My two cents..
Hudspeth arrived right at the beginning of when the divide between P5 and G5 went from unspoken to basically advertised by the NCAA.
The Cajuns were getting good teams to Cajun Field and playing well against them, but it hadn't yet settled in with the fan base that, even if you beat these teams, the best outcome you could EVER dream of is a chance to play a NY6 bowl.
Napier hammered that nail home by putting together the best stretch of football in UL history, and showing the fans that all thay hard work, good fortune, good recruiting, and solid play would get them another 11am NOLA Bowl against a 4 loss CUSA team
Cajuns games are now inconsequential. Going into last year they had big expectations. Losing that game to Texas and the season basically goes from "there's a shot we get a NY6!" to "oh well, who we playing in the Godaddy Bowl?" overnight
Good points made here. During the Napier run, I heard these comments:
"Join a better conference if your team is that good"
"All those wins and you're only going to the New Orleans Bowl"
The casual fan (and Wal-Mart Purple fan) doesn't understand (or even want to try to understand) bowl tie-in contracts, conference realignment, or pretty much any detail of how college athletics is run. We understand that the New Orleans Bowl is the best spot for the Cajuns financially. We also understand that the SunBelt media contract is lightyears better than CUSA. However, to the casual fan, it's all about the perception and what they hear on the street.
So Lafayette can go gaga over a hockey team playing in the lowest level hockey league, a league that doesn’t even have a published betting line. Our under appreciated football always has a better line. Which is more irrelevant?
Over the last 2 decades, we built a program that beat 2 P5s, won several Bowl games, achieved 2 end of year Top 15 rankings and won more games than anybody ever imagined.
The people never showed up like we thought they would. Win and people will come has been proven wrong. It is obvious that the majority of people in Acadiana have decided it is way easier and more rewarding to follow lsubr than invest any time/money in this program.
There is NO connection anymore from the Cajun people to the university that calls its sports teams the Ragin Cajuns.
IMHO, before we entertain any other plans for revenue growth or program restructuring, we MUST embark on a committed, lifelong courtship of the CAJUN people. Everything we do should be geared towards rebuilding familial ties.
Without the Cajun people in full support and communion, NOTHING will change.
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