A Tale of Two Universities

[ultracajun]

To those that think some universitys should be closed, what makes you think UL wouldn't be on the chopping block?

Back when I was a Gov't employee I worked with people who thought other gov't agencies should be cut. They never realized those other agency employees were saying the same thing about us. Be careful what you wish for.

[CajunFun]

Few thoughts:

1- Yes, Dr. Authement helped the university grow in academic research to where from that standpoint, we've definitely left LA Tech behind. However, it's not like that school is just some sort of bum in the state in academics. Their engineering program is very good and respected in its professional sector. You want to major in engineering at a Louisiana university? UL, LSU or LA Tech are the schools to do it. Don't waste your money paying for Tulane or Loyola.

2- Yes, Authement and Reneau went in comparatively opposite directions. However, your approach and the question you're asking is flawed, in my opinion, because it didn't have to be such a hardline either/or. Authement didn't want to "fully fund" athletics with university dollars and rather focus those on academics? Fine. But why refuse to allow an RCAF (or the 80s/90s version of it) be set up? Why intentionally hamstring coaches and staff from being able to aggressively fundraise for their programs by dictating who they can and can't talk to?

THAT's the problem and issue I had with Ray Authement. He didn't merely starve athletics from a university funding standpoint. He also straglened some of the donor potential as well, and THAT is what set our football program, and athletic department as a whole, back a couple decades.

First, name a small regional university that let its coaches raise their own funds... and later emerged a a major academic institution. It won't happen, it doesn't work that way.

Second, you don't turn anyone loose to do their own fundraising, because they will immediately call the same half-dozen big university donors— the ones you have been gently courting for years so that they might someday fund something on the academic side— and the donors will become disgusted and slam the door on everyone.

Third, what you are asking for is basically what was happening right before Ray became president. People complain about the politics during 'Lights Out at Blackham,' and I have heard the same accusations for years. (When I was an undergrad, one time I was actually bold enough to ask Ray about whether he was involved with shutting down the team. He said that he'd heard that before, and denied it. Of course, that doesn't prove anything.)

What you don't hear are the stories I heard from the administrators and faculty back then, that before the Death Penalty landed, donors, coaches, and players were going wild. Money was flying around, crazy stuff was happening, and USL had lost control over all of it.

But overlook all of that for the moment. Did the Top 25 basketball teams of the early '70's accomplish any of the things that many people here believe that big-time sports will accomplish? Did it bring in donors for academics? No. Did it bring in better students? No. Did it grow research and graduate programs? No.

And the most important one: Did it get us political support and increase our state funding, so that we might expand?

The exact opposite happened. The Legislature wanted us shut down. As for our reputation within Louisiana, I was in HS when we had those teams. USL's reputation was that we were just a party school. In those days, if you were serious about education, you chose LSU or Tech.

We had big-time athletics back then. But it didn't produce a big-time university.

That isn't the only example. Go back through the history. Turbine has told us about our teams from earlier decades that succeeded, and attracted the ire of the other schools and the legislators. We were actually stripped of money that our own programs generated.

In 1954, we became the first school in the South to desegregate. That wasn't sports, although it would pave the way for the big basketball teams of the '70's. But it was a bold, visionary move... and the rest of the state came after us loaded for bear.

In 1960, we became a university, the state's 3rd public university after Southern and LSU. It brought in a lot of political sabotage.

The hoops teams of the '70's (and the football bowl team at the same time) got us a new football stadium, but did not do good things for the University otherwise. In fact, the rest of Louisiana conspired to strangle us... and we struggled.

In 1982, Ray decided to move up to 1A. The rest of the state tried to put a dirk in our back. (Beating Rice in the first game bought us some breathing room, but no increase in resources.)

When we went for the name change in 1984, we all know what happened. The rest of the state came after us.

Over and over, every time SLI/USL/UL tried to move forward in bold, dramatic ways— particularly by building out our athletics— with the belief that it would help us build our institution, it did the opposite. It didn't do the things that many people here assume it will do.

But during that time, Ray started building a university. We expanded research and graduate programs, we built 5 research parks, we brought in national research centers, we worked to build the community college system so that we might raise admissions standards, and we developed the Foundation, the UL Press, the University Art Museum, UL Abroad, the Library, and many other programs, the sort of things a real university does. Ray put academics first.

And the result?

In 2020 & 2021, we had top 25 football teams, and although the other schools muttered, nobody came after us. In 2021, we reached R1. Other schools in the state would never admit it, but they grudgingly admired it, even envied it.

And now we're exploding, and nobody screws with us anymore. We don't go before the Legislature or the Board of Regents, and watch it all go off like a booby trap. When we recruit faculty, and students, and yes, even coaches and athletes, they are aware we are a rapidly-emerging national university.

You don't build a real university by winning games. You don't develop your academics by turning the coaches loose. You don't move your mission forward, by putting another mission ahead of it.

I don't know the real story about what happened to those Top 25 basketball teams, but I do know this: If the unchecked wildness back then had continued, if the passion for winning sports had continued to dominate our University and our national image, we wouldn't be where we are today. UL would not be the exciting University it has become.

That's why Ray didn't let the coaches go out and raise their own money.

[ZoomZoom]

Please stop with the 1982 “move up” narrative. USL remained D-1, the SLC dropped down.

And isn’t the R-1 bar being lowered soon?

And a reminder, what happens when a ship sinks? Drowning people will grab anything while they’re dying…including each other.

[HoustonCajun]

To those that think some universitys should be closed, what makes you think UL wouldn't be on the chopping block?

Back when I was a Gov't employee I worked with people who thought other gov't agencies should be cut. They never realized those other agency employees were saying the same thing about us. Be careful what you wish for.

Why would UL be closed? It is the second largest university in the state and only UL and LSU are Carnegie R1. There are lesser schools to look seriously at.

[LaCajunsFan]

Why would UL be closed? It is the second largest university in the state and only UL and LSU are Carnegie R1. There are lesser schools to look seriously at.

Agreed. I see almost zero chance that we would have anything to worry about in that regard.

[CajunFun]

Guess I’m wondering if you’re saying Authement was the best? I just wish you would’ve stated what you think the ranking of the presidents should be. I would really like to red your thoughts on that.

No, I was sincere.

One of the mistakes we all make is that we assume that a genius is a genius in everything. We inherit this from the Old World: successful people are our 'betters,' they are better in every way, they know more in every field.

And so we buy luxury automobiles because some athlete recommended it.

Each of UL's presidents brought different talents to different problems in our history. And in 126 years we have only had 6 presidents, 2 of whom accounted for only 9 years of our history. So we have had just 4 presidents lead us for 117 years. That has to be unprecedented, I doubt any other university has enjoyed that kind of continuity and stability. It reminds me of the businesser who said he didn't care what happened with prices, taxes, and consumption, because those affected his competitors equally. What he wanted to see was consistency, because then he could plan for the future.

The point is, it's possible UL has grown largely because of stability. Faculty knew the rules, and knew what was possible.

Does Providence look out for UL? Dunno. But when we were broke and in deep trouble, we got tight-fisted, control-freak Ray.* When he left, T-Joe came in as our resources were growing, and he began spending in strategic places.

Stevens grew us from a vo-tech into a college. Fletcher, although very conservative in many ways, brought in computer science, desegregation, and our status as a University.

As I mentioned, even Frazar played a role.

When we're dealing with people, there is no such thing as an overall 'best,' there is no 'ideal.' There are only flawed people who have different talents, and they succeed or fail, not necessarily based on their strengths, but often because of a good matchup between their strengths and the times.

It seems to me that we are a school of destiny... which should cause us to be grateful, and humble. You and I didn't do it, we are simply fortunate enough to be riding on the bus.

And I'm excited, because tomorrow we're ESPN prime-time on a Saturday night. Has that ever happened to us before?

Win or lose, it's another baby step forward. Enough baby steps, enough turtle shuffles, and you win the marathon.

*Ray's reputation as a control-freak wasn't exactly accurate. As one faculty member rightly pointed out, Ray would let the faculty do almost anything, he would even allow them to fail without punishment...

...as long as it didn't cost anything. That faculty member described how the UL Press was started: they went to Ray and asked him for something like $150, and franking privileges. He told them 'yes.'

And then he basically told them, "Never darken my doorstep again." They marshaled that small amount of money, spent it very carefully, and grew a press. Once they were successful, Ray began slowly investing more resources over the years.

[CajunFun]

To those that think some universitys should be closed, what makes you think UL wouldn't be on the chopping block?

Because the Governor is a UL alum.

State colleges aren't going to get a lot of money under Jeff. But I'd bet we get a big chunk of what little is given out.

Maybe the most.

[Cajunrunner]

First, name a small regional university that let its coaches raise their own funds... and later emerged a a major academic institution. It won't happen, it doesn't work that way.

Second, you don't turn anyone loose to do their own fundraising, because they will immediately call the same half-dozen big university donors— the ones you have been gently courting for years so that they might someday fund something on the academic side— and the donors will become disgusted and slam the door on everyone.

Third, what you are asking for is basically what was happening right before Ray became president. People complain about the politics during 'Lights Out at Blackham,' and I have heard the same accusations for years. (When I was an undergrad, one time I was actually bold enough to ask Ray about whether he was involved with shutting down the team. He said that he'd heard that before, and denied it. Of course, that doesn't prove anything.)

What you don't hear are the stories I heard from the administrators and faculty back then, that before the Death Penalty landed, donors, coaches, and players were going wild. Money was flying around, crazy stuff was happening, and USL had lost control over all of it.

But overlook all of that for the moment. Did the Top 25 basketball teams of the early '70's accomplish any of the things that many people here believe that big-time sports will accomplish? Did it bring in donors for academics? No. Did it bring in better students? No. Did it grow research and graduate programs? No.

And the most important one: Did it get us political support and increase our state funding, so that we might expand?

The exact opposite happened. The Legislature wanted us shut down. As for our reputation within Louisiana, I was in HS when we had those teams. USL's reputation was that we were just a party school. In those days, if you were serious about education, you chose LSU or Tech.

We had big-time athletics back then. But it didn't produce a big-time university.

That isn't the only example. Go back through the history. Turbine has told us about our teams from earlier decades that succeeded, and attracted the ire of the other schools and the legislators. We were actually stripped of money that our own programs generated.

In 1954, we became the first school in the South to desegregate. That wasn't sports, although it would pave the way for the big basketball teams of the '70's. But it was a bold, visionary move... and the rest of the state came after us loaded for bear.

In 1960, we became a university, the state's 3rd public university after Southern and LSU. It brought in a lot of political sabotage.

The hoops teams of the '70's (and the football bowl team at the same time) got us a new football stadium, but did not do good things for the University otherwise. In fact, the rest of Louisiana conspired to strangle us... and we struggled.

In 1982, Ray decided to move up to 1A. The rest of the state tried to put a dirk in our back. (Beating Rice in the first game bought us some breathing room, but no increase in resources.)

When we went for the name change in 1984, we all know what happened. The rest of the state came after us.

Over and over, every time SLI/USL/UL tried to move forward in bold, dramatic ways— particularly by building out our athletics— with the belief that it would help us build our institution, it did the opposite. It didn't do the things that many people here assume it will do.

But during that time, Ray started building a university. We expanded research and graduate programs, we built 5 research parks, we brought in national research centers, we worked to build the community college system so that we might raise admissions standards, and we developed the Foundation, the UL Press, the University Art Museum, UL Abroad, the Library, and many other programs, the sort of things a real university does. Ray put academics first.

And the result?

In 2020 & 2021, we had top 25 football teams, and although the other schools muttered, nobody came after us. In 2021, we reached R1. Other schools in the state would never admit it, but they grudgingly admired it, even envied it.

And now we're exploding, and nobody screws with us anymore. We don't go before the Legislature or the Board of Regents, and watch it all go off like a booby trap. When we recruit faculty, and students, and yes, even coaches and athletes, they are aware we are a rapidly-emerging national university.

You don't build a real university by winning games. You don't develop your academics by turning the coaches loose. You don't move your mission forward, by putting another mission ahead of it.

I don't know the real story about what happened to those Top 25 basketball teams, but I do know this: If the unchecked wildness back then had continued, if the passion for winning sports had continued to dominate our University and our national image, we wouldn't be where we are today. UL would not be the exciting University it has become.

That's why Ray didn't let the coaches go out and raise their own money.

So all that to say YES, you are extremely happy that Ray Authement actively hampered the ability of sports at USL/UL to raise the money it needed to survive and compete with its peers.

[Cajunrunner]

Because the Governor is a UL alum.

State colleges aren't going to get a lot of money under Jeff. But I'd bet we get a big chunk of what little is given out.

Maybe the most.

Well hopefully he keeps focusing his “look at me, put me on Fox News” antics on LSU and stays away from Cajun Field.

[LaCajunsFan]

CajunFun: Wow. What a great post. And I surely never meant to imply you were not sincere….you clearly were.

First let me say that I have never bought any product, much less a car, based on a celebrity endorsement, so there’s that. I also truly despise the domination of ‘social media influencers’ and celebrity culture that we have become.*

But as for the main point of your post, the non-ranking of past presidents, I find it intriguing, but can’t help but feel that several of them have risen above the rest:

1. Dr. Stephens: first let me correct your statement that he ‘grew us from a vo-tech into a college.’ Sorry but that is flat-out wrong: he grew us from absolutely nothing to a college. If you consider that Lafayette at that time was barely on the map, and that he had such few resources to work with, the growth he achieved is downright miraculous. And then the oaks….that on its own would almost give him top nods. And then to cap it off, I greatly admire how he took a very new technology for his time period, photography (which was completely un-related to his area of expertise), and then mastered that as well. He is just a hero of mine.

2. Dr. Savoie: I won’t repeat what you said, as it was all true and well stated. I will just add that I think the thing about him that sets him above his other predecessors is how he has actually seen to and seeing to implementing the Master Plan (https://president.louisiana.edu/stra...ns/master-plan) from 2013. I mean how many ‘master plans’ have we all seen created with much fanfare and not a small amount of money, only to see it die on the vine? At work, govt, etc? I truly think this is the first time in my life I’ve ever seen one get done, and get done in accordance with its underlying principles….and all in a relatively short period of time. For anyone who has not gone thru it, you are missing a lot of good info. And if you can find something that was proposed on it, that Dr. Savoie has not seen to getting done, let me know. To me, the final ‘building shuffle’ that will occur now that we have the new Health Science campus, will truly be a site to behold. Highlights of that are: the quad area will be devoted to Arts & Humanities and the area with Madison/Griffin, etc. will be the new STEM campus, and of course all the current AND FUTURE Health Science programs will be in the former OLOL acreage. This is all part of the Master Plan, and are being worked on now.

3. Dr. Authement. Again, so much has been said about him already no need to repeat them. I’ll just add that I agree that Dr. Savoie would not have been able to accomplish all that he has/is doing if Dr A had not left such a tight ship. I’ll just say that I lived thru seeing him be more than happy to watch all the fan support go across the Basin, so some days I want to spit on his grave.

Apologies for the long post, but in my mind this whole discussion is one of the best ever on this site, and wanted to get some thoughts off my chest. In fact, this thread may even top that ‘plane tracker’ thread in 2017.

* Lord, I sure hope this totally unrelated topic does not de-rail this thread….but I won’t hold my breath, lol


Oh, and just FYI: Dr. Stephens desk was recently restored and is on display on the 3rd floor of Dupre.