MBB G13 Final: Louisiana 73, SLU 72

[ZoomZoom]

I wonder how revenues from softball compare to those generated by the basketball program.

Anyone know?

The legislative audit I posted does not break out softball.

[Turbine]

I saw the financial report that T has referenced several times. From what I remember, baseball and softball don't make any money whatsoever. They are essentially just costs to the university.

The advertising benefits to the U far exceed the cost.

[zephyr]

Sorry to tell you, however a sport that sells about 4500 season tickets generates plenty of money and doesn't "just costs the university." Now it may not be self sufficient but the words that you used are less than accurate.

And sorry to tell you but that same sport also has plenty of costs associated with travel, little to no revenue sharing by the conference. See the link below. The audit seems to have softball and baseball grouped together so its hard to pull out specific costs. You will see, though, that for these sports it costs a hell of a lot more to simply feed our athletes along with travel and other expenses due to larger rosters.

https://www.lla.la.gov/PublicReports...E/000179B3.pdf

[TheRealZeebart]

So after 22 pages of crap, I believe we can all agree that Basketball at UL sucks mightily and its not the players fault. Am I right?

Z

[CajunVic]

I saw the financial report that T has referenced several times. From what I remember, baseball and softball don't make any money whatsoever. They are essentially just costs to the university.

Look at your words.

"baseball and softball don't make any money whatsoever"

NOT TRUE

They are essentially just costs to the university.

ALSO NOT TRUE.

Like I said, there is no doubt that they are not self sufficient, but to say that they are "just costs" is factually inaccurate. Your words make it sound like they only spend money and bring in no money. That is not the case. Just trying to get it straight.

[CajunEXPRESS]

So after 22 pages of crap, I believe we can all agree that Basketball at UL sucks mightily and its not the players fault. Am I right?

Z

Its never the players fault unless they quit. Even then we picked them.

[Turbine]

Its never the players fault unless they quit. Even then we picked them.

Marlin's first few years were marred by taking over an inmate run asylum.

[TheRealZeebart]

Marlin's first few years were marred by taking over an inmate run asylum.

No doubt.

[ULvictory]

Last year we won a championship. And, the same people on this board who vilified Bob Marlin several years ago when he said it all comes down to three days in March, got ____ed off last year when they found out he was right.

Scott Cross is the winningest coach in UTA history. He's had some fine teams since joining the Sun Belt. But he won a title, got upset in the conference tournament and was fired because he never made the NCAA tournament. Several criticized UTA for that move.

And, now some of those same people want to do the same to Marlin.

Some of the criticism of Marlin I agree with. I don't like the schedule. I wish we had more OOC success against good teams. I HATE playing non D-1's (even though Shipley and Paschal played more than their share).

But none of that means anything when it comes to the main goal, which is to win championships. Bob Marlin has won two in the last five years. And, the Lannisters and Victorys of the world would be a lot more quiet had it not been for losing one freaking game in March.

But that's the way it is with millennials.

The reality is no one dominates mid major leagues. Not the Sun Belt, not CUSA, not the ASun, not the MAC. And, to suggest we should is complete folly.

There are 12 teams in this league. It is the league we are in. Only one school has had more championships over the last five years.

But hey, what do I know.

Let me begin by saying that I never vilified Marlin when he mentioned the three games in March. Because he’s right. As a mid-major, three games in March is what makes it or breaks it for many (not all) teams trying to make the dance.

But here is where you lose me. You said that Lannister and I would be a lot more quiet if we wouldn’t have lost that “one freaking game in March.” Well yeah! That “one freaking game” ended our NCAA tournament dreams. So of course I was upset. Who wouldn’t be?

I’m going to take this a step further. Athletics is the # 1 marketing tool for a university. Outside of the Ivy League, most universities almost need athletics to promote their brand. No one would know who Butler, Cal State Fullerton, or Boise State would be if it weren’t for their respective success in certain sports. So here is the reality of making the NCAA Tournament. For four to five days, millions of people fill out brackets. It’s free publicity when those millions of people see your name on the bracket let alone choose you for an upset. Then, you’re on national tv playing in front of millions representing the name on your chest. It’s kind of a big deal, right?

But on here, I get the privilege of reading and literally seeing people justify why we come up short of this opportunity. Here’s the thing. I’m also a numbers guy. I know that investing into something demands a return on what is being put in. Honestly, in 9 years, are we REALLY getting a return on our investment? And no, I don’t want Marlin fired. I just want accountability. For too many years, our administration has basically left us in the dark when it came to transparency. Basically, it was a “don’t ask questions; just donate” mindset.” Fortunately, Dr. Maggard has a different vision that I still do trust even with this Marlin contract extension. But with that comes demand for results. So far, in 9 years, we have had 1 tournament and 1 NIT appearance. You can spin the “2 championships in 5 years” in every direction to Sunday. But the fact is this: 1 NIT and 1 NCAA appearance in 9 years. If we are going to invest into this program like we have, don’t get upset that fans raise their eyebrows if they feel like we come up short of our goals. And that is to make the postseason. That’s it. Whether it’s three games or thirty, the goal at the beginning of every year is to make the postseason whether it is the NIT or NCAA. I’m not even going to give thought to the CIT because any tournament that requires a school to pay their way in is laughable to me and a waste of money.

I’m not asking to make the tournament every year. But to say that we can’t be a consistent top 3/4 program with the money we have in the chicken ____ Sun Belt Conference is unacceptable. That’s not me “being a millenial,” that’s me just asking for a return on what we put into the program.

[talktomewillis]

We may not be quite at $35M but we have exceeded $30M. We are aggressively increasing our budget in order to be competitive amongst the institutions we would like to be peers with.

My biggest gripe with Marlin is schedule and ROI. If he won 27 games a year every year it would be different. But that isn’t the case. If our OOC opponents all had an RPI in the top 150 history shows that we wouldnt win more than 15 games a season.

I want to dominate the Sun Belt, not be middle of the pack. I want to see us iqualify for the NIT at least every other year. We aren’t getting that kind of production out of Marlin. We are in an average to below average league. We have the facilities and better support than almost all of the mid majors in our region.

If you want to qualify for the NIT every other year, you must win the league every other year and then stumble in the tournament. In today's NIT, that is the ONLY way UL is going to get a bid.

and I think winning the league and stumbling in the tournament has a lot of people _____ing here.

[zephyr]

Look at your words.

"baseball and softball don't make any money whatsoever"

NOT TRUE

They are essentially just costs to the university.

ALSO NOT TRUE.

Like I said, there is no doubt that they are not self sufficient, but to say that they are "just costs" is factually inaccurate. Your words make it sound like they only spend money and bring in no money. That is not the case. Just trying to get it straight.

You can't get it straight. You won't allow yourself to do it. Typically, if we talk about a business making or not making money, we are typically discussing actual cash flow or profit. Did we sell tickets? Yes. Does this really need to be covered or argued? The question is whether they actually made money as in positive cash flow which is why I stated they are costs to the university as evidenced by a higher line item for expenses than revenue.

https://www.lla.la.gov/PublicReports...E/000179B3.pdf

[MetryCajun]

So after 22 pages of crap, I believe we can all agree that Basketball at UL sucks mightily and its not the players fault. Am I right?

Z

There are 22 pages of post because we don’t agree. Of all the teams UL currently has MBB is easily a top quartile performer. Only baseball and softball are more successful. I am not happy with the current situation either, but MBB is not hurting our brand or taking funds away from our mediocre football team. Probably the craziest thing said here is we should pay our coach less than ULM and concentrate on softball. Softball!!!! A sport no one but us and 20 other schools give a ____ about.
If you want to complain about wasted resources look to softball.