2023 v 2014
Turbine asked a question that I had been thinking about: is 2023 our best year, ever? People mentioned 2014, which was a very good year. But let me point out the reasons I think 2023 might be better.
In 2014, Robe had been here since 1995, and of course had taken us two two super regionals, and one CWS. Steph and/or Michael Lotief had been here since 2000, and had already taken us to OK City twice. Hudspeth took us to a Bowl, but it was our 4th consecutive bowl appearance under him. Marlin started in 2010, and getting to the NCAA tournament was an exciting step up, as was men's tennis under Mark Jeffrey, who started started in 2009
Here we are 9 years later, also with a lot of post-season success. And, as in 2014, we are enjoying success from some veteran coaches. Lon Badeaux is in his 12th year, Marlin has been here 13 years, Theo is probably the Dean of UL coaches at what? 15 years?
However, here's the part that I find exciting: In his first year, after losing a tremendous amount of talent, Des got to a bowl (our first EVER in Shrevesville), where we almost beat a P5-bound team. Glasco, after repeated near misses, got us to a super regional in his 6th year, knocking off BeSSE* to get there... with a LOT of freshmen and sophomores. Deggs, in his 5th year, fighting hard with a pitching staff that was crawling with injuries, got us an at-large bid.
In several major sports, our successes are coming in with junior coaches. So our future looks very, very bright.
But beyond those, I think without a doubt 2023 is better than 2014.
Back then, we were fighting for people to call us 'Louisiana.' Put a fork in that one.
Back then, we didn't automatically expect a bowl berth... and we had never won a conference championship outright.
Back then, the 'Belt was the worst conference in the FBS... and LTU and C-USA were comfortably ahead of us. Today (if we can ever get the conference to take men's & women's basketball seriously) we could emerge as the premier G5 conference.
But beyond all of that, back then our research was growing, but not yet impressive. That one is so important. There are, perhaps, a few people here who would be glad if we simply dominated the state in sports, if we could (as so many unfortunate fans do at other colleges) swagger around and rub everyone's noses in our 'greatness.'
As if UL existed to play sports.
Do not overlook that R1 ranking. I'm sure some of the unfortunate souls here envy 'Bama. Without a doubt, they are one of the premier sports programs in the country.
But go back and compare UL to 'Bama: https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/profiles/s...Source&ds=herd
Surprised? We should be.
But then, maybe not. We are hard, tenacious workers, and Ray started us down this path back in 1974.
50 years ago.
So please, support the Cajuns. But remember, athletics are not an end in and of themselves. They help us build our University; and that, in turn, helps us build our community, our state, and at our best, the world.
*Our Beloved Sister School to the East. I thought maybe we could shorten it to WWE, the Wicked Witch of the East.
But that seemed harsh.
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Originally Posted by ZoomZoom
