That’s more of a question for Brad but from a supporter standpoint, his value is in MBB. The connection to the community will be much stronger within that program. No disrespect to WBB, but MBB is what I’m concerned with. Should be the #2 revenue generating sport at every university that takes MBB seriously. It is currently behind softball & baseball in revenue generation and that my friends is mind boggling.
In my view, we don’t fund raise nearly enough, we don’t prioritize our spending properly, we don’t value quality opponents in the Cajun Dome, we don’t coach up our recruits, we severely lack relationships throughout the coaching (and scheduling) world and we damn sure don’t relate & retain recruits. We spend too much time blaming and not enough time looking in the mirror.
We’re going to need someone to bring this program back from the dead. Brad may be a lightening rod, but no one can say he’s not passionate about being UL Basketball back to relevance.
The way to get the fans back is win.
Napier - didn’t have a head coaching record, but definitely had the right coaches in his corner making calls.
Softball, baseball, volleyball and soccer. All those hires brought a ton of winning on their resume.
I think Dr Maggard has a certain criteria every potential hire needs to have. If he feels Brad meets those criteria, he has a real shot.
Napier wins even more than Hudspeth and the fans still have not showed up like they should for a double digit win program.
Hopefully that changes this year. This year is a huge test for football.
I’m confident we may break average attendance records this year. If not, shame on us and this momentum will dwindle soon.
Coaching change in basketball especially if it’s Brad Boyd will almost immediately bring back the fans just for a little excitement of the change. Holding onto those fans will require winning championships, NIT, NCAA berths.
I don't care for basketball much, but my wife and kids love it. Brad is a good guy and coach. If Brad was hired or if Marlin was canned and someone new was hired that got folks excited about basketball and the product we would instantly get 5 season tickets. There it is zero excitement and next to zero interest in the program as we speak. MAT hit the nail on thrle head when he said MBB should be a money driver and it is lacking behind both of the diamond sports.
Ok, I keep seeing people on here post how we've been putting 500 people in the stands. This may be true for last year when people were so scared by Fauci that they were putting Kentwood bottle containers on their head in public but its not the norm. I also saw a comparison to softball and baseball on attendance. I think the info you guys are using is a bit skewed. For instance, our program as of 2019-20 which was the last normal situation we've had, MBB averaged about 3,700 fans per game. It was the same the year before. Go to softball, in 2019 which I believe was a great year for them, they averaged 1,300 fans per game. How is softball considered a bigger money generator than basketball?
I know others have mentioned how much lower our program is than in years past but I also went back to 2005-06 when we had Southall and Mitchell. Average attendance was 3,400 per game. When people look at our program and say basketball is dead in the south, again, they are wrong. Our attendance is actually the same if not more than it was back in the more exciting days. The only difference is the apathy that Marlin has created.
MAT is right in his previous post about their inability to generate excitement and fund raise and connect with the community but I can't understand the skewed views some have about our different programs.
To be fair "fans" have not had a single "normal" opportunity to walk into Louisiana Stadium and watch a double digit win team.
To be fair to your statement, Louisiana was going for its 10th win for the last home game of 2019.
For that game only 14,227 showed up to watch that yet to be confirmed 10-win team make history.
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