So as a resident "old guy" here, I am with you. I started watching/following Cajun baseball during the Coach Bo days and I loved his long ball style of baseball, I was intrigued with Coach Robe's style and it was much better to watch and enjoy. I didn't love Coach Deggs style day 1, but it is growing on me as well and he is the coach so I don't care about his style, I care about his results.
I was 18 in 1988 when I attended my first UL baseball game and have been a diehard ever since, no matter if it was Bo, Robe or Deggs.
The aggressive teach is tolerable. When it will becomes controlled aggression somewhat like what we have seen in the past month…it becomes really fun. Im all for swing hard…with balls in the strike zone. Im all for stealing bases until they prove they can throw you out.
I'm not sure you are the resident "old guy" here Dave, I was 24 in 1988. I watched plenty of Cajun Baseball as a student and watched the dinosaur cripple athletics with constant budget cuts. Coach Bo was a good hire and actually brought excitement back to the program with success. Unfortunately, he couldn't continue to compete with reduced budgets and took actions that put us on probation.
Coach Robichaux was hired to clean up the program; he was young and cheap compared to some of the others that were mentioned as possible candidates back then. Which made him the perfect Dr. Authement hire. It took him 3 years to build the program back to winning seasons, and the rest is history.
I made the post to remind fans that Coach Deggs is not Coach Robichaux and never will be him. And he often stated publicly and to me, "the process can be ugly at times." I think most of us here understand what he meant by that statement. Until the Cajuns win in the championship game this past weekend, the Cajuns hadn't qualified for a regional since 2016. This program needed to improve it's talent level to get back to a NCAA Regional. The Covid 2020 season was basically a wasted year with the cancelations and little to no fall ball. And while it was frustrating at times to watch this season early on, it was even more frustrating to read some fans posting that Coach Deggs is not the guy after 2 full seasons.
You are far from the old guy here. I started following UL baseball when Mel Didier was hired, then Kelley promoted to head coach. I competed against Kelley coached teams in American Legion. Yes, a UL assistant baseball coach was coaching a Lafayette American Legion team. Brad Kelley led Ragin' Cajun baseball to it's first 40 win season and that catapulted him to asst baseball coach and then head coach at the U.
The lean times were the last season of the Gene Shell/Jagneaux time, and the first couple of seasons of the Boulanger years.
The turning points in UL baseball was the building of Moore Field, then the hiring of Mel Didier and finally the hiring of Coach Robe. Those three events are what set us and kept us on the course of success we have generally experienced since 1981.
By the way i in know way said “the old guy”. I said
As “a” resident old guy
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