The Jerry Baldwin Saga: 1998-2020

[trd1282]

We were one of the first universities in the south (maybe the first if you do not count UNO) to desegregate under Joel Fletcher. This Baldwin debacle does not give an accurate image of the university today AT ALL. I sure hope we win this one...

[CajunNation]

We were one of the first universities in the south (maybe the first if you do not count UNO) to desegregate under Joel Fletcher. This Baldwin debacle does not give an accurate image of the university today AT ALL. I sure hope we win this one...

That depends if we get a judge appointed by a conservative or a liberal.

Elections matter.

[cajun4life]

We were one of the first universities in the south (maybe the first if you do not count UNO) to desegregate under Joel Fletcher. This Baldwin debacle does not give an accurate image of the university today AT ALL. I sure hope we win this one...

We were also the only division 1A university to have a minority head coach in both basketball and football.

[Rebel02]

_ Yeah Luckily that News Copy was in the sports section of USA F*ing Today! I was just taking a sip of some good ole' CC's Coffee when I open up the sports page and read this and about spit my coffee out. Great now the entire country knows about this debacle. I hope this gets overturned in appeals, although we've already probably payed 2 mil. to our lawyers so we pretty much would win to say we win. _

I'd much rather see UL pay $2 mil to lawyers to avoid having to pay 1 more freaking PENNY to Jerry Baldwin!

Jerry Baldwin owes ME money for the years of depressing football I had to witness (err, didn't witness, but it was his fault that I didn't go to games).

[ULtimateCajun]

_ I'd much rather see UL pay $2 mil to lawyers to avoid having to pay 1 more freaking PENNY to Jerry Baldwin!

Jerry Baldwin owes ME money for the years of depressing football I had to witness (err, didn't witness, but it was his fault that I didn't go to games). _

Totally agree with that, i'd rather pay a lawyer 2 mill than Baldwin but with our budget overall, 2 million is 2 million. But i'd still rather not pay that idiot...er....pastor anymore money for a bogus suit. Man this gets under my skin. I have no respect for anyone trying to get a buck for not working for it. This guy is a skum bag! Period.

[gorcajun]

Had lunch with a UL fan the other day and during the conversation my friend said, "that Jerry Baldwin was one of the best coaches UL ever had. In the three years as coach, he allowed me to upgrade my season tickets, TWICE."

[NewsCopy]

  The decision that left so many UL basketball fans patiently waiting for the past few weeks was finally announced on Friday afternoon.

In case you missed it, head men's basketball coach Robert Lee and head women's basketball Errol Rogers will return next season. The announcement ended a two-week evaluation process for both programs by athletic director David Walker.

News of the move was first reported noon Friday at theadvertiser.com. Within minutes of the report, portions of a frustrated fan base voiced their views on the radio and various online message boards. On one message board, some fans even put together a petition for Walker's removal as athletic director before it was taken down.

About three hours after the initial report, the university released a statement about the decision.

Some fans recognized that the men's basketball team is at a crossroads.

The rest of the story

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • March 22, 2009

[Turbine]

Regardless of your opinion, a logical person cannot argue that the university failed to look at all sides of the situation. You just happen to disagree with the final decision.

We'll see who made the right decision this time next year.

Josh, respectfully, you are wrong, this is an AIG bailout plain and simple. A new coach would have retained 100% of the players.

Lee is the culprit and Walker is billing him as the hero.

For 2005-06 Robert Lee willingly sent the APR down into the 600's a score so low that even if followed by 3 perfect years, cant get you back to the required 925.

Why didn't he put Rhett Hebert on scholarship, a huge boost to APR, instead he kicks him off the team.

AIG: All I Got

[RCAJUN90]

Wow! What a big smelly full of flies pile of you know what. You fire a bad coach that is pretty simple. Give him a few years but then get rid of him if things don't turn around. UL is not serious about sports.

[jazzpop]

The sound of local media circling the wagons, or wagon.

[KACajun]

Parrott you have turned into a spin doctor for the university, journalistic integrity out of the damn window. This is very upsetting.

Answer these questions:
1-did walker have influence on lee's changing course after his second year?
2-did lee (walker) knowingly put the entire athletic department in jeopardy, when they chose this path?
3-what is the guaranty that these players won't leave the program if lee stays?
4-why did it take so long to make this decision?
5-How many games will give lee a new contract?
6-what does Lotief, Robe, and Bustle think about a bunch of 19 & 20 year old basketball players having this much influence over their teams postseason future.
7-How does walker think this decision will negatively impact the RCAF kickoff?

[CajunFreak]

_ Josh, respectfully, you are wrong, this is an AIG bailout plain and simple. A new coach would have retained 100% of the players.

Lee is the culprit and Walker is billing him as the hero.

For 2005-06 Robert Lee willingly sent the APR down into the 600's a score so low that even if followed by 3 perfect years, cant get you back to the required 925.

Why didn't he put Rhett Hebert on scholarship, a huge boost to APR, instead he kicks him off the team.

AIG: All I Got _

Not to mention... They are acting like that by retaining Lee we are assured to avoid the APR hit, but the worse case scenerio is retaining Lee and players transfering and still enduring the APR fiasco! Why can't anyone else see this as a very real possibility? If and when this happens the University adm. will look far worse than they already do!

This APR thing is far from over and by retaining Lee it is not an absolute remedy. This university & athletic department continues to treat the symptoms of the disease and ignore the real cancers!

Josh, can you or someone in the media pound on this very real issue. Jay, the news channels, & now the newspaper are now ignoring this very likely scenerio.

[UL_Cajuns]

_ _

Parrott, I am very disappointed that you wrote this article.

[zephyr]

The bottom line is this. Nobody knows what is going to happen with players leaving the program since all we've heard are rumors. I would say there is a better chance of players leaving if Lee were to leave but I can't be certain. I too, was upset of the decision but I didn't envy D. Walker in this one at all. I don't know how you measure the lower attendance levels likely to be encountered next year vs. potential fallout on all athletic levels IF players were to leave. If several players did leave and they let Lee go, I'd bet that those coaches mentioned earlier would not be too happy about the decision. I think if this were one year later, I think the obvious choice would have been to get to fire Lee and move on after we would have survived the 4 year APR probation period. Its also interesting to remember that coach Evans is who helped put us in this position, not necessarily Lee. By focusing on the high school route that Lee has adopted, I'm not sure how this has hurt the APR as many suggest but I'd rather that than the alternative.

[HOUCajun]

I think you are being way to tough on Parrot. Questioning him in that manner because you disagree with him (I disagree with him on this issue btw) is not fair. He has done nothing since he's been here to lead us to believe the university influences his opinions.
Just because we disagree with him does not make him unethical.
I also consider he has access to more information than we do and hope that will prove this seemingly bad decision to be the right one.
I don't believe this will happen but wouldn't we all be happy if our basketall team went 24-9 and dancing? I'd rather be wrong on this issue and see the team suceed with Lee. As I said though I really don't think that will happen.

Parrott you have turned into a spin doctor for the university, journalistic integrity out of the damn window. This is very upsetting.

Answer these questions:
1-did walker have influence on lee's changing course after his second year?
2-did lee (walker) knowingly put the entire athletic department in jeopardy, when they chose this path?
3-what is the guaranty that these players won't leave the program if lee stays?
4-why did it take so long to make this decision?
5-How many games will give lee a new contract?
6-what does Lotief, Robe, and Bustle think about a bunch of 19 & 20 year old basketball players having this much influence over their teams postseason future.
7-How does walker think this decision will negatively impact the RCAF kickoff?

igeaux.mobi