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

[cajun4life]

He didn't say that wasn't one cause. He just said continuing to use that excuse while ignoring other self-controlled causes is tiresome...and quite lame, to be honest.

Exactly. Our worst enemy is our own fear of being “to successful”. Then getting slapped by the big bad LSU political system.

[CajunSID]

He didn't say that wasn't one cause. He just said continuing to use that excuse while ignoring other self-controlled causes is tiresome...and quite lame, to be honest.

I did not say that he did. My point is it is not an excuse, it is a reality.

UL shoots itself in the foot. That we can all agree on.

[CajunVic]

I did not say that he did. My point is it is not an excuse, it is a reality.

UL shoots itself in the foot. That we can all agree on.

So all this time we have been light footed?

[Turbine]

So all this time we have been light footed?

Get Gordon

[CajunVic]

Get Gordon

Trust me, all Gordon can provide is $$$$, but he has commercialized his venture into a boat load of it . . . and like I have always said, $$$$ MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND

[ULvictory]

Will you be riding the bus that you promote at every turn?

Nope. That’s the job of the UL marketing team/fundraisers/coaches.

[CajunVic]

Nope. That’s the job of the UL marketing team/fundraisers/coaches.

If that is the case, the short bus may be most appropriate.

[ULvictory]

If that is the case, the short bus may be most appropriate.

I just don’t see the difficulty in it. Take one of the buses that belong to the school and stop at local places around the region to promote the Cajuns. Engage with the local communities and present a plan to get people to buy in.

[Turbine]

If that is the case, the short bus may be most appropriate.

Im not driving.

[CajunVic]

I just don’t see the difficulty in it. Take one of the buses that belong to the school and stop at local places around the region to promote the Cajuns. Engage with the local communities and present a plan to get people to buy in.

I believe you may be way too impressed with THE BUS.

[ULvictory]

Even if not a “bus tour,” more meet and greets around the region.

[CajunVic]

Even if not a “bus tour,” more meet and greets around the region.

The concept is spot on.

[Turbine]

I believe you may be way too impressed with THE BUS.

Can't go wrong with a non stop bus tour.

The results aren't fast but it never misses the mark.

It's like a slow gun.

Speaking of sloguns.

The bus tour: "Never Stop Rolling, Just Get on Board"

[RaginScotsman]

The old RCAF parties at Cypress Bayou were literal examples of inviting the every-donor into the club.

I was in my 20s and a low-level donor. I went to that and got to meet HUD and ended up playing blackjack with Bob Marlin and his wife. It was such a cool experience.

The place was packed with red and you felt like this was the start of something great.

What the heck happened? (Rhetorical question. I know the answer(s).)

[ULGrad@HOU]

I think people are looking at this through a business lens, which makes perfect sense. If working in college athletics taught me anything, it’s that athletics and the federal govt are the only “businesses” where a budget is more suggestion than rule.

College athletic depts are going to run a deficit. All but a handful do. You wanna see budget deficits? Check out what’s going on at Arizona..you know the soon-to-be Big 12 school coming off its best football season in years and a possible Final Four basketball team.

UL didn’t just start running deficits post-COVID. Now, $8 million? That might be a new school record. But while presidents around the country don’t like it when any of their depts are over budget, it happens. And if a president understands that athletics is the best marketing dept it has, they live with it. The headache is obviously explaining it to the English dept.

My point is I wouldn’t get too caught up in the $$. If an AD has a good relationship with their boss, they knew it was coming.

This is not to say ‘meh, don’t worry about it.’ The decline in season ticket sales and attendance is a serious problem and one not solved simply by winning.

I listened to parts of a recent podcast desperate for more community engagement. That’s very true, and I don’t know what the dept does in that regard. But there are many more things they need to do and the only thing I completely disagree with from that podcast and others in general screaming from the sidelines is the suggestion that this dept is incompetent, Maggard doesn’t care anymore or whatever other darts of blame people want to throw.

In order for athletics to be successful, there has to be an investment. Not just in $$ but in alignment. From the athletic dept to MH to the UL system. And as long as the politics of Louisiana stand united behind one school, UL and every school outside BR will be fighting with one hand tied behind its back.

Me, I love following Cajun athletics…baseball, softball particularly. I’ve watched more UL basketball this year than I ever have since Marlin was hired. And while I get the criticism and frustration this board throws out at him ad nauseam, he has this group playing harder than any team I’ve seen in years. And they play for each other.

They have their limitations and are also fighting every game despite having that hand tied behind their back. A very good representation of Cajun athletics. I hope more people support it.

Geaux Cajuns!!

I'm glad you said this, and I couldn't agree more. I don't think UL or any other athletic dept. (most of the time this includes the greedy state school across the basin) runs at a surplus in Louisiana. Very few in the country do. The budgets are essentially designed this way.
It's all how it's worded and presented. This is just a hack job by the writer, not presenting all the facts and steering the conversation to make UL look bad. It's an agenda, typical of writing these days.
I agree, ticket sales should be the focus here. Others that have said it and are right on. Dr. Maggard (and the UL Admin) has damaged the tailgating with the policies put in place after he arrived. Also, the hiring of Des, an inexperienced coach with no real FBS background, showed the fans which direction they were headed and wanting to go. The decline was foreseeable by many (most on this forum went along with it).