Desormeaux: Integrity Defined

[zeppelincajun]

I’m 100% in the camp that Des and Maggard learned an important lesson in this and they learned it the best way, the hard way. I also believe Maggard never should have hired someone if he didn’t believe he could handle the full responsibilities of being a D1 head coach, i.e. assembling an entire staff.

However, why make a gentleman’s agreement if you’re Billy if there is no such thing? Business is business. Lying to someone’s face is still lying to their face. You can make business moves all you want. God bless. Don’t hold your hand over your heart like a heart Grandma and gasp when people think you lack character.

[zeppelincajun]

Napier fulfilled his contact and left within the terms set in the contract. Gentlemen’s agreements, handshake agreements are a thing of the past. He left us better than we could of imagined.

How many of us would be raked over the coals at work if a deal went sideways and our excuse was “we had a gentleman’s agreement?”. Or even a business owner, you’d be kicking yourself.

Nobody would of signed a deal not to recruit players like some proposed, that’s the issue that brought about the NIL. Such an agreement would of restricted a third party from profiting off their NIL. If there was a “gentlemen’s agreement”, it wasn’t legal…it restricted third parties (coaches and players) without their consent. Where’s the integrity in that?

Communication is a 2 way street; doesn’t mean Napier initiated every move.

Move on and learn. Besides until the moves are all done, is it all Florida? I doubt it.

We’ve now reached the point where Billy fans are saying it’s illegal to agree NOT to use NIL deals to poach players signed to a program and not in the transfer portal. We’ve come a long way from the first NIL thread.

[CameronCajun]

Thank you. I wonder if people reason through things with their kids this way. It would explain a lot.

Bridges have been burned. That's not my opinion; that is a fact.

Hahaha Burned? Bridge is Gone … Nonexistent!

[ManAboutTown]

We’ve now reached the point where Billy fans are saying it’s illegal to agree NOT to use NIL deals to poach players signed to a program and not in the transfer portal. We’ve come a long way from the first NIL thread.

Yea, you have to really jump through mental hoops to make this NOT look like dog____ behavior.

[CajunVic]

This is not fun anymore . . .

[CajunT]

Napier fulfilled his contact and left within the terms set in the contract. Gentlemen’s agreements, handshake agreements are a thing of the past. He left us better than we could of imagined.

How many of us would be raked over the coals at work if a deal went sideways and our excuse was “we had a gentleman’s agreement?”. Or even a business owner, you’d be kicking yourself.

Nobody would of signed a deal not to recruit players like some proposed, that’s the issue that brought about the NIL. Such an agreement would of restricted a third party from profiting off their NIL. If there was a “gentlemen’s agreement”, it wasn’t legal…it restricted third parties (coaches and players) without their consent. Where’s the integrity in that?

Communication is a 2 way street; doesn’t mean Napier initiated every move.

Move on and learn. Besides until the moves are all done, is it all Florida? I doubt it.

Zoom, I'm going to have to disagree with you this time. Look, I understand living up to a contract and delivering on what you promised. I don't disagree with your points on Billy Napier's performance and tenure here at UL. We all have choices on how we conduct ourselves in business, or any role as an employee. When it comes to friends and colleagues, a certain decorum is expected, the word integrity comes to mind. I'm almost certain Billy Napier left some discussions open ended concerning the of staff and players he was interested in. That doesn't mean he still shouldn't have felt some obligation to Dr. Maggard and the guys he hired, and called friends. He made certain commitments to both from the information I've been able to gather at this point and if he decided he must change those commitments it was his responsibility to handle it professionally and ethically.

My comments aren't a rebuke on Billy Napiers accomplishments while he was here, but his actions afterwards. One of the reasons he was hired was because his integrity and work ethic. Apparently he felt those weren't important after he left the campus.

[CameronCajun]

On a positive note, to be a glass half full guy, I love what I am seeing from Coach Des and some of the players. Des calling a spade a spade on Twitter. Players voicing that they want to be here. This us against the world mentality could make for a dangerous group in the fall.

[ManAboutTown]

Zoom, I'm going to have to disagree with you this time. Look, I understand living up to a contract and delivering on what you promised. I don't disagree with your points on Billy Napier's performance and tenure here at UL. We all have choices on how we conduct ourselves in business, or any role as an employee. When it comes to friends and colleagues, a certain decorum is expected, the word integrity comes to mind. I'm almost certain Billy Napier left some discussions open ended concerning the of staff and players he was interested in. That doesn't mean he still shouldn't have felt some obligation to Dr. Maggard and the guys he hired, and called friends. He made certain commitments to both from the information I've been able to gather at this point and if he decided he must change those commitments it was his responsibility to handle it professionally and ethically.

My comments aren't a rebuke on Billy Napiers accomplishments while he was here, but his actions afterwards. One of the reasons he was hired was because his integrity and work ethic. Apparently he felt those weren't important after he left the campus.

And this idea that we “owe” Billy is preposterous.. He was paid handsomely and given every tool he asked for to be successful here. Billy Napier’s success is directly related to the opportunity he was given by Maggard, TJoe and this support base.

Billy helped us just as much, if not more, than we helped Billy. Which makes all of this even more sinister.

[Turbine]

Some fans, wanted a coach that took advantage of past contacts.

Looks like Florida got the coach those fans, wanted.

This is a one time assault people. It Will never get worse than this of season.

[CajunVic]

I could never have imagined Florida aspiring to be Louisiana . . . I guess it all started with The Swamp . . .

[CrazyCajun]

Should make for an interesting coaching convention

[Cajun90]

Schools are not supposed to be involved in NIL deals. However that is very murky water at this point because the NCAA didn't define any of it very well. They have already stated that they are investigating USC and SMU NIL deals. It doesn't take a genius to figure out there has to be a channel between Napier, Florida's NIL money people, and UL players. Can it be proven? Extremely unlikely.

Point is this is beyond unethical. It is a breach of NCAA bylaws. Almost impossible to prove and the "new" NCAA isn't looking to get into any fights so this probably isn't going anywhere. Does it cast Napier in a different light than the one he portrayed while coaching the Cajuns? I certainly think it does.