we are not ready to boost their salaries. I'm not suggesting that we would or should be able to outbid BCS programs but we should not lose them to other mid-majors. _

Please no extensions. We need to win on a consistent basis. We all see what happenned after tieing for a sunbelt championship in 2005 and giving Bustle an extension. We went back to losing. Now we are back winning.
Bustle seems to work better under pressure.

[RCAJUN90]

_ Please no extensions. We need to win on a consistent basis. We all see what happenned after tieing for a sunbelt championship in 2005 and giving Bustle an extension. We went back to losing. Now we are back winning.
Bustle seems to work better under pressure. _

Most people work best under at least a little pressure. I'm upset because I didn't know the man was under contract till 2011? That is fine if it is with certain goals he needs to meet. If it is just a blank extension.

[zephyr]

_ Most people work best under at least a little pressure. I'm upset because I didn't know the man was under contract till 2011? That is fine if it is with certain goals he needs to meet. If it is just a blank extension. _

It is a blank extension with additional extensions built in. After that year, if he has a winning season he gets another year. If he wins the conference and goes to a bowl, he gets 2 years.

[RaginFan2]

_ It is a blank extension with additional extensions built in. After that year, if he has a winning season he gets another year. If he wins the conference and goes to a bowl, he gets 2 years. _

You sure you don't mean a "blankety-blank" extension?

[zephyr]

_ You sure you don't mean a "blankety-blank" extension? _

What the hell was I saying????? I've confused myself. Anyway, he is under contract until 2011 when the winning incentives kick in where he would automatically be given an extension for either 1 or 2 years depending on how well the team wins.

[CajunT]

_ Again, I'm not trying to overreact to anything. After the program has gotten to where it did the last several years, I was one of the last people to be calling for Bustle's job. To the contrary this year where we've played tremendously, I'm not ready to all of a sudden give out raises. I simply want to see consistency as a fan and contributor. I would be much more willing to do so after another solid year next year. These assistants aren't all of a sudden going to be hot coaching prospects after a .500 or winning season. You had ULM beat Alabama and have a winning season but you didn't see the other programs ravage through their coaching ranks. I just believe that we should be patient with our expectations and our rewards. _

I hate to correct you, but I believe ULM lost two very good assistants at the end of the season. One was hired at Arkansas and the other at Ole Miss. So yes, those two coaching losses have impacted their program. You can look at our situation, and our two new hires have certainly played a major role in what has taken place on the football field this year.Assistant coaches do play a major role in a program and ours are not paid well at all period. Getting them up to a reasonable salary is not rewarding them, but paying them as close to the going rate as possible.

[CajunT]

_ First of all, I think this staff as a whole is grossly underpaid but again, I'm not sure about the raises. These other coaches, I don't recall any leaving for much better offers except for Anderson who went to USM. I didn't get a chance to form an opinion of him since he was gone after one season and was credited with getting this offense to run for 3,000 yards in a season but look at wha they are doing without him. Coach Pry went to Memphis but he was one of the coaches let go by Bustle. As far as Jenkins goes, I think he is one of the most important coaches we have. Beyond his duties, remember, he's really the guy that recruits for us. He is the reason we landed Yobes Walker when other bigger programs could have had him and you could say the same for about a dozen players or so. He hits the trail hard and seems to maintain contact with many of those who we really want.

In regards to the raises, I think this is a delicate situation. My stance is that it is hard to reward one season out of so many disappointing seasons. The one thing that coach Bustle has not been known for is consistency. We win 4 here and lose 5 there. In these 6 win seasons, we either had a large losing streak or a large winning streak. I'm not saying I would be speaking out against it, but rather put an incentive out there to build upon what we've done. Now, if we were to somehow win out, go 8-4 and win the NO bowl, then I think I would have no argument since that is an unbelievable turnaround in one year and this staff would be well worth a fat raise. _

Except for those that were terminated, all have left for more money. Coach Bartel and Jennings are two that come to mind.

[CajunAlan]

_ Please no extensions. We need to win on a consistent basis. We all see what happenned after tieing for a sunbelt championship in 2005 and giving Bustle an extension. We went back to losing. Now we are back winning.
Bustle seems to work better under pressure. _

If we win keep winning, we will be losing our coaches to other school before we are able to keep them.

[RCAJUN90]

_ It is a blank extension with additional extensions built in. After that year, if he has a winning season he gets another year. If he wins the conference and goes to a bowl, he gets 2 years. _

Well if his teams keep playing like they are right now it was a good move. I wonder what we have backing up Fenroy. That back up QB McGuire I believe is a good one. We should not have to rebuild after all this time but simply reload.

[Cajunsmike]

Well if his teams keep playing like they are right now it was a good move. I wonder what we have backing up Fenroy. That back up QB McGuire I believe is a good one. We should have to rebuild after all this time but simply reload.

Starting RB next year is likely to be Yobes Walker. He is being redshirted this year after being one of the top backs in Houston last year.