Cannot defend the trajectory of the program

[R1Letterman]

If Napier was making 2mil a year and was offered 3mil to stay, dont kid yourself when people say there was no money to go out and do a national search and get a guy better than dez just because we couldn't pay. Money is there. MH rolled the dice thinking Dez could keep the momentum going and not have to pay him. Now it's blowing up in their faces just like it did when they hired Baldwin. Their getting exactly what they deserve.

Dez will get another year just because they gave baldwin three years but if things don't get SIGNIFICANTLY better next year a new coach is needed.

Good post, very interesting.

My only question is why didn't they try and pay Dez even less, if money saving was ultimate goal.
He makes 750k??? Would he have turned down $550k? How does his contract read, could he even have stayed under prior contract just with "other duties as assigned" as most co tracts state? Probably not..... but why an increase? Is that to keep stature of the program to some extent?

[JMV JustMyView]

If Napier was making 2mil a year and was offered 3mil to stay, dont kid yourself when people say there was no money to go out and do a national search and get a guy better than dez just because we couldn't pay. Money is there. MH rolled the dice thinking Dez could keep the momentum going and not have to pay him. Now it's blowing up in their faces just like it did when they hired Baldwin. Their getting exactly what they deserve.

Dez will get another year just because they gave baldwin three years but if things don't get SIGNIFICANTLY better next year a new coach is needed.

What happened to the $3 mil that they Cajuns received from Florida? Nobody talks about that.

[SMD7636]

Hopefully, the 3 million was used to off set our debt from the COVID years.

[JamesTheJeweler]

I swear, this fanbase is like the old MadTV skit, "lowered expectations". The video speaks for itself. You can figure out who RICK is in the video. You? MH? Both?
https://youtu.be/atfDg4fLcks?si=ReUyhX8yUcYJdtxi

[Jacob81]

Our record is who we are and it’s not good enough. I’m hoping Dez isn’t that far from having a much better record.

Maybe I’m wrong. He seems too smart and too motivated to not succeed.

[zephyr]

Des defender incoming.

Billy also walked into the blank check writing version of our athletic office, along with the joy of not having to deal with college free agency (NIL + Transfer Portal). Which all of you already know, but that's kind of a big deal.

All of this is false. The portal was easily available at that time. We don't have blank checks around this university.

[ULvictory]

No one will convince me that the losses to Georgia State, Southern Miss, Old Dominion, and Arkansas State were due to having less talent or those teams being better. We lost those games due to lack of fundamentals and poor discipline. We lost games in 2022 for the same reasons. We are seeing the same issues we saw a year ago, and they haven't changed. That is why I expect some staff shakeups at the end of this season.

[no1cajunfan]

Good post, very interesting.

My only question is why didn't they try and pay Dez even less, if money saving was ultimate goal.
He makes 750k??? Would he have turned down $550k? How does his contract read, could he even have stayed under prior contract just with "other duties as assigned" as most co tracts state? Probably not..... but why an increase? Is that to keep stature of the program to some extent?

Good question. My guess is because of the success under Napier UL needed to pay a HC a salary at or near the top of the SB. If not, that would have sent a bad message going from 2mil to 550K. Thats my opinion.

[JMV JustMyView]

Good question. My guess is because of the success under Napier UL needed to pay a HC a salary at or near the top of the SB. If not, that would have sent a bad message going from 2mil to 550K. Thats my opinion.

3.1 Million was on the table for Napier and he turned it down. The money will always be found to try to keep the right coach. Coach Justin had some offers and the Cajuns bumped him in pay and title to keep him.

[facelessjonmoon]

If Napier was making 2mil a year and was offered 3mil to stay, dont kid yourself when people say there was no money to go out and do a national search and get a guy better than dez just because we couldn't pay. Money is there. MH rolled the dice thinking Dez could keep the momentum going and not have to pay him. Now it's blowing up in their faces just like it did when they hired Baldwin. Their getting exactly what they deserve.

Dez will get another year just because they gave baldwin three years but if things don't get SIGNIFICANTLY better next year a new coach is needed.

The Baldwin comparison is iffy. The 2 years before Baldwin started the program was 1-10 and 2-9. Anybody being honest would admit it would take more than 2 years

The 2 years before Des started the team was 10-1 and 13-1. Des also needs a third year but the current trajectory is concerning