Cajuns building fields of dreams
LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert called his school's football program a sleeping giant when he hired coach Nick Saban. With a national championship in its grasp and another top recruiting class within reach, the giant is wide awake.
Gerald Hebert, coordinator of athletic development at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for the last year and a half, has a different perspective at his school. A limited, unfocused approach to fundraising for many years has restricted growth for Ragin' Cajuns athletics, he said.
"I don't think we've been asleep," Hebert said. "I think we've been in a coma."
That appears to be changing. The university is launching a multi-phase plan to upgrade facilities and the athletic program's profile. Hebert, who leads a TAF-style fundraising system, is the point man. He'll have help.
Students just approved an assessment of $15 per student, per semester, for the improvement and maintenance of athletics facilities. The university installed new lights Tuesday at its baseball and softball fields. Construction will begin early next month on a $1.5 million track and soccer complex.
Football has big plans, including an indoor practice facility and a refurbished locker room. Former players and other donors are paying for new lockers that will bear their names and, they hope, be ready for spring practice -- and a summer scrimmage between the Houston Texans and the New Orleans Saints.
The medical staff will soon treat athletes in a state-of-the-art training room. A second phase of improvements will double the size of the weight room.
Anyone who has been to games at Cajun Field or the Cajundome can see those facilities are a cut above the caliber of the teams they house. Baseball and softball, with recent College World Series trips, lead the exceptions.
Hebert said the school has a solid foundation in facilities.
"We just need to take the next step," he said, "and level the playing field."
This time, the involvement of everyone in the Louisiana-Lafayette community -- corporate heads, small-business owners, average fans -- is the goal. President Ray Authement appears more ready than ever to give his blessing.
When Authement became president in 1974, the university's men's basketball team was shut down by the NCAA for more than 100 rules violations. Having the death penalty in a major sport at the start of his term made Authement reluctant to push for a comprehensive financial commitment to athletics.
He didn't want anyone to perceive the university's priorities were out of order. A big fan of athletics, he was in many ways afraid of fully embracing it. Also, the two-way street between the university and the Acadiana business community always seemed to be either under construction or in disrepair at the worst possible times.
Two decades ago, Lafayette had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the country. Not enough of those dollars flowed into Ragin' Cajuns athletics, and many of those wells have since run dry.
The university also erred by relying too heavily upon the deep pockets of a few wealthy individuals and not enough on widespread community involvement. No plan. No vision. Facilities fundraising was piecemeal and reactionary.
Louisiana appears to be turning the corner. Hebert and Authement seem to be able to see around corners the university too often didn't perceive as corners. Things are changing. There is a plan. There is a vision.
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By CARL DUBOIS
cdubois@theadvocate.com
Advocate staff writer
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