Something I noticed about Jay Walker & BEV

[CajunRebel]

This athletic program has never been able to "seize the moment." Money, bricks, extra seating, raising salaries, and capital campaigns only go so far. Until you knock off a major team every now and then, you will never get the respect you are thirsting for. I have followed UL athletics for a while, and every time one of the major sports has the opportunity to take the next step the ball is dropped. I'm not sure why this happens but it always does. We have been told that our recruiting is on another level, I have some reservations about that. So we can talk about improving facilities, X's and O's, and the name issue all we want. But until you knock off Florida like you had a chance to do two years ago, until we win a NCAA game in basketball, and until we win a Super-Regional like we could have it all doesn't matter.

You've got to build the foundation to compete with these schools.

[Bandwagon King]

The saints loss was disappointing and worthy of discussion as always but while the Cajuns were not necessarily expected to go in and win at Ole Miss, the nature of being "big time" is to not get destroyed like we did and that certainly deserves discussion as well. The fact that we haven't been competitive the last two games is what is weighing on people's minds, not the fact that we lost both games.

This- Thank you.

[Bandwagon King]

The goal is obviously to become big time, but I think people have a gross misunderstanding of how much time, money, momentum, and effort it takes to become big time. We've still got a ton of work to do before we start recruiting on the same level as other "big time" programs.

I don't think it's a gross misunderstanding. And I don't think we are "So Far Away" talent wise. And that's what bothers me. There isn't anyone on this board who can tell me that Jamal Robinson, Elijah McGuire, Harris,half our O Line, Juicy, Trae Johnson, Anyama, & several others which I've omitted couldn't play on any fricking college roster in this country. They just aren't playing together like a team on either side of the ball long enough to put scoring drives together, or stop anyone for three straight downs, or turn the ball over enough to give our guys a chance to be competitive. A lot of this has to do with guys buying their own preseason hype & it doesn't matter where that hype came from. When you allow your guys to buy into the belief that you can give 65% effort & not walk away with your behinds severely kicked by another team which is just as talented, or even more talented giving 100% effort the whole time, then you have a discipline problem.

When you can't cover gravy with rice while not putting any pressure on the QB because your too busy rushing three & four against five from the very same spot & the very same angle play after play, then you have a scheme problem. Couple that with not ever throwing the ball down the field more than we do with better success any more because we quite simply haven't taken the time to develop our receiving corps, tight ends, or our QBs any more than we have. Then you have a philosophy problem.

I hate to say it. And I would love to be the last to say it. But I aint guessing. I already know. This staff took it's foot off the pedal a while back. And they've been coasting ever since. I don't give a rip about twenty seven wins & three New Orleans Bowls. Football is a what have you done for me lately sport. And I I'm not seeing much right now for the money we're dolling out. The problem is when you appear to be going in this direction, then before it rears its head for the public, its usually been going on in private for a while. And it is highly unlikely it will be corrected in the middle of the season.

[CajunSaint08]

Not that this thread hasn't already gone completely off topic from the original post....Jay Walker not talking about the Cajuns after a lost, but I do have a question with regards to Cajuns, conference association, and recruiting.

And this may not be the best place to ask, but here goes.

Would being associated with another (more prestigious) conference (other than CUSA) automatically upgrade the Cajuns recruiting possibilities? Would conference affiliation get the coaches foot in the door of more 4 star and 5 star recruits?

Or no matter the conference, UL will always get the same type of athletes with an occasional 3 star billing?

Just curious?

[Bandwagon King]

Not that this thread hasn't already gone completely off topic from the original post....Jay Walker not talking about the Cajuns after a lost, but I do have a question with regards to Cajuns, conference association, and recruiting.

And this may not be the best place to ask, but here goes.

Would being associated with another (more prestigious) conference (other than CUSA) automatically upgrade the Cajuns recruiting possibilities? Would conference affiliation get the coaches foot in the door of more 4 star and 5 star recruits?

Or no matter the conference, UL will always get the same type of athletes with an occasional 3 star billing?

Just curious?

Brother, I think your questions are totally appropriate for this thread. The underlying point of the thread was that there has been very little to zero Cajun football talk promoted on BEV the last six sessions. So to subsidize the lack of leadership at the local media level a few of conscientious posters have taken it upon themselves to discuss the shortcomings of this Cajuns team in a deeper way without fear of retribution from the powers that be. To me the bottom line is as long as people are talking at least they're not walking. Its when the talking stops that the panic alarm should go off.

[ManAboutTown]

You're reading me wrong here. I'm not saying you shouldn't criticize the coaching staff. You should. It's on them and them alone.

And no, I certainly don't consider Tech to be big time.

I'm talking about program building here. It's one thing to rise above Sun Belt, MAC, and C-USA schools. Its not that hard to do since these schools have about the same resources we do. It's a much different thing to start to compete with and beat SEC and Big XII schools. That's big time. They have big time stadiums, facilities, prestige, and money. We're not going to start out recruiting those schools any time soon. I think lots of people here had unrealistic expectations about us competing with these major conference schools. We're not there yet. I think we have a chance to get there, but that's a much, much bigger mountain to climb.

After the 3 previous seasons, a win against Tech and competing (like we did with Blaine in Ok St and TB at Florida) in the Mississippi game,you would not be making this statement.

[CajunRebel]

Not that this thread hasn't already gone completely off topic from the original post....Jay Walker not talking about the Cajuns after a lost, but I do have a question with regards to Cajuns, conference association, and recruiting.

And this may not be the best place to ask, but here goes.

Would being associated with another (more prestigious) conference (other than CUSA) automatically upgrade the Cajuns recruiting possibilities? Would conference affiliation get the coaches foot in the door of more 4 star and 5 star recruits?

Or no matter the conference, UL will always get the same type of athletes with an occasional 3 star billing?

Just curious?

I think it absolutely would help recruiting.

The Sun Belt is part of our problem. When you get an offer from a Sun Belt team and a SEC team, there's not much to decide on.

[CajunRebel]

After the 3 previous seasons, a win against Tech and competing (like we did with Blaine in Ok St and TB at Florida) in the Mississippi game,you would not be making this statement.

I would.

That's a huge mountain to climb. Huge. And we only decided to start climbing a few years ago.

[ManAboutTown]

I would.

That's a huge mountain to climb. Huge. And we only decided to start climbing a few years ago.

I hear you, but it's one thing to have consistent success against big time programs and a completely different (and not unrealistic expectation) thing to compete. Have the game
In doubt pass the first 5 minutes.

[CajunRebel]

I hear you, but it's one thing to have consistent success against big time programs and a completely different (and not unrealistic expectation) thing to compete. Have the game
In doubt pass the first 5 minutes.

Define compete?

Are you looking for moral victories here?

[Bandwagon King]

Define compete?

Are you looking for moral victories here?

Short of winning, HELL YES! that's exactly what I'm looking for. Because those moral victories tell me as a fan, a player, or a coach that while I'm not where I want to be, I sure as hell aint where I was. Here's a toast to moral victories. The only ones who have no use for them are champions, & idiots. Until we're national champions I'll take moral victories all day long. That is unless I already knew I could have won & was winning, & didn't win because I took the ball out of my kids hands.

For the record: I had no problems with the moral victories of our baseball & softball programs last season. While we're at it, I didn't have any problem with the moral victory our basketball program had. And I don't recall Jay having any problem with those either.

[ManAboutTown]

Define compete?

Are you looking for moral victories here?

I qualified my comment. 2 of the 3 times we
Played Okie St, we competed Reb. In Cajun field, 21-17 at half. When we went to their place and BG played well, we were in that game for the majority of it. We COMPETED. LaTech dominated us in our own facility. Ole Miss had 250 yards AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTERRRR.. There's nothing moral about it.. You can't do that against air.