Should a coach be held responsible for losing a money game?

[Clutch0364]

_ I have no idea what typical student participation levels are, but it does seem that fewer students attend football games at UL. I have seen this anomally and discussions around it at schools that are drive thru campuses with a large percentage of commuter students. Is this part of UL's problem? Maybe it's an optical illusion because the student section is so large in comparision to other schools?

When activities that heavily feature students are going on, it seems to be the place to be, what role do activities play?

Maybe our marketing research on what fans want, needs to begin with the students? After all, they will become the future generation of UL supporters and fans, let's get it right... _

I don't think it is one of the only reasons but the student section is to big for the demand. It should be made smaller.

[anhil8tor]

I took some "new" cajun fans tailgating and to the game for Southern. When I tell you he had fun.. he had a terrific time. He decided that next year he wants to get 3 tailgating spots and tickets as long as he can six close to me.

I emailed Shivana that Tuesday letting her know about his excitement and if there are tickets avaiable next to mine. I have not heard back from her.


I understand there are things there that can never be fixed. Its time to start now. Lets lay the foundation for our kids and their kids. But how? Who do we contact? Where do we start? I was never brought to a Cajun game as a child. I became a fan attending the University. I make it a point to bring my kids there now.....

[4LSU]

_ While I may not like your affiliation, I have to agree with you. As long as we conrtinue to NOT sell out a 31,000-seat stadium, even when the team is GOOD, we will conrtinue to have to play "money-games". Also, as long as the head coach at this University (no matter WHO IT IS!) draws a salary that's lower than dirt and gets only minimal support from the U and it's fans... (A caveman could draw the appropriate conclusion here.)
igeaux.mobi _

That's ok...I don't always like my affiliation either.

I think in the perfect sports program world, it takes fans, administration, and team to have the kinda success that most of us would like to see for our favorite teams.

Without all three living up to their responsibilities, any program can easily resemble a dog chasing its tail.

[Just1More]

_ I have no idea what typical student participation levels are, but it does seem that fewer students attend football games at UL. I have seen this anomally and discussions around it at schools that are drive thru campuses with a large percentage of commuter students. Is this part of UL's problem? Maybe it's an optical illusion because the student section is so large in comparision to other schools?

When activities that heavily feature students are going on, it seems to be the place to be, what role do activities play?

Maybe our marketing research on what fans want, needs to begin with the students? After all, they will become the future generation of UL supporters and fans, let's get it right... _

Our students are available (not long distance commuters) for our games. We lost them in a big way during the Balwin era. We are building them back up. My comments earlier about the concentric circles of fans also applies to students. We are expanding the ring ever so slightly as Bustle's program brought us to .500 and glimpses of possibilities of post season play. When we provide something more interesting for those fans (including a significant allotment of students) you will see them. I absolutely assure everyone... we will not see them prior.

The key for us is to stop "analyzing" the unattending fan. It is about as computationally simple as figuring out how to attract ants. Put out the sugar... you get ants. If they are out there, they will come when the sugar does. No sooner... no later. Oh, and our admin can get fired up about counting the ants... but if they retract any of the sugar... those "extra ants"... they'll go where they can find sugar.

[CajunDreDog]

No offense but maybe you need to find a new way to place value on your education. I for one do not put any stock in the football team as weighing on the value of my degree. I would say your education here is something to be proud of no matter the W/L record of one of the athletic programs. Look at the great things this university does Academically, that is more a measure than this.

I have to agree with this....I graduated during the Baldwin year's!

[CajunT]

_ That (donations) can and will happen when UL strings together a few back-to-back winning seasons.

Money games cost you money in the long run. They are like borrowing from a loan shark.

jmo _

Turbine, tell that to Bosie State, Utah and Tulsa. All of them play BCS games every year despite their success and larger athletic budgets then UL. Playing BCS games is a fact of life as a mid-major and people that don't understand that, clearly haven't been paying attention to college football. I don't care to play three BCS games a year, but if you can get one at home for your fans, take the third game.

I heard someone call into Birds Eye View this week and asked Jay, "What is the difference between Bosie State or UL and why can't we be successful as them? A 28 million dollar athletic budget! The secret for success for us is to win the conference and win a bowl game.
I guarantee you if that happens, the staff will close the deal on some of the top athletes we've missed on lately.

[Boomer]

O-Kay dudes here is the deal--we had some guys out at LSU and missed on crucial plays to get it done---2 picks could have gone for tds--maybe scored per the replay ---maybe the Touchback per replay--their pick to stop a drive --game much closer than people realize -----and we played at their place!!1 At Neb. we had 4--- I said 4 safeties out -ergo a new defense where the fill ins were a willie LB and a converted wide out ---no All American center and one of our best receivers out ---this was the biggest game in the history of an unreal program ---you needed to be there to see the former great ones on the field pulling for their team!!! Remember the game was at their place----- We are going to get the guys back that beat Southern and Big 12 K State----PLEASE KEEP THE FAITH!!!!

[DrumRoll]

_ O-Kay dudes here is the deal--we had some guys out at LSU and missed on crucial plays to get it done---2 picks could have gone for tds--maybe scored per the replay ---maybe the Touchback per replay--their pick to stop a drive --game much closer than people realize -----and we played at their place!!1 At Neb. we had 4--- I said 4 safeties out -ergo a new defense where the fill ins were a willie LB and a converted wide out ---no All American center and one of our best receivers out ---this was the biggest game in the history of an unreal program ---you needed to be there to see the former great ones on the field pulling for their team!!! Remember the game was at their place----- We are going to get the guys back that beat Southern and Big 12 K State----PLEASE KEEP THE FAITH!!!! _

Bartender, I'll have what he's drinking, in fact, make it a double...

POST OF THE WEEK NOMINEE!

[anhil8tor]

Yesterday Jay explained how we got Okie State to come to our place. 1 game here... 1 game there... no revenue swap. Then another game there and we get 750K. I love the fact that we get a BCS school here in the swap. Will you same people slaughter Walker, Farmer and the like for having to goto Okie State twice?

[zephyr]

_ That (donations) can and will happen when UL strings together a few back-to-back winning seasons.

Money games cost you money in the long run. They are like borrowing from a loan shark.

jmo _

I will respectfully disagree with you. I believe you are grossly mistaken if you think that private donations and funding will supplement the money we get from BCS game payouts if we are to string together a couple of winning seasons in a row. For a payout of 750k to over 1million, you think we're going to see that in the form of private donations? That is not likely. Consider that we would play 2-3 per year, you are easily looking at over 2 million that we receive yearly in BCS payouts. There is no logical way I can see us bringing that in just in private funding. Sure, we would replace many of those games with others that would either have to pay us to go or we would make money off of home games via the normal routes but that is still a lot of money to leave on the table and have to rely on through private means.


The fact is that BCS paydays are essential to just about everybody out there not affiliated with a BCS conference. Like Cajun T said, even the teams like Tulsa, Boise and others have to rely on payouts from playing the big boys in order to be able to play with the big boys.