CMD vs. College Football

[CajunFun]

I absolutely see tangible evidence of improvement as a university.

Where is this growth that we are talking about? Undergrad student growth is pretty stagnant.

Graduate program growth is increasing, which is huge for our reputation as a university.

I just don’t see the growth.

Just because we aren't as big as LSU, it's still growth. That's probably not what you meant, but sometimes it seems like that's all people here focus on. It's always some complaint, some deficiency, some failure of recognition by our own people.

I mentioned it a couple of months back: we have gone through rising selective admissions, we have withstood the creation of 9 community college campuses in the region, the vo-tech schools have tripled their enrollment over the past decade...

And yet, the number of HS valedictorians at UL is still rising, freshman ACTs & GPAs are going up, and our overall numbers are— yes— slowly increasing. And again, that's all happening while enrollments are shrinking across the country.

We are one of the two largest schools in a state that refuses to provide adequate funding to higher education. Look at the long, long, long list of successes I mentioned, of all the Ws UL is putting up. Sometimes I feel like UL is batting .400, and all people can do is complain because 60% of the time we are aren't getting a hit.

People are complaining because the rest of the state won't call us Louisiana, while too many of our own people— people who claim to be fans— ignore the fact that we have become Louisiana.

Sorry to vent, but Sheesh.

[ZoomZoom]

Why do we care?

I walked across campus a couple of days ago, hardly recognized it. We are now a major college, and the campus looks it. A couple of years ago, with the stroke of a pen, we grew from 154 acres to 541, gaining a new health sciences building and another parking garage... our 4th, and we need it because that's how fast we're growing. And we haven't even started breaking ground on other buildings that are coming down the pipe.

We reached R2. We have surpassed LSU in research funding, and will almost definitely surpass Tulane— including their med school— in 3-4 years. We are very close to SREB Doc1, which should greatly increase our state funding. We have 5 research parks, one of which is adding two world-class medical centers, at a cost of over $80M. We have more students who want to come here than we can handle (remember, we had to rent out some local hotels), all while college enrollment is shrinking across the country. We are building out our athletics campus, with facilities that already surpass some P5 schools. We have a football coach who is taking us to the next level, maybe further, who is likely to invest a career here (reminds me of back when LSU quietly approached Robe, and he politely declined... how much money did he turn down?) We have other teams that regularly put us in the Top 25, and the trend has been upward for the last 3 decades.

49 states calls us 'Louisiana.' Why do we give a tinker's dam what the schools in this state call us?

They resent us. They have cause. CMD says it well, "It's been us against everybody... It's our belief, and our effort, and our discipline, against everybody, everywhere... and I'll fight 'em all with this team. Because this group has what it takes."

So when they call us 'ULL,' 'Lafayette,' or even 'USL,' we should smile. We should feel like world-beaters.

Because it certainly seems like that's where we're headed.

Tell that to the leaders at MH.

[JamesTheJeweler]

Why do we care?

I walked across campus a couple of days ago, hardly recognized it. We are now a major college, and the campus looks it. A couple of years ago, with the stroke of a pen, we grew from 154 acres to 541, gaining a new health sciences building and another parking garage... our 4th, and we need it because that's how fast we're growing. And we haven't even started breaking ground on other buildings that are coming down the pipe.

We reached R2. We have surpassed LSU in research funding, and will almost definitely surpass Tulane— including their med school— in 3-4 years. We are very close to SREB Doc1, which should greatly increase our state funding. We have 5 research parks, one of which is adding two world-class medical centers, at a cost of over $80M. We have more students who want to come here than we can handle (remember, we had to rent out some local hotels), all while college enrollment is shrinking across the country. We are building out our athletics campus, with facilities that already surpass some P5 schools. We have a football coach who is taking us to the next level, maybe further, who is likely to invest a career here (reminds me of back when LSU quietly approached Robe, and he politely declined... how much money did he turn down?) We have other teams that regularly put us in the Top 25, and the trend has been upward for the last 3 decades.

49 states calls us 'Louisiana.' Why do we give a tinker's dam what the schools in this state call us?

They resent us. They have cause. CMD says it well, "It's been us against everybody... It's our belief, and our effort, and our discipline, against everybody, everywhere... and I'll fight 'em all with this team. Because this group has what it takes."

So when they call us 'ULL,' 'Lafayette,' or even 'USL,' we should smile. We should feel like world-beaters.

Because it certainly seems like that's where we're headed.

I absolutely love your posts Fun! I Would love to have lunch with you one day and pick your brain.

[HoustonCajun]

Why do we care?

I walked across campus a couple of days ago, hardly recognized it. We are now a major college, and the campus looks it. A couple of years ago, with the stroke of a pen, we grew from 154 acres to 541, gaining a new health sciences building and another parking garage... our 4th, and we need it because that's how fast we're growing. And we haven't even started breaking ground on other buildings that are coming down the pipe.

We reached R2. We have surpassed LSU in research funding, and will almost definitely surpass Tulane— including their med school— in 3-4 years. We are very close to SREB Doc1, which should greatly increase our state funding. We have 5 research parks, one of which is adding two world-class medical centers, at a cost of over $80M. We have more students who want to come here than we can handle (remember, we had to rent out some local hotels), all while college enrollment is shrinking across the country. We are building out our athletics campus, with facilities that already surpass some P5 schools. We have a football coach who is taking us to the next level, maybe further, who is likely to invest a career here (reminds me of back when LSU quietly approached Robe, and he politely declined... how much money did he turn down?) We have other teams that regularly put us in the Top 25, and the trend has been upward for the last 3 decades.

49 states calls us 'Louisiana.' Why do we give a tinker's dam what the schools in this state call us?

They resent us. They have cause. CMD says it well, "It's been us against everybody... It's our belief, and our effort, and our discipline, against everybody, everywhere... and I'll fight 'em all with this team. Because this group has what it takes."

So when they call us 'ULL,' 'Lafayette,' or even 'USL,' we should smile. We should feel like world-beaters.

Because it certainly seems like that's where we're headed.

Didn't we reach R1?

[60swerethebest]

He meant R1. He was on a roll so we didn’t correct him.

[HoustonCajun]

He meant R1. He was on a roll so we didn’t correct him.

Let's call it a typo as no one knows more about our academic achievements than CajunFun.

[LaCajunsFan]

Why do we care?

I walked across campus a couple of days ago, hardly recognized it. We are now a major college, and the campus looks it. A couple of years ago, with the stroke of a pen, we grew from 154 acres to 541, gaining a new health sciences building and another parking garage... our 4th, and we need it because that's how fast we're growing. And we haven't even started breaking ground on other buildings that are coming down the pipe.

We reached R1. We have surpassed LSU in research funding, and will almost definitely surpass Tulane— including their med school— in 3-4 years. We are very close to SREB Doc1, which should greatly increase our state funding. We have 5 research parks, one of which is adding two world-class medical centers, at a cost of over $80M. We have more students who want to come here than we can handle (remember, we had to rent out some local hotels), all while college enrollment is shrinking across the country. We are building out our athletics campus, with facilities that already surpass some P5 schools. We have a football coach who is taking us to the next level, maybe further, who is likely to invest a career here (reminds me of back when LSU quietly approached Robe, and he politely declined... how much money did he turn down?) We have other teams that regularly put us in the Top 25, and the trend has been upward for the last 3 decades.

49 states calls us 'Louisiana.' Why do we give a tinker's dam what the schools in this state call us?

They resent us. They have cause. CMD says it well, "It's been us against everybody... It's our belief, and our effort, and our discipline, against everybody, everywhere... and I'll fight 'em all with this team. Because this group has what it takes."

So when they call us 'ULL,' 'Lafayette,' or even 'USL,' we should smile. We should feel like world-beaters.

Because it certainly seems like that's where we're headed.

Wow…..almost a prefect post: just need to correct the R2 statement. We fought too damn hard to get that R1!

And even though I totally feel just as fired up about all the progress we have made, it gets frustrating to feel like I’m the only one who sees it.

Glad to know I’m not.

Oh, and Dr. Savoie will go down as at least our 2nd best president. Hell, he might even surpass Dr. Stephens before he is done.

[LaCajunsFan]

Speaking of growth, and new buildings, Helmut (or any construction-type peeps), I have a construction question for you: with the new Madison Hall expansion now underway in the new quad, I wonder why they put up black-out paper all along the temporary fence? Why can’t we even get a chance to see the progress as we drive by there? Just seems odd to me.

[CajunFun]

Didn't we reach R1?

AND THAT'S ANOTHER THING THAT DRIVES ME NUTS!!

I'm losing it.

[CajunFun]

He meant R1. He was on a roll so we didn’t correct him.

WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR??!!