Footsteps, or Footprints?

[ZoomZoom]

. . . and what about engineering . . .

State did screw the Necksters on that front.

Unfortunately, our delegation to BR will be losing a boat load of seniority. The governor’s race is very important to our region’s next decade.

[ULvictory]

Awesome post, Fun.

Also want to mention that their “we have to have that too” attitude with other in-state schools have backfired because now they can’t afford those departments. Not only are they too big, they had to lower their admission requirements in order to generate more student revenue.

[ULvictory]

It also seems like the Cajun fans involved in podcasts are doing so because they are fans and supporters whereas the lswho ones did so to make money

Ragin Review is a hobby. Nothing more, nothing less.

[MountainDew]

Looking at states across the southeastern US, Louisiana and Arkansas are the only 2 states in the region that don't have multiple "major" P5 programs. I don't believe for one second that's a coincidence. LSU has done everything in their power to suppress every other school in the state of Louisiana. It wouldn't surprise me to see that schools like Arkansas St. and UALR have the same issue with Arkansas.

[ULvictory]

Looking at states across the southeastern US, Louisiana and Arkansas are the only 2 states in the region that don't have multiple "major" P5 programs. I don't believe for one second that's a coincidence. LSU has done everything in their power to suppress every other school in the state of Louisiana. It wouldn't surprise me to see that schools like Arkansas St. and UALR have the same issue with Arkansas.

There’s a reason why Arkansas refuses to play Arkansas State in every sport.

[Louisiana84]

I see what you did there.

Fun is not your average Joe.

I see what YOU did there. ;-) No, Fun isn't your average Joe. He is a rare intellect. And his comments here are like salve for those who don't have a generational understanding of how amazing our accomplishments as a university are.

LSU fans know that everything he stated in his post above is correct. THAT is why they hate.

[ManAboutTown]

"ULL is not LSU's equal, and it never will be."

I watched MAT's appearance on the AYS videocast, and heard that comment...

...over and over and over and over again. In fact, it was the repetition that made me realize something that's not immediately obvious. The LSU fans aren't saying that to us.

They're saying it to themselves.

I have several lines of reasoning to support that conclusion. First of all, it's simply not true. In 2021 and 2022, we finished in the Top 25 in football, while LSU was unranked. At different times over the years we have been ranked ahead of them in men's basketball, baseball, softball, and other sports. And when we play them head-to-head and beat them, that settles the question. No whining, no "but-but-but", no "coulda-woulda-shoulda." As the saw goes, It's why you play the game. Putting our teams on the arena against one another is the final arbiter. However the rest of the season goes, for that game, the superior team was decided.

Of course, from a strictly legal perspective, in those situations, they're technically right. We are not their equals.

When we beat them, we're their superiors.

But they ignore that and chatter away at their mantra, "ULL is not LSU's equal, and it never will be."

Second, look at the history. LSU didn't bring big-time men's hoops to Louisiana. UL did, and LSU desperately scrambled to catch up. They didn't bring big-time baseball to the state. UNO did, and LSU desperately scrambled to catch up. They didn't bring big-time women's basketball here. Tech did, and LSU desperately scrambled to catch up. They didn't bring big-time softball, UL did.

And LSU desperately scrambled to catch up. Each time, LSU got passed up by a 'little' school. Some powerhouse.

Next, consider academics. UL began blowing LSU out of the water over a decade ago, but they're so busy playing ball games that they have ignored their core industry. Consider this: LSU has three times our faculty numbers, four times our state funding, and five times our doctoral programs. When they report their research numbers, they include Pennington, the State Ag Extension Service, the Vet school, and the Law School. Nevertheless, when you compare our productivity— per faculty, per state dollar, per doctoral program, per facility— we are vastly more productive than they are. And I am hearing rumors that the numbers coming out for last year will be even more surprising. Which means better for us...

...and worse for them.

That funding insight equally applies to athletics. Give us half their sports funding, and they'll never see another 'natty' (sounds like something you put on a baby's bottom to keep the smelly reality from escaping). They will never win another national championship, simply because they'll never win another state championship. We will own them.

LSU is fat, arrogant, and lazy. They have primitive priorities, and primitive thought processes to match. Basically, they're stupid.* And all of a sudden, here's another Louisiana school, with a tiny fraction of their resources, garnering increasing national attention, and with increasing frequency, passing them up.

They talk loud to drown out their own fears.

Which are fears we don't share. Imagine MAT & crew were to host someone from McNeese, or ULM, or Tech on their show, someone who had been trading smack with us on social media. Would they ever say to the guest, "You are not our equal, and you never will be"?

Of course not.

First of all, that's not how we roll. We would never intentionally be rude to a guest on our turf, and we certainly wouldn't go on their turf and do it. When the other schools beat us, we shake their hands, congratulate them, and get back to work... not just in that one sport, nor in all sports, but across the campus. We're building a university, and a community, and even a state. Sports is a part of that.

It's not the sole reason for our existence.

Second of all, to say "you never will be" is just blatant ignorance. No one knows the future. "FSU will never be Florida's equal." (FSU was a doormat from their founding until Bobby Bowden showed up.) "Miami will never be FSU's equal." (UL is 1-1 against Miami football, look it up.) "Little Virginia Tech will never be Virginia's equal." (VT was a tiny military school for most of its history). Etc. On top of that, if Jeff Bezos gives McNeese $5B tomorrow, they will pass us all up. And if any of the other schools get a succession of strong leaders such as UL has had, and we stumble with some poor leaders, it could happen. They could pass us up.

Finally, and most importantly, we don't live in white-knuckled fear of the possibility. We don't need to put someone else down to feel good about ourselves. We don't need to deny someone their strengths in order to recognize our own areas of excellence. And no one here views superiority in every facet as a legitimate goal, because (again) it's just plain stupid. Believing you can be the best at everything, all the time, reflects poor priorities, and worse, a poor college education. It's simply not possible.

"ULL is not LSU's equal, and it never will be."

They're not hearing footsteps.

They're seeing footprints.

*'Ignorance' means "I don't know." That's an inescapable human constant, we will always be ignorant. 'Stupidity,' however, means "I don't know and I don't want to know." That's why LSU sticks with their mantra.

Dropped in to say thank you for taking the time to write this.

Greatest post in RP history.

[Boomer]

Dropped in to say thank you for taking the time to write this.

Greatest post in RP history.

……I keep posting this over and over….refer to them as State….they are state and again, as they add an extra L which we aren’t, we add state which THEY ARE by their chosen name!

[CajunVic]

Dropped in to say thank you for taking the time to write this.

Greatest post in RP history.

We all certainly hope you are learning . . . you have so much potential . . . but as long as you let things live in your head and on your head you will go nowhere . . .

[CajunFun]

What are the only things you should leave on the beach? Alex

To go along with the part about who brought baseball, basketball, softball…to Louisiana. You can also ask who brought elite architecture and computer science programs to Louisiana, that would be UL.

I once years ago had the opportunity to sit next to Dr A on an alumni bus to a game in Hattiesburg. When we were at the top of the Ms River bridge with a clear view of tiger stadium he looked at me and said I hate them M___ Fu___ers. (I was shocked) Then he proceeded to tell me how when those programs arch. and cs were number one in the state and getting national recognition lsuam fought hard to take money away from them and move those elite programs to their campus. They do it to all schools. There was a time they were fighting hard for ULM’s pharmacy school but did not succeed. That school has a serious insecurity complex when other schools in the state have success.

We began investing in comp sci in the 1950's, that's how ahead of the curve we were. An aunt of mine had an old encyclopedia from back then, and out of curiosity I poked around in it. 'Computer' wasn't even an entry. But Dr. Oliver and some of the other mathematicians saw the potential, and Ray was a mathematician. That led to the master's program in CS, which was quite possibly the first in the world. (No one has ever found an earlier one.)

That, in turn, set the stage for UL's next step. I used to have one of those huge Louisiana maps from 1960, and there were only three public universities on it: Southern, LSU, and USL. All of the others were colleges.

Then there was the Honeywell computer with the Multics operating system. There were only 3 Multics systems in the world at that time: MIT, DOD, and Ford. I believe we bought Ford's copy. As for the hardware, that cost $1M, an outrageous sum in the early 1970s, something we knew LSU would never let us have. So in the renovation bill for Stephens Hall, there was an extra $1M for 'unspecified improvements.' That bought our hardware. LSU blew a hemorrhoid. But I remember writing programs on a CRT screen, while a friend at Texas A&M (and students at just about every university in the world) were still typing out punch cards.

I've told the architecture story here before, but I'll tell it again. I think it was the early '80's... LSU was trying to literally move our entire architecture program to their campus, the faculty, the students, the equipment. And they had built up some political momentum.

But as luck (or Providence, your choice) would have it, UL was up for accreditation from the American Institute of Architects about that time. Our program was highly respected nationally.

A good program will get a three-year accreditation. A strong program gets four years.

When the AIA team visiting U(S)L found out what LSU was up to, they gave us five— count 'em five— years of accreditation. I think we were the only five-year accredited program in the country at that time.

Which was the last we heard about LSU swiping our architecture program.

As for ЯR and their volunteer effort, they are an example of the sense of community and ownership that we have for our University and our teams. Which is also one of best examples of the difference between UL & LSU:

When we first hired Bustle, we had a big clean up work-weekend at the athletic complex. Over a hundred people showed up, including doctors, lawyers, engineers, and UL administrators... even the mayor came by briefly.

At one point, Bustle took a break and came out to pick up trash. One of our fans took a picture of him, posted it on one of our sports boards. Our fans said, "How cool! Our head coach will come out and pitch in to pick up trash!"

Exactly the same picture was copied and posted on one of the LSU boards. Their reaction was, "How embarrassing. Their head coach has to go out and pick up trash."

And they wonder why we're surging...

[KajunKrazy]

Looking at states across the southeastern US, Louisiana and Arkansas are the only 2 states in the region that don't have multiple "major" P5 programs. I don't believe for one second that's a coincidence. LSU has done everything in their power to suppress every other school in the state of Louisiana. It wouldn't surprise me to see that schools like Arkansas St. and UALR have the same issue with Arkansas.

IMHO. I think where La went wrong is we have way to many D1 schools and no D2. I was talking to Kyle Shipp head football coach of Arkansas Tech on a visit there and he told me if La ever decides to get a D2 school there we would all be in trouble. With the talent in that state they could be very good in our league. AT currently plays in the GAC made up of mostly Ark and Oklahoma schools. A D2 would offer many kids opportunities to play college ball and not have to move so far away to do it.

[CajunFun]

Dropped in to say thank you for taking the time to write this.

Greatest post in RP history.

Oh, I think there is a bit of hyperbole in that statement. But I'll take it...

BTW, you'll notice in my preceding post, I copied the Russian 'ya' to suggest your logo. You might copy & save it somewhere.
ЯR