Authement shut down gymnastics (trampoline) wrestling and weightlifting.
Authement shut down gymnastics (trampoline) wrestling and weightlifting.
I've heard that as well, which would make sense why Coach Lancon would ask outright for things like new hurdles (I remember that being a thing when I was there), rather than the money to purchase them. How fricking sad is that?
A Track & Field program that was actually known on a national level, and perennial conference champs for a decade, had to ask for a donor not for money, but to outright go purchase equipment instead.
I know there were many Cajuns diehards who were ____ed at Coach Girard for going down the road for LSU, and there was a bit of back and forth once she got there, but she had to deal with the same ____. She obviously got tired of it and went get a payday. We were lucky to hang on to Coach Robe back then.
I remember helping raise money for hurdles and for a 90 meter javelin. There may have also been donations of other equipment like vaulting poles, shot puts or disci.
Coach Lancon was Robe before Robe got here. He was a great coach and a better man.
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I think everyone here is missing the bigger story. Over the past 30 years the State of Louisiana has slashed the hell out of higher ed funding and I don't think people understand just how bad it has gotten. I found this graph that shows a 38% reduction from 2008-2018. However, I'm pretty sure there were major cuts before 2008, and I know for a fact that they are cutting another $250 million next year. So the actual level of cuts since Authement and Reneau started is far higher than 38%.
With cuts like these, why is anyone surprised that so many Louisiana universities are having such deep financial struggles?
Back in the day, a Louisiana university could thrive by just focusing on education. Today, that's not good enough. You have to be in the revenue generation business as well. If you can't generate revenue, you're going to decline as an institution.
Thankfully, we are better positioned to do this than most other La universities. We have NIRC and other research revenue, good real estate that is ripe for development, lots of student housing, etc. These cuts will weaken us, but they won't devastate us. Most other La schools won't be so lucky.
To my knowledge, Tech is going to be one of the universities that doesn't have that revenue to fall back on. It is hard to make money in a small town. I think this is why Tech is so worried about their athletic future. G5 athletics will always need to be subsidized. Tech might not have the resources to subsidize it AND keep the lights on.
Are the cuts.....true cuts? or as politicians do it. Cut = A decrease in the annual increase
Politicians will never shutter a university in Louisiana. Nor will they merge, since the higher up the food chain, those folks tend to come out of the monster politics is. Most know the skeletons.
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