Crowd estimate for Basketball Senior Night.

[talktomewillis]

Seeing your post made me reflect on this issue. I would definitely agree that apathy and cost are big factors in attendance numbers. I believe the apathy is due to a couple of factors: 1) only one NCAA tournament appearance in Marlin’s tenure; and, 2) Sunbelt conference. As far as Marlin, I would equate him to Bustle and Hud in the sense that they were the right coaches at the right time, but not the coaches to get UL to the level that we believe we should be. I like Marlin as a person and am very happy for him and the team for the tremendous season they are having, but let’s be honest, this is a very weak conference and in the chances that the team has had to get quality wins, they have been not only beat, but blown out. If they were to get in the NCAA’s and win a game or two, I would say that Marlin deserves another couple of years, but if they don’t, I would like to see another coach at the helm.

As far as (2), as stated above, the Sunbelt is extremely weak as a whole and has been for some time. Nobody wants to see those teams come to the dome.

On a personal note, I do not like watching games at the dome. I know they have made recent changes to make it a more intimate experience, and those changes are great, but it still doesn’t match the feel and intensity that Blackham had. If the university ever had the money, I would prefer a new stadium where Blackham now sits with the same capacity and intimacy.

As you stated, I think money/cost is a big factor as well. The oilfield has not returned and entertainment dollars are on the short side for a lot of people.

Having said all of the above, I hope this team goes far in post season and I’m very proud of them for what they have accomplished thus far.

Marlin has not performed in the matter we are used to?

OK, let's see:

If we win the tournament, that will be two NCAA in eight years
Paschal had two in seven years
Fletcher had two in eleven years.
Evans had two in seven years
Lee had one in six years.

And, here's another thing: We've been in the Sun Belt for 27 seasons. How many times have the Cajuns been the outright regular season champion.

This is the first one. THE FIRST ONE
(We had the best record in 04, but they only recognized division champions then.)

And, while doing this, Marlin is graduating kids at a higher rate than anyone in memory.

I'm not for giving him a lifetime contract, but your perception does not equal our reality.

I'm glad you aren't the AD. And, speaking of which, Maggard LOVES Marlin.

[CajunRebel]

Did you not say one of the reasons attendance isn't better is because we ran away with the league race? Did you not say more people would go if the race was tighter.

My paraphrasing is simply another way of saying what you said.

I did say that.

You’re the one who twisted that into “...our attendance would be better if we LOST more.” That’s not paraphrasing, that’s misrepresentation.

If you want to criticize something I write by all means go for it. But please attack what I wrote and not a strawman you created.

[zephyr]

Marlin has not performed in the matter we are used to?

OK, let's see:

If we win the tournament, that will be two NCAA in eight years
Paschal had two in seven years
Fletcher had two in eleven years.
Evans had two in seven years
Lee had one in six years.

And, here's another thing: We've been in the Sun Belt for 27 seasons. How many times have the Cajuns been the outright regular season champion.

This is the first one. THE FIRST ONE
(We had the best record in 04, but they only recognized division champions then.)

And, while doing this, Marlin is graduating kids at a higher rate than anyone in memory.

I'm not for giving him a lifetime contract, but your perception does not equal our reality.

I'm glad you aren't the AD. And, speaking of which, Maggard LOVES Marlin.

You are comparing Marlin to guys who had a much smaller field for the tournament so there were less spots to take up for the same number of teams. You also had coaches who won some big games on the road and got some big teams at home. I would say that Marlin has underperformed but I don't want to take away from the season he has had this year. I'm all in and he has my support.

The rest of your argument has merit. You also have to understand that many people's perceptions of Marlin were based on years prior to this one. Multiple NBA players, higher expectations only to never really challenge even for the league top 2 or 3, tons of turnover all while being the highest paid coach in the conference. There were many reasons to be skeptical.

[zephyr]

Marlin has not performed in the matter we are used to?

OK, let's see:

If we win the tournament, that will be two NCAA in eight years
Paschal had two in seven years
Fletcher had two in eleven years.
Evans had two in seven years
Lee had one in six years.

And, here's another thing: We've been in the Sun Belt for 27 seasons. How many times have the Cajuns been the outright regular season champion.

This is the first one. THE FIRST ONE
(We had the best record in 04, but they only recognized division champions then.)

And, while doing this, Marlin is graduating kids at a higher rate than anyone in memory.

I'm not for giving him a lifetime contract, but your perception does not equal our reality.

I'm glad you aren't the AD. And, speaking of which, Maggard LOVES Marlin.

Well, I would love my coach too if in my first year, he had 4 losses by the conference tournament season and won the league title walking away...LOL.

[Cajunsmike]

Seeing your post made me reflect on this issue. I would definitely agree that apathy and cost are big factors in attendance numbers. I believe the apathy is due to a couple of factors: 1) only one NCAA tournament appearance in Marlin’s tenure; and, 2) Sunbelt conference. As far as Marlin, I would equate him to Bustle and Hud in the sense that they were the right coaches at the right time, but not the coaches to get UL to the level that we believe we should be. I like Marlin as a person and am very happy for him and the team for the tremendous season they are having, but let’s be honest, this is a very weak conference and in the chances that the team has had to get quality wins, they have been not only beat, but blown out. If they were to get in the NCAA’s and win a game or two, I would say that Marlin deserves another couple of years, but if they don’t, I would like to see another coach at the helm.

As far as (2), as stated above, the Sunbelt is extremely weak as a whole and has been for some time. Nobody wants to see those teams come to the dome.

On a personal note, I do not like watching games at the dome. I know they have made recent changes to make it a more intimate experience, and those changes are great, but it still doesn’t match the feel and intensity that Blackham had. If the university ever had the money, I would prefer a new stadium where Blackham now sits with the same capacity and intimacy.

As you stated, I think money/cost is a big factor as well. The oilfield has not returned and entertainment dollars are on the short side for a lot of people.

Having said all of the above, I hope this team goes far in post season and I’m very proud of them for what they have accomplished thus far.

Are you saying that if the team does not win the conference tournament or does not win a game in the NCAA tournament you would want the coach fired now? I am not sure you meant that. Perhaps you meant to say that if a tournament win does not occur before his contract expires we should then look elsewhere. Contract expires in 2 years. Even if you were willing to write the entire buyout check now, as Willis said Dr. Maggard would not accept it. However a friend of mine thinks an automatic extension will be given due to the regular season championship. I am not sure that is in the current contract but it may be. All that being said, we all join you in pride for what this team has accomplished.

[CrazyCajun]

The young ragin cajun card is only$100. Very cheap and they can attend every event with that card. That's just another excuse

Again, that’s not the casual fan.

[CajunRebel]

Again, I never said that the economy was as good or better but to say that "Families just don't want to spend anything" is a bit misleading since cost of living continues to go up and the average price of homes are at record numbers at close to $250,000. I see a lot of Cadillacs and Mercedes being driven around town. But besides that point, the 80's were the real oil bust time wouldn't you agree? I was young in the 80's but I remember people saying that 40% of lafayette moved out of town. However, if you look at our attendance in 1986, we were in the top 70 and averaged nearly 7,000 fans per game. How do you explain that? I'll post the link below. This is at a time where we are more dependent on Oil than now where our local economic dependence on Oil is estimated to be around 70%. Now we are estimated to be about 35-40% dependent on Oil with the emergence of other markets, the legal sector and ever growing Medical sector bringing in higher paying jobs. So, if the oil downturn (its certainly not a bust), which is less impactful than what we saw in the 80's,is playing such a large part in our attendance, why didn't we see the same thing in the mid 80's?

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_bask...ttend/1986.pdf

Adjusted for inflation, median household income in this city has dropped from a high of $53,000 to $45,500. There is less disposable income to go around in this city. And yes, some of these families are UL fans.

Personally, I think it is more than safe to assume that this reality is one reason (out of many other reasons) that our attendance is lower.

If you are going to maintain that this has absolutely no effect on attendance, if you really beleive that there are no UL fans in Lafayette having to readjust how they spend money these days, I don’t know what else to say to you.

[Cajunsmike]

Marlin has not performed in the matter we are used to?

OK, let's see:

If we win the tournament, that will be two NCAA in eight years
Paschal had two in seven years
Fletcher had two in eleven years.
Evans had two in seven years
Lee had one in six years.

And, here's another thing: We've been in the Sun Belt for 27 seasons. How many times have the Cajuns been the outright regular season champion.

This is the first one. THE FIRST ONE
(We had the best record in 04, but they only recognized division champions then.)

And, while doing this, Marlin is graduating kids at a higher rate than anyone in memory.

I'm not for giving him a lifetime contract, but your perception does not equal our reality.

I'm glad you aren't the AD. And, speaking of which, Maggard LOVES Marlin.

Does anyone know if an automatic extension comes with either the regular season title or the tournament title? I seem to recall that happened after the division championship in his first year. As someone said a few days ago, they would be surprised if Coach Marlin's agent does not negotiate for a raise once the season ends. Of course post season performance will dictate those details. Also, I believe the 2004 wins were vacated due to an eligibility issue. The 2000 team was the No. 1 seed but I believed they shared the conference title. Same thing in 1992. Therefore a recognized outright regular season title was last accomplished here in 1982. Hope it is not that long before the next one comes our way.

[zephyr]

Seeing your post made me reflect on this issue. I would definitely agree that apathy and cost are big factors in attendance numbers. I believe the apathy is due to a couple of factors: 1) only one NCAA tournament appearance in Marlin’s tenure; and, 2) Sunbelt conference. As far as Marlin, I would equate him to Bustle and Hud in the sense that they were the right coaches at the right time, but not the coaches to get UL to the level that we believe we should be. I like Marlin as a person and am very happy for him and the team for the tremendous season they are having, but let’s be honest, this is a very weak conference and in the chances that the team has had to get quality wins, they have been not only beat, but blown out. If they were to get in the NCAA’s and win a game or two, I would say that Marlin deserves another couple of years, but if they don’t, I would like to see another coach at the helm.

As far as (2), as stated above, the Sunbelt is extremely weak as a whole and has been for some time. Nobody wants to see those teams come to the dome.

On a personal note, I do not like watching games at the dome. I know they have made recent changes to make it a more intimate experience, and those changes are great, but it still doesn’t match the feel and intensity that Blackham had. If the university ever had the money, I would prefer a new stadium where Blackham now sits with the same capacity and intimacy.

As you stated, I think money/cost is a big factor as well. The oilfield has not returned and entertainment dollars are on the short side for a lot of people.

Having said all of the above, I hope this team goes far in post season and I’m very proud of them for what they have accomplished thus far.

I'm not going to the dome to see other teams. Don't get me wrong, I was in the Dome back when UMASS came in #1 in the country so that point has exceptions but I would go to see a good cajuns team that has chemistry and character not to mention talent and is coached well. This year's team has all of that. I'll go see them even if we are playing Troy versus UNC. I go to see my team, not the opposing team.

Also, I think you are being a little dismissive of this year's accomplishments. To say that you'd want us to move on if we don't an NCAA game or get in after the year we've had is a little hardcore. I've seen something in this team that I have not in some time. Consistency. Because of that, we have a shot at a 5 star recruit and have already had a decent recruiting class.

Just curious but are you a big baseball guy? How do you feel about Robe? Curious to know with what this season is shaping up there how you feel his job security should be?

[CrazyCajun]

I agree that the economy is a factor. A big one. Only thing I don't understand is why hasn't baseball been affected. Can anyone answer that?

Different crowd and while i think
travel ball is a bad model it has increased interest and participation in the sport of baseball.

[CajunRebel]

Marlin has not performed in the matter we are used to?

OK, let's see:

If we win the tournament, that will be two NCAA in eight years
Paschal had two in seven years
Fletcher had two in eleven years.
Evans had two in seven years
Lee had one in six years.

And, here's another thing: We've been in the Sun Belt for 27 seasons. How many times have the Cajuns been the outright regular season champion.

This is the first one. THE FIRST ONE
(We had the best record in 04, but they only recognized division champions then.)

And, while doing this, Marlin is graduating kids at a higher rate than anyone in memory.

I'm not for giving him a lifetime contract, but your perception does not equal our reality.

I'm glad you aren't the AD. And, speaking of which, Maggard LOVES Marlin.

Now this is something we can definitely agree on.

Complaining about not winning a conference championship every year is like an NFL team complaining about not making it to the Super Bowl every year.

It is damn hard to win a conference championship.

[Cajunsmike]

Different crowd

What do you mean by that? Are you trying to say that people who follow baseball are not the same as the ones who follow basketball? There may be some truth to that. Why has the economy not affected the baseball folks? Are they more financially stable? I will add one point about basketball. The people who are fans do support the program with passion. The Rebounders Club raised ~ 70 grand this year for the program. According to information I was given recently, that is twice what the Diamond Club raises for baseball and there are more Diamond Club members.