I think the university and community have let each other down in equal measure. Winning doesn’t cure all ills, and sadly our athletic department and university still dont grasp that. We have yet to have all aspects firing on all cylinders at the same time (on field, promotions, ticketing, merchandise, gameday atmosphere, fundraising). It has been a scattered effort with sporadic successful results. Even with our subpar fan experience, we saw gains in attendance during Napier’s tenure. We put more people in the stands for our conference title game with a trip to a mediocre bowl game on the line than Tulane did for theirs when they had a trip to a NY6 on the line. I wish our decision makers had seen our attendance gains as progress with areas for improvement. Instead we seemed to take the numbers not being at our final goal as a sign of failure and our fanbase as a lost cause not worth investing in.
How did this thread on Coach Dez shift to the AD?
Here is an interesting comparison of Year 1 & 2 (to date) for Napier and Dez:
Year 1
Napier was 7-5 regular season, then lost the conference championship to App State and beaten badly in a Bowl game to Tulane (41-24) and finished 7-7. Lost his first conference game to Coastal and lost to App State & Troy to finish 5-3 in conference, but did play for the conference championship.
Dez was 6-6 regular season, then lost the Bowl game to Houston (a game we could have won but for a fumble) and finished 6-7. Lost his first conference game to ULM and lost to USA, USM & Troy to finish 4-4 in conference and no conference championship game.
Difference in records of games won/loss by 10 points or less:
Napier won 3 and lost 3.
Dez won 1 and lost 3.
Napier Year 1 at Florida 6-7 and 3-5 in conference. Year 2 now at 1-1.
Year 2
Napier went 11-3, losing to App State twice, Troy & Miss State. Lost to App State in Conference Championship game and beat Miami Ohio in a Bowl game. Started year at 3-1 losing to Miss State.
Dez started year at 1-1, losing first conference game to ODU in a game we should have won (defense cost us that game). Now plays UAB (1-1 with a loss to GA Southern) and Buffalo (0-2 with a loss to an FCS school). Fix our defense and we can be 3-1 going to Minnesota.
Many are down on Dez right now, but the difference in the 1st year of both coaches comes down to 2 losses by 10 or less points. How will Dez define Year 2? Too early to tell and too early to judge him.
To be fair. It was the opposite in game 1. Offense looked terrible, but the defense played well. But considering the level of talent we played, hard to gauge. Game 2 was the opposite of game 1. Maybe we put it together in game 3. I'm certainly hoping so. GEAUX CAJUNS!
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