Louisiana athletics operated at $8 million deficit during 2023 fiscal year

[ManAboutTown]

Just think, you can wear your, "GEAUX TO HELL McNEESE SHIRT" every year and drive to Lake Charles, Hammond, Beaumont, Thibodeaux and Natchitoches. Just like the old days! GEAUX CAJUNS!

Be careful T. You'll give Boomer a boner from the 70s.

[CajunVic]

Napier's last year was the first time we didn't see a decline in YOY season ticket sales since 2014. It's incorrect to assume as "splash hire" wouldn't have A) continued the excitement and B) been worth the investment. I'll say again, private money pledged $3mm to keep Napier. Those boosters would have spent that on a "splash hire."

I believe your assumption that the private money would have spent that on a splash hire and again the next year and the next year and the next year to satisfy that salary obligation is tantamount to unicorn farts and gold at the end of the rainbow. This private money knew that Napier would have been here for just another year in all probability, so that was just a one time investment. If Napier had stayed, that probably would have had him embarking upon the tract that HUD took by staying too long. NIL and free transfer with immediate eligibility would have bit Napier in the ass here even more than it has done in Florida. Napier probably never would have become a rich man or at least as rich of a man as he is now.

Further, with the advent of NIL and free transfer eligibility, it is pie in the sky to believe that even the splash hire would have been in a position to compete and retain the talent necessary to keep the kind of success Napier had going (at that point, not only the funding for the splash hire that we do not have would have been missing but the funding for NIL requirements would also have been needed).

None of this is doomsday, its only taking a realistic view of the situation which we find ourselves in at the moment and also shows the reasons why our records the past two years can't totally be blamed on CMD. I believe even you have admitted the difficult conditions and market that CMD was tossed into. It is the same market a splash hire would have been tossed into.

[babysitter]

Just think, you can wear your, "GEAUX TO HELL McNEESE SHIRT" every year and drive to Lake Charles, Hammond, Beaumont, Thibodeaux and Natchitoches. Just like the old days! GEAUX CAJUNS!

Absolutely. The good old days. When we actually had a real fanbase and a city that was engaged.

[CajunT]

Be careful T. You'll give Boomer a boner from the 70s.

Boomer is tolerable because he still supports his school. Some of the very same people complaining about everything concerning athletics don't give a dime. I'm willing to listen to anyone that has skin in the game, if they don't, I don't give a rats azz.

[babysitter]

Get what you pay for. The leadership runs it like a popsicle stand and these are the results.

I agree 100%. It's called being scared to death of success.

[KajunKrazy]

Looking at the financial picture just presented, where do you think they would have raised the money for a splash hire?

Remember, we were already $2.6mm in the hole Napier's last year even with those two years or record performances in football.

How do we define splash hire? Des and Billy were making about the same thing when they both were hired for the head job. Des wasn’t a cheap hire.

[ManAboutTown]

Boomer is tolerable because he still supports his school. Some of the very same people complaining about everything concerning athletics don't give a dime. I'm willing to listen to anyone that has skin in the game, if they don't, I don't give a rats azz.

I poke fun at Boomer because I like Boomer.

[jaxmc1023]

Who buys season tickets these days -- in any sport? Honest question...

[CajunVic]

Who buys season tickets these days -- in any sport? Honest question...

I buy 4 in the grand stand for baseball.

[Cajunrunner]

The Daily Advertiser doesn’t know we have basketball or spring sports anymore but they sure jumped all over this news.

Regardless, bad news and it explains a lot.

Following the Tim Buckley model. Dude was much more enthusiastic writing articles casting a cloud over our athletic programs than writing about successes and victories.

[Cajunrunner]

Hmmmm. Maybe THIS is why they've failed to address the contract situation between Michigan St and Wake Forest. They knew this report was coming out and didn't want to add fuel to the fire. Kinda makes sense.

How many days has it been?

Wait…no, we should just believe that there’s no way T Joe would allow us to lose $500k. Just believe in it, and you don’t need them to set the record straight.

[Turbine]

Who buys season tickets these days -- in any sport? Honest question...

The giant commercial known as the season ticket drive for the upcoming season is what generates walk up sales all season long. ... and then some.