Basketball transfer portal

[Esqueleto]

$6k per seat for the first season and $3k per seat after that.

No thanks, lol. This is G5 football.

[RedTails]

Wanted to comment a little on this post. Forewarning, I had my wisdom teeth out today, so preapologies if this isn't the most coherent thing I've ever posted.

I'm not a huge fan of the "would you rather the old guy?" mindset when examining the success of a current leader. There's a reason the previous guy isn't here anymore, and that shouldn't be the benchmark for measuring Maggard's success. Similar to the way saying, "would you rather Robert Lee or Jerry Baldwin?" wouldn't be a solid defense of our basketball and football programs. I have been unimpressed with how we've handled the new era of college athletics. Started it off with the hire of Des (no national coaching search), and we're woefully behind in the NIL game. I understand not competing with the upper echelon of the P5. Getting blown out of the water by programs like McNeese is concerning. Maybe we are on the verge of turning the corner in that regard. I haven't seen anything to make me truly believe that's the case.

Your list of pros and cons seems to be a little reductive of the cons and generous to the pros. For example, I've heard countless times over the past few months about how we are finally fully staffed in sales and RCAF. I'm not seeing anything tangible coming out of that yet. Some of our fans, myself included, are still hearing more from a program like Rice where we attended one event than our hometown team that we support year round, year in and year out. To me at least, the chasm is not just between fan podcasts and the administration. It's between them and our fanbase at large, and the podcasts are just one of the primary venues the admin could use to bridge that gap. You've got folks like me who are are distruPleasel of our admin at this point. A large part of that comes from how closely we seem to be guarding our messaging. The only transparency we offer is in the most controlled of controlled environments (the pod you mentioned for example). We seem more concerned with how we distribute our narrative than the actual content of the message or if it will ring true to the people we are telling it to.

I joked about it earlier, but our vocal fanbase members are not a group of vindictive, saboteurs hellbent on ruining this program. We are working class people giving our honest reactions to the things we see and experience. To see an admin unwilling to meet us in the spaces we visit and to have our voices written off as destructive and "too negative" and being told, "why do you all need to know so much," is unbelievably discouraging. Especially considering we are consistently referred to as the investors of the program.

I think you make some valid points. I hope my post comes off as intended, a case for the things I disagree with, not a dismissal of your viewpoint. I am aware that I am sour grapes at this point, and I am laying a lot at the feet of Bryan Maggard who is not necessarily responsible for every area we are coming up short currently. I expect to see a guy in his position controlling what he can and being as big of an advocate as possible for his "investors" in areas where his control is not direct. I haven't seen that from him in some time and want to see a resurgence of that dimension in his leadership.

Good post, I didn’t take it as a dismissal. I think at the end of the day my viewpoint is that we’re a G5 university with a low budget and no athletic student fees like our peers. We’re doing what we can, but with room for improvement. For example, I hope he doesn’t believe our RV tailgating spots aren’t expensive enough.

[Million$Mullet]

Should probably just drop down to FCS and the southland in all other sports

[GMG]

I still stand by my posts. I'm one of the few on this page that was in the inner circle and had enough of the lack of accountability and productivity. Oh and I forgot to mention that my company has donated over $100k in the past 10 years. Those days are over.

[GMG]

After the spring sport season is over, we can look back at their seasons and see whether or not they measured up.

[zephyr]

I think Dr. Maggard is an extremely effective AD. Is he perfect? No. No one is. I don't know if there's another AD I'd prefer. Could you imagine the previous AD navigating this new era of college athletics?

Under his tutelage: created in-house ticketing ops, outbound sales team, brought in Napier and gave him the resources to take us to the pinnacle of SBC football, brand new football facility in-progress, ultra conscious of the student-athlete experience, growing admin side of athletics (more resources), many more I cannot list out because I'm just making a quick post.

Cons: fan experience at games, RCAF stagnation, MBB program interest all-time low, schism with fan-led pods

Give the new Ragin' Cajun Connection pod with Dr. Maggard a listen. Everything I listed above that he's gotten done has been part of a vision laid out by his first strategic plan. This new strategic plan (hard copies will be mailed to RCAF members and available online soon) seems to address glaring issues (i.e. growing the RCAF to 5000 members).

Is this satire?

[ZoomZoom]

Is this satire?

Not satire, does have one solid point. Maggard > Farmer. Not even close. Cons are spot on, just didn’t elaborate as seems to be a requirement to some when complaining.

[Scott Malkinson]

I think Dr. Maggard is an extremely effective AD. Is he perfect? No. No one is. I don't know if there's another AD I'd prefer. Could you imagine the previous AD navigating this new era of college athletics?

Under his tutelage: created in-house ticketing ops, outbound sales team, brought in Napier and gave him the resources to take us to the pinnacle of SBC football, brand new football facility in-progress, ultra conscious of the student-athlete experience, growing admin side of athletics (more resources), many more I cannot list out because I'm just making a quick post.

Cons: fan experience at games, RCAF stagnation, MBB program interest all-time low, schism with fan-led pods

Give the new Ragin' Cajun Connection pod with Dr. Maggard a listen. Everything I listed above that he's gotten done has been part of a vision laid out by his first strategic plan. This new strategic plan (hard copies will be mailed to RCAF members and available online soon) seems to address glaring issues (i.e. growing the RCAF to 5000 members).

Maggard is easily the best AD we have had. However it's like Carr being top 5 saints QB all time. The bar was set so incredibly low anything looked like an improvement. He did strike gold with Napier but failed to capitalize on it or grown. Everything else was low hanging fruit that majority of D1 programs had in place a decade before.

[ZoomZoom]

Maggard is easily the best AD we have had. However it's like Carr being top 5 saints QB all time. The bar was set so incredibly low anything looked like an improvement. He did strike gold with Napier but failed to capitalize on it or grown. Everything else was low hanging fruit that majority of D1 programs had in place a decade before.

You’re young. Terry Don Phillips is the AD bar. Most between TDP and BM were below Farmer’s showing or overwhelmed with other responsibilities. My biggest disappointment from all the ADs is the precursor to the RCAF, the dropping of the ball with the Ragin Cajun Club. People got on board, a few years later did the two sections at Cajun Field, and nothing else except a money grab. Should have been a simple rebranding to RCAF, but nope. Lost years.

TDP moved on pretty quick, but he showed the fans and the administration what could be. Leadership missed the boat, intentionally or not, and here we are. So what happens going forward?

[cajun4life]

So what happens going forward?

We will continue to raise ticket prices, look for corporate sponsorship opportunities and corporate season ticket sales. We will continue to push the fan base away by ignoring the obvious signs.

We have 2 paths we can take, IMHO we’ve already decided what that will be.

1. Corporate/Exclusive/Elite donor base, and fan support.

2. Return to being a blue collar program with organically driven fan support. Grow the fan base through student development and community integration.