Football 1973

[Turbine]

0-10

With a severe loss of talent and senior leadership coach Faulkinberry installs a new type of offense.

Unfortunately the kids did not learn the offense in the first year, and regardless of his long string of winning season coach Faulkinberry was given no leash at all. He was fired by a new administration.

[California Cajun]

In football for 1973, they went with a Senior quarterback (Rolando Surita of Eagle Pass, TX) who had been a running back his whole collegiate career. Early in the season he separated his shoulder and was out for the year. If the best you can do at QB is a converted running back, that will tell you something about the talent depletion from a team that had gone to a bowl game three years earlier and was 5-6 the year before.

One the guys who sits close to me at Cajun Field (the only ex-player in my area that survived the Baldwin era) played on the 0-10 team and said he liked Russ Faulkinberry but the team as a whole thought he was too tough. Someone told me there was dissention in the ranks because Faulkinberry had tried to get the Vanderbilt head coaching job, his assistants were trying to become his successor, Faulkinberry didn't get it, so everybody was unhappy. Faulkinberry's demise was death without dignity, like dying a slow death from a long illness or disability.

The USL president, Dr. Clyde Rougeou, resigned (probably because of the basketball scandal). Dr. Authement's first year was 1973-74, where he was president on an interim basis. He was officially made the president in 1974-75.

The AD, Whitey Urban, who was there during the golden years of basketball, had to resign and to succeed him Dr. Authement, then a young-looking 43-years old, hired one of Faulkinberry's ex-players, 29-year-old Merle "Toby" Warren. One of the sportscasters, I believe on TV 3, did an editorial expressing the opinion that Warren was too young for the job. Warren was asked on TV if he was going to fire Faulkinberry and he said, "We're 0-8." Faulkinberry was asked to resign and to finish out the last two games of the 1973 season was Dan "Sonny" Roy.

The last two years under Stokley and the three years of Baldwin are the closest reminders I have to the 1973 season in terms of the feelings of apathy and despair.

[Turbine]

After a final game victory in 1972 over the #10 team in the country (college division) it was still decided changes were due in the offense.

It takes more than one year for a completely new offensive philosophy to gel. Coach Faulkinberry was fired way to soon, he simply was not given a chance.

During the season they lost star players to injury such as Mike Bayer, Oliver Mitchell, Delbert Deville, Robert Gill, Randy McDonald, Cleo Samuels and Neal O'Brien.

[Bankruptcyman]

Also remember that the nucleus of the 1976 football team that went 9-2 were the freshmen that stayed from the 1973 team that went 0-10. It was incredible that anyone could have stayed after the 1973 debacle, but many did and were rewarded 3 years later.

[Boomer]

Remember we went to the wishbone in '72 and did not play too well but beat Mc Neese in our last game and Russ's last win----Ahhh it was bad during the '73 year the longest nite of my life--- after Toby fired Russ We stayed at the Athletic center just about the whole night!!!!