Opinion: What a joke UL athletics has turned into!

[CajunNation]

Joke? I got one...

No info on our website for our legendary Louisiana Classics Track Meet. Found this on the ULM website...

https://ulmwarhawks.com/documents/20...Meet_info_.pdf

Pathetic. Inexcusable.

[CajunT]

"That is the equivalent of being happy for your kid who made an A+ in one subject and failed the other subjects."

That's kinda what you did. Jumping up and down about the A (baseball/softball) , but ignoring the F.

You can make points about the program and the administration without hyperbole and exaggeration. Give credit where things are fine and vent away where there is legitimate concerns. JMO

[Turbine]

Few tend comment at length on items they agree with.

So a comment on the portion they disagree with should not be interpreted as not agreeing with what they didn't comment on.

jmo

[Cajunrunner]

Joke? I got one...

No info on our website for our legendary Louisiana Classics Track Meet. Found this on the ULM website...

https://ulmwarhawks.com/documents/20...Meet_info_.pdf

Pathetic. Inexcusable.

While it's not a money sport, Track & Field had a LONG successful history throughout its time for the university. In fact, off all the sports, maybe the most long-term success, especially when you look from about 1970-2002(ish). But also a long history of the university and administration (at least from the time I started paying attention) giving zero ____s.

So I'm not surprised someone else's athletic website may have more information about the big meet we've hosted every year since I don't even know, than we do on our own.

[RedTails]

Objectively think as an SBC G5 athletic director in 2024.

The landscape of college athletics is fundamentally changing on a yearly basis and speeding towards full-fledged semi-professionalism.

Football: Saban's retirement comments and G5 HCs leaving for P2 assistant jobs are the canaries in the coalmine. Our model of finding, developing, and retaining players that fit the culture has been quickly antiquated. You only get one year out of great game-changing players now at the G5 level. That means that every year you could essentially have a new team. How can you fairly judge a football coach when you don't have the resources to retain the players they develop?

MBB: In a conference of 14 teams, only the team that wins the conference is going to the NCAA tournament. Our current HC is not selling tickets, which is not giving us a great home field advantage, which is not helping us attain a high seed that gives us a better chance at winning the SBC tournament. Either find a guy that can or ask the current HC to take a pay cut and ask the RCAF donors paying his salary to divert the released funds to Krewe Allons to attract/retain difference makers.

Diamond sports: Fine for now, but with programs like Oklahoma openly paying softball players $50,000 in NIL/year, LSU buying a #1 preseason ranked team each year, and Greg Sankey actively lobbying for decreased postseason access for G5 teams...not a great long-term outlook.

I'm not excusing the admin, because there's a lot of low-hanging fruit (as Gerry would say) that can be addressed especially when it comes to fan experience...but it's hard to grade them on high-level decisions when college athletics is fundamentally changing on a year-to-year basis.

How Dr. Maggard grades himself is below:
https://ragincajuns.com/sports/2019/10/30/letsgeaux

Two out of the three objectives are academic/student driven. I guess it goes back to what CajunFun was saying weeks ago. What is our goal as a university with an athletic program? Is it to foster and develop student athletes that are a net-positive on society? Or is it to attract and retain the best athletes to compete at a high-level year in and year out. I think in the past it could be a balancing act, but not anymore. And I don't have an answer.

[CajunT]

Few tend comment at length on items they agree with.

So a comment on the portion they disagree with should not be interpreted as not agreeing with what they didn't comment on.

jmo

In reference to the person that started the thread and some of the comments afterwards.

[Cajunrunner]

Two out of the three objectives are academic/student driven. I guess it goes back to what CajunFun was saying weeks ago. What is our goal as a university with an athletic program? Is it to foster and develop student athletes that are a net-positive on society? Or is it to attract and retain the best athletes to compete at a high-level year in and year out. I think in the past it could be a balancing act, but not anymore. And I don't have an answer.

I remember that thread/statement, and I'll go back to what I said about it. We need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, which means doing what we can, obviously within our budgetary means, to try and foster an environment where the coaches can go out and recruit and get the best OVERALL best athletes possible for their programs. Overall because yes, you ideally want those who are great athletes but not a pain in the ass in the locker room.

So it's not an either/or debate, or shouldn't be, unless we're too scared to walk and chew gum at the same time. And if we are, then fine. Everyone just get settled in to understand that even amongst our peers in the Sunbelt, our realistic destination is about the 5th-7th best athletic program in the conference. We're going to be passed up QUICKLY, and we already have by some, if we're scared.

[JamesTheJeweler]

You can make points about the program and the administration without hyperbole and exaggeration. Give credit where things are fine and vent away where there is legitimate concerns. JMO

Honestly T, I fail to see the exaggeration or hyperbole in his post. This admin is a huge fail.

[CajunT]

Honestly T, I fail to see the exaggeration or hyperbole in his post. This admin is a huge fail.

So, we suck in Softball and Baseball?

[JamesTheJeweler]

So, we suck in Softball and Baseball?

Stay tuned.....we're getting there. To think they can be as inept as they are with basketball and football, but are completely opposite with diamond sports is short sided. Big things coming for baseball soon. This admin deserves EVERY SINGLE BIT of criticism it's getting.

[Cajunrunner]

Big things coming for baseball soon.

Like?

[HoustonCajun]

I remember that thread/statement, and I'll go back to what I said about it. We need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, which means doing what we can, obviously within our budgetary means, to try and foster an environment where the coaches can go out and recruit and get the best OVERALL best athletes possible for their programs. Overall because yes, you ideally want those who are great athletes but not a pain in the ass in the locker room.

So it's not an either/or debate, or shouldn't be, unless we're too scared to walk and chew gum at the same time. And if we are, then fine. Everyone just get settled in to understand that even amongst our peers in the Sunbelt, our realistic destination is about the 5th-7th best athletic program in the conference. We're going to be passed up QUICKLY, and we already have by some, if we're scared.

Dr. S has done a great job academically moving UL to Carnegie R1 status. What he needs to do now is commit UL athletics to a comparable status athletically. That means increased funding for athletics, demonstrating a commitment to the public, completing total facility upgrades, and making a move for better conference alignment that will change the perception of UL by the public. It will take a combination of academics AND athletics to achieve that. Make the commitment, announce to the public and start a major athletic fund raising campaign, demonstrate that commitment by making certain coaching changes and hirings, change policies that make events more fan friendly, change how events are marketed, address improving the fan experience at games, and let the world know it is no longer business as usual for UL athletics.

[ZoomZoom]

And there is net negative, like this...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...na-rcna143624#

[facelessjonmoon]

Stay tuned.....we're getting there. To think they can be as inept as they are with basketball and football, but are completely opposite with diamond sports is short sided. Big things coming for baseball soon. This admin deserves EVERY SINGLE BIT of criticism it's getting.

Bro- you keep leaving us hanging.

[Cajunsmike]

Dr. S has done a great job academically moving UL to Carnegie R1 status. What he needs to do now is commit UL athletics to a comparable status athletically. That means increased funding for athletics, demonstrating a commitment to the public, completing total facility upgrades, and making a move for better conference alignment that will change the perception of UL by the public. It will take a combination of academics AND athletics to achieve that. Make the commitment, announce to the public and start a major athletic fund raising campaign, demonstrate that commitment by making certain coaching changes and hirings, change policies that make events more fan friendly, change how events are marketed, address improving the fan experience at games, and let the world know it is no longer business as usual for UL athletics.

All of that requires the community/fans putting substantially more financial resources into the program than they do now. That has to be done despite not necessarily assured of immediate success on the field. Are there enough people alive with the means and more importantly the will to do so? That is a question I can’t answer. I will agree we have to do a better job of marketing the program and in ASKING for the help needed.