Assign Robert Lee the Lady Cajuns head coaching job.

[CajunProud]

_ The mistake was the rewarding of a 2 year extension for only going .500 even though you had the luxury of being in a mediocre conference.

jmo


igeaux.mobi _

I agree, but whos fault is that? Certainly not Coach Lee's. If you were offered an extension on your job, you would take it in a heartbeat, especailly in a profession where loyalty from your employer is only as good as your W-L record.

The mistake in my opinion is the ______ poor leadership in the administration.

[rhineaux]

The AD may decide to simply let Lee play his contract out, and then look for a guy in 2010. (hopefully not, because this board would surely be in full on psycho lockdown mode!) _

This goes back to what I said yesterday about this being a program that should be thought of in terms of 5 and 10 years down the road, and not in terms of the next 6 months. By doing what you mention, the AD would be gambling that that this lame duck year wouldn't cost the Cajuns more than the 150k in the long run from increased fan apathy and from them running the program below the Baldwin line and it costing that much more to get it back to a respectable level. You're gambling that all the fans would come screaming back after that year, and that you'd still be able to find a quality coach that would want to pull a program from an even deeper tank. I think that if Lee is kept, then program damage may begin to increase exponentially, if it's not already. You're also implying to fans that you're not willing to make the investment for the future. If you're not willing to invest the $$ to improve the program, then why should they invest their $$ in tickets, concessions, advertisements, etc.

If the AD were to pull something like that, then he might as well put the program on hiatus for a year, because the program is losing money as it is. If you're that concerned with pinching that many pennies, and you are going to have a lame duck season with minor fan interest and almost 0 income from outside sources, then at least you could suspend play so you could save money on rent, travel, scholarships, and anything else.

And about the extra money to hire someone else...I have to believe it's there. If I'm not mistaken, Cyprien's offer was 190-200k. Since then, the athletic budget has increased about $2-3MM per year. So one would think that since they have more to work with now, they SHOULD be able to afford better than $200k. Especially since they've known since the Lee hire was made, that an increase in pay would be on it's way, whether it was going to Lee for being successful, or to his successor. And secondly, I would find it hard to believe that all of that budgetary increase is spent. I know that as a whole, this Ath Dept doesn't make much money, if it's not in the red, but I have to think that some of that money was put aside for emergency situations like this. If I'm wrong or off-base on this logic, then someone please inform me.

[HoustonCajun]

_ i know the 40k in last nights ticket sales cannot be applied directly. Take 4000 less fans over a period of 20 home games,take half of the season tickets and throw them out the window if you keep him. take a good chunk of the donations and throw them out the window. just like that 40k cant directly be applied, its not cut and dry that we dont have the money. i promise you if the administration was willing to move on and buyout lee and had a good coach willing to come here, we will find the money. talk recession all you want but everyone knows that lafayette has more money than it knows what to do with. somebody will step up and buy out his contract. now if you dont think that robert lee will cost us more than a 150,000 by staying next year your crazy.As i have said before i dont think it is all lee's fault. i think this team quit on him several times. its time for a change. people are tired of seeing the same ol crap from this administration. we are talking about 150k not 1.5 million. _

If we can't afford to straighten out this mess, what the hell are we doing in 1A? I mean, all we ever do is scrape the bottom of the barrel, exist at the minimum level to call ourselves 1A, never have the money needed to do anything, end up with some of the worse programs in the country, and we all spend our time moaning and _____ing about how lousy things are at UL, and I am one of the biggest culprits. I am getting tired of all of this and won't put up much longer. It is time clean this crap up, make a committment to excellence and turn this whole thing around, or just admit who and what we are and drop down a level so we can afford to maintain status quo at our current level of mediocrity. It is now time to s*** or get off the pot.

[ZuluCajun]

_ Buyouts are a part of college athletics.

But unfortunately oil is only like 40 bucks a barrel and there's a ton of money being cut from our budget.

What if we simply can't afford it? _

We can't aford not to do it. If 3 to 4 thousand fans stay home for each game,that revenue adds up fast. And when you factor in the long term damage to the program, you must correct an obvious problem. This coach is
not getting to his players, and that cannot be tolerated.

[Clutch0364]

People think we are psycho right now over this situation, think about this...he finishes 15-15 next year. With how this admin has worked it wouldn't surprise me if he got an extension

[Turbine]

_ Turbine
MY FRIEND. I can't believe that you said that. You need to rest buddy. Those long early hours are a killer if you don't take some time off. LOL.
FormerHeadRaginCajun
HeadBearCat _

You are right I do need a rest. It even crossed my mind that you might come back. OK I can wish can't I?

Actually I was trying to come up with a way for only State funds to be used by avoiding a buyout.

[Clutch0364]

How about moving him into a position of academic affairs of athletics or something to that nature. He has done good with getting the guys to class and what not... I know the budget probably isn't there for this but maybe.

[RaginFan2]

_ If we can't afford to straighten out this mess, what the hell are we doing in 1A? I mean, all we ever do is scrape the bottom of the barrel, exist at the minimum level to call ourselves 1A, never have the money needed to do anything, end up with some of the worse programs in the country, and we all spend our time moaning and _____ing about how lousy things are at UL, and I am one of the biggest culprits. I am getting tired of all of this and won't put up much longer. It is time clean this crap up, make a committment to excellence and turn this whole thing around, or just admit who and what we are and drop down a level so we can afford to maintain status quo at our current level of mediocrity. It is now time to s*** or get off the pot. _

I am in total agreement with you on this! Let's do something or quit pretending.