Cajuns football attendance: Seriously, how bad is it?

[NewsCopy]

The numbers tell a thousand words.

UL drew an announced crowd of just 14,262 for its win over Troy last Saturday.

On the season, the Sun Belt Conference’s Ragin’ Cajuns are averaging 18,865 per game

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[fanof71]

The numbers tell a thousand words.

UL drew an announced crowd of just 14,262 for its win over Troy last Saturday.

On the season, the Sun Belt Conference’s Ragin’ Cajuns are averaging 18,865 per game

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Worthless take...

[Frenchie35]

Has anyone taken a survey of ALL the students, not just a few, on why they don't attend football games? Hand out a survey sheet, that they will have to turn in, with the question. Have them put their reasons of why they don't attend. Don't have multiple choices. Let them put it in their own words of the "why". All I ever hear is what we the fan's that do attend think is the reason. I know one thing, you can't force them to attend......lack of pride..

[SlickRick]

Has anyone taken a survey of ALL the students, not just a few, on why they don't attend football games? Hand out a survey sheet, that they will have to turn in, with the question. Have them put their reasons of why they don't attend. Don't have multiple choices. Let them put it in their own words of the "why". All I ever hear is what we the fan's that do attend think is the reason. I know one thing, you can't force them to attend......lack of pride..

Good idea Frenchie.

[LaCajunsFan]

Has anyone taken a survey of ALL the students, not just a few, on why they don't attend football games? Hand out a survey sheet, that they will have to turn in, with the question. Have them put their reasons of why they don't attend. Don't have multiple choices. Let them put it in their own words of the "why". All I ever hear is what we the fan's that do attend think is the reason. I know one thing, you can't force them to attend......lack of pride..

Yes, maggard and company did a complete and thorough survey of the students, and they took several steps to address their issues. Yet little response was seen. Hence his frustration.

[cajun4life]

Has anyone taken a survey of ALL the students, not just a few, on why they don't attend football games? Hand out a survey sheet, that they will have to turn in, with the question. Have them put their reasons of why they don't attend. Don't have multiple choices. Let them put it in their own words of the "why". All I ever hear is what we the fan's that do attend think is the reason. I know one thing, you can't force them to attend......lack of pride..

You want more student participation, GROW THE GREEK LIFE!!!! It’s as simple as that. UL’s Greek organizations consist of roughly 11% of the undergraduate student population. That is really low for a university of our size.

We should strive to reach a number closer to 30%. I wasn’t a member or a proponent of Greek organizations while I was in school, but the growth of an organic fan base starts there.

The problem is certain people within the administration do not want Greeks on campus. But without a strong base of campus organizations like fraternities and sororities you truly are a commuter college.

[Cajunrunner]

You want more student participation, GROW THE GREEK LIFE!!!! It’s as simple as that. UL’s Greek organizations consist of roughly 11% of the undergraduate student population. That is really low for a university of our size.

We should strive to reach a number closer to 30%. I wasn’t a member or a proponent of Greek organizations while I was in school, but the growth of an organic fan base starts there.

The problem is certain people within the administration do not want Greeks on campus. But without a strong base of campus organizations like fraternities and sororities you truly are a commuter college.

Will not happen, especially not now with the recent news of the family of that kid who drank himself to death now suing LSU for the actions of that fraternity.

[CajunRebel]

Has anyone taken a survey of ALL the students, not just a few, on why they don't attend football games? Hand out a survey sheet, that they will have to turn in, with the question. Have them put their reasons of why they don't attend. Don't have multiple choices. Let them put it in their own words of the "why". All I ever hear is what we the fan's that do attend think is the reason. I know one thing, you can't force them to attend......lack of pride..

I’ve kept my mouth shut about this for the last week, but here’s the thing. As great as Maggard is, I don’t think he (or the people under him) understand this part yet. I don’t have time to get too deep into the weeds here, but I just don’t think the athletic department is doing a good job reaching the community and convincing them to buy in to what we’re doing.

People came to Cajun Field when Hud was here because Hud found a way to make them all care. He found a way to make them want to show up every Saturday. He made them think we were going to build something big here and they bought in.

Maggard and Napier are kicking ___ like we’ve never seen before but I just don’t think they are taking the right steps to get the message out. Our current marketing strategy is to put out high quality content... and that’s it. But that’s not enough. You can’t just put out cool videos and expect to win over people’s hearts. There is a psychological component to this and I’m almost positive we have no real strategy in place to address it.

The students aren’t coming because their hearts and minds are in other places. Our athletic department’s job is to make them fall in love with the program and the experience.

[Cajunsmike]

You want more student participation, GROW THE GREEK LIFE!!!! It’s as simple as that. UL’s Greek organizations consist of roughly 11% of the undergraduate student population. That is really low for a university of our size.

We should strive to reach a number closer to 30%. I wasn’t a member or a proponent of Greek organizations while I was in school, but the growth of an organic fan base starts there.

The problem is certain people within the administration do not want Greeks on campus. But without a strong base of campus organizations like fraternities and sororities you truly are a commuter college.

I want Greeks on campus. What I don’t want is even one incident of hazing to occur (even if mild) to occur from now until the end of time. Charitable works are the exception of course and should be promoted. If the Greek culture made a commitment to this policy, administration support for that aspect of campus life would grow.

[cajun4life]

Will not happen, especially not now with the recent news of the family of that kid who drank himself to death now suing LSU for the actions of that fraternity.

I understand that. But you want a larger fan base it starts with growing the student populations ties to the university. That starts with Greek organizations.

[cajun4life]

I want Greeks on campus. What I don’t want is even one incident of hazing to occur (even if mild) to occur from now until the end of time. Charitable works are the exception of course and should be promoted. If the Greek culture made a commitment to this policy, administration support for that aspect of campus life would grow.

I despised the Greek Organizations while I was on campus. But I’d be kidding myself if I didn’t understand the importance of a very strong Greek organizations. Right now UL currently has roughly 16k undergrad students with 11% being in a Greek organization. That is way to low.

Hazing has limits and it can go from good natured ribbing to over the line in an instant. That is why it should be avoided, especially regarding forced drinking. But the attachment to the university by students involved in Greek life is very undervalued by the current administration. IMHO

[Cajunrunner]

I understand that. But you want a larger fan base it starts with growing the student populations ties to the university. That starts with Greek organizations.

Agree. The Greeks were involved during the Bustle years more than they are now, and we weren't nearly as good of a program.

But, unfortunately, the current climate and politics will keep not just UL, but administrations across the country from trying to grow and promote Greek life.