Fire Desormeaux

[CrappDaddy]

This is his 4th year. This is his team.

I know, that’s why I say you give him 1 more offseason to get this right. If he doesn’t then it’s time to go.

[Oiler]

This may be the weakest OL and receiving corp since bustle was coach. Couple that with unsteady QB play and I’m not sure any coach in the country would be winning much. Now, if Des can’t properly utilize portal to build a team up this offseason, it’s probably time to go. Or time to accept that we don’t have the money to compete in this era.

I fear that the last sentence of your post may be the hard truth we may all soon have to accept. Unless we have some mega athletic donor suddenly show up with the kind of cash it'll take to compete in this era, things can only continue to get worse.

[CajunNation]

RPCA continues to live in a fake past which was only the capture of lightning in a bottle where all circumstances good happened to fall together at the same time, the largest and most influential factor in the lightning was Levi Lewis - he is no longer available - Napier is an average coach at best without Levi, he can’t call plays either - the two million which may have been there to get one more year is not anymore and it probably would have been money spent on fools gold if it happened for that year as Levi Lewis would not have been there to bail Napier out of bad play calling and average at best coaching - besides he may be even more hard headed than Des


We are where we are as a result of the totality of circumstances the least of which is Des being coach and Napier would do absolutely nothing to assist the situation - in fact Hid’s fast talking personality could probably do more to assist under the circumstances thsn Napier the God could ever do

I'll agree with everything except Lewis being the biggest factor before and Des being the least responsible now.

[CajunNation]

... . . .Or time to accept that we don’t have the money to compete in this era.

This is exactly the wrong take to have.

First of all, even with our backwards state government, UL is in a better financial position than most SBC West schools and has elite level facilities in the G6.

Second of all, we do not live in a NIL/Portal vacuum. ALL G6 schools have to deal with the new landscape. How we manage this new landscape is entirely up to us.

Those G6 schools that are smart, resourceful and tough will continue to rule the G6. Those that whine, _____ and sulk will suck eggs.

This is entirely up to us.

[jaxmc1023]

Or time to accept that we don’t have the money to compete in this era.

What do you consider "competing"? Because I think your (and most fans') definition is pretty far apart from Martin Hall's definition

They signal it to you every chance they get.. Maggard and Des both walked out to Fan Day before the season started and said "we made the conference championship last year and that's our goal this year -- to compete for conference championships!"

Hoping to play for a Sunbelt title is miles away from striving to be so good that we're in the conversation for the college football playoff..

[shof]

CMD should learn from Napier’s mistake and hire a true OC and give up playcalling duties. Focus on program leadership and recruiting/nil/retention.

This

[CajunNation]

What do you consider "competing"? Because I think your (and most fans') definition is pretty far apart from Martin Hall's definition

They signal it to you every chance they get.. Maggard and Des both walked out to Fan Day before the season started and said "we made the conference championship last year and that's our goal this year -- to compete for conference championships!"

Hoping to play for a Sunbelt title is miles away from striving to be so good that we're in the conversation for the college football playoff..

Definitely moving the goal posts.

Competing for the SBC title could mean going 4-8 or 5-7 for us. The SBC West is one of the weakest divisions in all of college football.

[HoustonCajun]

Give us some inside info on where all this cash is coming from.

The only answer we can afford is for Dez to be the head coach and shift OC duties to an OC. Including play calling.

This reminds me of Nebraska having to fire one of their great players as head coach, Scott Frost. They gave him too many years to make it work (2018 to 2022) and finally had to cut the cord.

I don't think any athletic department uses their funds for a coach's buyout. Even those schools with over a $100M budget are barely breakeven and have their boosters pay for it. The same thing here. How much is Dez's buyout? Do we still have the same people who were willing pay Napier $3M to stay willing to pay for the buyout and a higher salary for a new coach? We are not going to get a top level coach for Dez's salary. Unless we do something, UL athletics is in the toilet because major revenue comes from football and I'm afraid support for football just hit the skids. Attendance was already pretty bad with low season tickets. A couple more road losses coming up and no one will show up for our last 2 home games. Our program is in dire straits.

[UL_Cajuns]

This reminds me of Nebraska having to fire one of their great players as head coach, Scott Frost. They gave him too many years to make it work (2018 to 2022) and finally had to cut the cord.

I don't think any athletic department uses their funds for a coach's buyout. Even those schools with over a $100M budget are barely breakeven and have their boosters pay for it. The same thing here. How much is Dez's buyout? Do we still have the same people who were willing pay Napier $3M to stay willing to pay for the buyout and a higher salary for a new coach? We are not going to get a top level coach for Dez's salary. Unless we do something, UL athletics is in the toilet because major revenue comes from football and I'm afraid support for football just hit the skids. Attendance was already pretty bad with low season tickets. A couple more road losses coming up and no one will show up for our last 2 home games. Our program is in dire straits.

I think we had our highest average attendance here since 2015 so far this year. People are coming, but that will drop off these last two games as the play on the field and losses will kill it. The play on the field besides one quarter vs. Marshall has been terrible all year long. It is hard to watch to be honest. We failed to capture those fans. We will be back to about 15K soon which is why it will be hard to retain Coach Des going forward. The crowd will speak for it self. Football drives the bus. If we are not good at football the rest of our whole athletic dept will suffer.

[Geaux]

Definitely moving the goal posts.

Competing for the SBC title could mean going 4-8 or 5-7 for us. The SBC West is one of the weakest divisions in all of college football.

...as mentioned in my UNT vs South Florida post. Acadiana and South Louisiana has no interest in SBC football, neither does the CFP.

The goal should be compete for CFP or an AAC invite as a consolation.

Fans will show up for a different brand. If Memphis had not lost to UAB this week, ESPN College Gameday would have been on their campus for the USF match up this week. This will never happen in the SBC.

The administration has to make it clear to the public, we are committed to vertical mobility in college football. We've missed out on conference realignment with Scott Farmer and recently with Maggard.

I would never want CMD to be forced out at UL, but if it had to happen, it would send a clear message about the commitment to the program's future.

Geaux Cajuns!