Healthy Perspectives and Priorities

[CajunFun]

I have elsewhere asked, if winning solves everything, then why is it that the more we win the smaller our crowds get?

People often comment that athletics are the 'front porch' of the University. Judging from some of the monomaniacs here, it's also the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the bedrooms...

...and the loo.

In contrast, the more our academic stature rises, the more our enrollments grow.

A comparison is helpful. If a person buys top-tier season tickets to all UL sports, with RCAF fees, I estimate it comes to about $2700 per year. Not bad.

But when a freshman enrolls, their in-state tuition is over $11K (out of state, $25K), and they spend $10-$20K on room and board. Per year.

For four years.

Over those four years, a top-tier ticket holder contributes a little over $10K to the university and local economy, while each student contributes more like $100K.

But the differences don't stop there, because after graduation, a lot of our students will stay in Acadiana, occupying high-paying jobs, starting new businesses, involving themselves in churches and civic organizations, and growing both our economy & quality of life. And many of them will donate to UL.

Many people claim that 'government should be run like a business.' Well, this is a government-owned university. You do the math.

Mind you, I'm not saying to get rid of athletics, nor even to diminish them.

I'm just pointing out that many of the schools in our state, and in our conference, have skewed priorities. They think with their reproductive organs, rather than their reflective ones.

So let's aim higher.

Higher goals.

Higher priorities.

Higher organs...

[CajunFun]

Turb, please change the title to 'Healthy.' Dang.

[NOCajun]

Turb, please change the title to 'Healthy.' Dang.

Well, I thank God that my HEALTH doesn't depend on whether the CAJUNS win!!!

#cULture
#WeAreLouisiana
#GeauxCajuns
#BeatTexasState

[zeppelincajun]

The “comparison” listed above is nonsensical. The $100,000 for a student is meant to be a once in a lifetime expense spread out over 4 years. Although at UL we will likely collect for more than 4 years because our 4 year graduation rate lags almost 20% behind the national average. The $2,700 is meant to be a yearly entertainment expense that someone pays for the duration of their life.

In regards to your comments about our crowds declining despite winning, I have shown numerous times that our attendance figures improved in the Napier years in comparison to the latter Hud years. It just wasn’t at the rate some people wanted/expected. There are a myriad of reasons for the growth not being as much as desired. The most important being: 1: continually declining gameday operations and atmosphere 2. the direct correlation between success and being chosen for midweek games 3. the shift that has occurred in this community in regards to supporting LSU over UL. #3 is the longterm effect of LSU winning 3 national titles over the last 20 or so years and UL’s neglect of its own athletic programs while the people donating to LSU now were in school at UL. THAT is the Lafayette/Acadiana experience. Born and raised in Acadiana. Attend UL for 4 years. Get a degree. Enter the workforce. Spend the remaining 40-50 years of one’s life pumping that $2,700 yearly entertainment expense directly in to BR’s economy. All because of athletics. Or maybe I’m mistaken. Maybe all these people we see in P&G every Saturday morning are just very passionate about LSU’s College of Engineering.

[Swamp]

Most identifiable symbol of any major college in the United States is the geometry on that FBS helmet.

Thats just me.

[cajun4life]

The “comparison” listed above is nonsensical. The $100,000 for a student is meant to be a once in a lifetime expense spread out over 4 years. Although at UL we will likely collect for more than 4 years because our 4 year graduation rate lags almost 20% behind the national average. The $2,700 is meant to be a yearly entertainment expense that someone pays for the duration of their life.

In regards to your comments about our crowds declining despite winning, I have shown numerous times that our attendance figures improved in the Napier years in comparison to the latter Hud years. It just wasn’t at the rate some people wanted/expected. There are a myriad of reasons for the growth not being as much as desired. The most important being: 1: continually declining gameday operations and atmosphere 2. the direct correlation between success and being chosen for midweek games 3. the shift that has occurred in this community in regards to supporting LSU over UL. #3 is the longterm effect of LSU winning 3 national titles over the last 20 or so years and UL’s neglect of its own athletic programs while the people donating to LSU now were in school at UL. THAT is the Lafayette/Acadiana experience. Born and raised in Acadiana. Attend UL for 4 years. Get a degree. Enter the workforce. Spend the remaining 40-50 years of one’s life pumping that $2,700 yearly entertainment expense directly in to BR’s economy. All because of athletics. Or maybe I’m mistaken. Maybe all these people we see in P&G every Saturday morning are just very passionate about LSU’s College of Engineering.

Pretty much spot on.

[Cajunrunner]

We are all capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. Our university leaders should be able to pursue academic excellence AND be amongst the top athletic programs vs our peers, like the SBC programs and other G5s.

Donors and fans can do the same. I can donate to BOTH the Track & Field program AND to Wisdom/Ragin Cajun Catholics.

Amazing how it does not have to be one or the other for any of the interested parties. It took long enough, and the retirement of a university president who stayed way too long, for us to even be allowed to have an athletic booster fund (RCAF). I don’t want to go back to those days of starved university and community support for Ragin Cajun athletics.

[Cajunsmike]

The “comparison” listed above is nonsensical. The $100,000 for a student is meant to be a once in a lifetime expense spread out over 4 years. Although at UL we will likely collect for more than 4 years because our 4 year graduation rate lags almost 20% behind the national average. The $2,700 is meant to be a yearly entertainment expense that someone pays for the duration of their life.

In regards to your comments about our crowds declining despite winning, I have shown numerous times that our attendance figures improved in the Napier years in comparison to the latter Hud years. It just wasn’t at the rate some people wanted/expected. There are a myriad of reasons for the growth not being as much as desired. The most important being: 1: continually declining gameday operations and atmosphere 2. the direct correlation between success and being chosen for midweek games 3. the shift that has occurred in this community in regards to supporting LSU over UL. #3 is the longterm effect of LSU winning 3 national titles over the last 20 or so years and UL’s neglect of its own athletic programs while the people donating to LSU now were in school at UL. THAT is the Lafayette/Acadiana experience. Born and raised in Acadiana. Attend UL for 4 years. Get a degree. Enter the workforce. Spend the remaining 40-50 years of one’s life pumping that $2,700 yearly entertainment expense directly in to BR’s economy. All because of athletics. Or maybe I’m mistaken. Maybe all these people we see in P&G every Saturday morning are just very passionate about LSU’s College of Engineering.

Even if LSU were losing regularly, the current landscape indicates they would still draw the great majority of casual fans away from us. Not necessarily in Tiger Stadium but in the comfort of their living room. That is because of all the hype the SEC currently generates from the national media. Casual folks don't think much of ANY G5 conference, regardless of how well it competes. Therefore, little attention is paid to any of our events by those folks regardless of how big the game may be in our view. Tulane is also somewhat disappointed in their attendance as well despite a strong program these days. Academically, they have few peers in the south. Also, very few G5 schools are located 60 miles from one of the premier athletic programs in the nation. Great challenge for us to overcome Not that we should give up or run away from it. To the contrary, our efforts need to be top notch to deal with this situation. However, we have to recognize the issue in order to deal with it.

Still one of the points CajunFun makes is very valid. The academic success we are enjoying is not celebrated enough. More publicity as to the bang for your bang we offer for a degree here is needed. That would bring in even higher quality students which may actually result in more athletic support down the road.

[CajunVic]

Pretty much spot on.

It’s pretty much a spot . . . not necessarily spot on . . . we have a lot to be proud of both academically and athletically . . . one of those things is not especially fan attendance at athletic events . . . we should never allow the downside to bring down the upside which Louisiana brings to the table . . .

[zeppelincajun]

Even if LSU were losing regularly, the current landscape indicates they would still draw the great majority of casual fans away from us. Not necessarily in Tiger Stadium but in the comfort of their living room. That is because of all the hype the SEC currently generates from the national media. Casual folks don't think much of ANY G5 conference, regardless of how well it competes. Therefore, little attention is paid to any of our events by those folks regardless of how big the game may be in our view. Tulane is also somewhat disappointed in their attendance as well despite a strong program these days. Academically, they have few peers in the south. Also, very few G5 schools are located 60 miles from one of the premier athletic programs in the nation. Great challenge for us to overcome Not that we should give up or run away from it. To the contrary, our efforts need to be top notch to deal with this situation. However, we have to recognize the issue in order to deal with it.

Still one of the points CajunFun makes is very valid. The academic success we are enjoying is not celebrated enough. More publicity as to the bang for your bang we offer for a degree here is needed. That would bring in even higher quality students which may actually result in more athletic support down the road.

You are correct that our efforts have to be top notch to deal with being situated in close proximity to a powerhouse in collegiate athletics. I disagree that the casual fan would be as attracted to LSU if they were mediocre to bad in most programs.


To your point about celebrating our academic successes, I have no issue with that. Especially to your point about showing people in numbers what their degree is worth. My question is: when do we begin celebrating our athletic successes? Where is the banner for our first outright conference championship in football in 30+ years? You would have to be blind to set foot on our campus and leave without the knowledge that we are an R1 institution. It’s on light poles all over campus. Where are the signs declaring we have a big football, basketball, or baseball game coming up on a given Saturday? They don’t exist. When you are in the CajunDome tomorrow for exhibition look at all the banners hanging in our basketball arena and tell me if the biggest UL related banner is celebrating athletic or academic success? Even in athletic space, academics gets the most prominent acknowledgement. Why would it be so wrong of us to promote our athletics in our academic space (campus)?

[HoustonCajun]

I have elsewhere asked, if winning solves everything, then why is it that the more we win the smaller our crowds get?

People often comment that athletics are the 'front porch' of the University. Judging from some of the monomaniacs here, it's also the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the bedrooms...

...and the loo.

In contrast, the more our academic stature rises, the more our enrollments grow.

A comparison is helpful. If a person buys top-tier season tickets to all UL sports, with RCAF fees, I estimate it comes to about $2700 per year. Not bad.

But when a freshman enrolls, their in-state tuition is over $11K (out of state, $25K), and they spend $10-$20K on room and board. Per year.

For four years.

Over those four years, a top-tier ticket holder contributes a little over $10K to the university and local economy, while each student contributes more like $100K.

But the differences don't stop there, because after graduation, a lot of our students will stay in Acadiana, occupying high-paying jobs, starting new businesses, involving themselves in churches and civic organizations, and growing both our economy & quality of life. And many of them will donate to UL.

Many people claim that 'government should be run like a business.' Well, this is a government-owned university. You do the math.

Mind you, I'm not saying to get rid of athletics, nor even to diminish them.

I'm just pointing out that many of the schools in our state, and in our conference, have skewed priorities. They think with their reproductive organs, rather than their reflective ones.

So let's aim higher.

Higher goals.

Higher priorities.

Higher organs...

Now imagine that athletic success brings national recognition that draws 2,000 new students to UL that UL wouldn't have normally enrolled, instead of the 50-100 or so UL usually gets. How much more contributions would that generate? Athletics and academics can succeed simultaneously and don't need to be mutually exclusive. Just look at Big 10 schools that are AAU and have highly successful athletics. Why don't we use a school like Michigan as a model.

[HoustonCajun]

And, that horrible UL commercial at half time will not help recruit students. UL has been running that for 2-3 years now. How about something that showcases our academic accomplishments, beautiful campus and athletic facilities? Sometimes we are our own worse enemy.