Good morning Cajun fans - we've been Ricky Bungled again

[RedTails]

Guys, I know we got blue balled going from ecstatic to disgusted with the OSU game and it's frustrating BUT imagine having Green, Decoster and Streeter in the game (I'm not knocking on Spikes and the other players who stepped up and filled their shoes nicely). and imagine not losing half of our defense to injuries before and during the game. That would have been scary.

Win or lose, Friday night was awesome and I wish we could have that kind of atmosphere at every home game. Halftime coaching adjustments or not, we were hit by the injury bug hard against a Big 12 with good depth. Chris Masson did a wonderful job spreading the ball around without his main target and did a good job with the zone-read. Without the intentional grounding, no one could say anything bad about him. (Did you see him [Masson] execute that 3rd-down conversion in the wildcat formation himself? You can tell he wants this to be HIS team throughout the entire game)

While the end result was disappointing and while the injuries stack up, I feel optimistic about our chances down the road.

[LSUTiger4RaginCajuns]

_ I don't understand even people on this post are just looking to be happy with being average!
That sux!
Fire Bustle! _

And then what? Who? Do you realize the size of the athletic budget at UL? This fire the coach stuff is just to make disgruntled fans happy. It's a matter of recruiting money and getting the very best players that are overlooked by the power conferences. It can be done. Troy can hang with anyone.

I don't know the size of Troy's athletic budget but I'll bet it is much larger than UL's. I'm sure someone with a knowledge will correct me or make a factual statement.

[CRAWFISH61]

What kills me is the kickoff coverage. The defense has to be perfect or 1 first down or the opponent is in field goal range. The ref's did not call an obvious offense pass interference, the 2nd grounding call on Masson was horrible, and on an OSU screen an offensive lineman hog tied a would be tackler and this allowed a first down. The total lack of trying to run the ball in the 2nd half was a mistake. As for coverage on Blackmon, we needed Deion Sanders. The Cajuns and really most of college football does not have an answer for him. The real problem was the OSU qb having no pressure and allowing those long routes to develop. The team was prepared and played great in the first half and it was downhill from there on.

[ragin50]

_ And then what? Who? Do you realize the size of the athletic budget at UL? This fire the coach stuff is just to make disgruntled fans happy. It's a matter of recruiting money and getting the very best players that are overlooked by the power conferences. It can be done. Troy can hang with anyone.

I don't know the size of Troy's athletic budget but I'll bet it is much larger than UL's. I'm sure someone with a knowledge will correct me or make a factual statement. _

First, the athletic budget is small. But if we can go out and spend the money on Bob Marlin, the same can be done for football.

Second, comparisons to Troy are probably not valid. Without regard to the budget, Troy has open admissions and virtually no academic standards for athletes. It will always be very difficult to compete with them, nor would we want to if it means significantly lowering admission and athletic standards.

[Clutch0364]

_ And then what? Who? Do you realize the size of the athletic budget at UL? This fire the coach stuff is just to make disgruntled fans happy. It's a matter of recruiting money and getting the very best players that are overlooked by the power conferences. It can be done. Troy can hang with anyone.

I don't know the size of Troy's athletic budget but I'll bet it is much larger than UL's. I'm sure someone with a knowledge will correct me or make a factual statement. _

Troy's budget is not much larger than ours...the admission standards at Troy help them a lot.

Another poster stated it already but the next coach will get a significant increase in pay. I am pretty sure if we hire a new coach the basketball coach will not be the highest paid guy at the school , like he is now.

[zephyr]

_ First, the athletic budget is small. But if we can go out and spend the money on Bob Marlin, the same can be done for football.

Second, comparisons to Troy are probably not valid. Without regard to the budget, Troy has open admissions and virtually no academic standards for athletes. It will always be very difficult to compete with them, nor would we want to if it means significantly lowering admission and athletic standards. _

Again, apples and oranges. While the amount they paid Marlin is a clear and strong statement as to the administration's willingness to put a good product on the field, you can't compare that pay to the one that it will take to get a really solid hire in here for football. The question for several years with some wanting Bustle gone has always been, if not Bustle then who can you afford to hire? That is true. Bustle is near the very bottom in the country in pay for a head coach and to pay someone with any type of track record will require a substantial increase in pay, possibly much more of an increase than what you saw Marlin get from Lee. That all has to come out of private dollars since the state only allocates 225k per year for a head coach pay and the rest must come from private funds. Add that to the growing list of additions and renovations we are already doing along with the 30% cuts the state is implementing and getting that money for a new candidate is extremely tricky.

[CajunNation]

And then what? Who? Do you realize the size of the athletic budget at UL? This fire the coach stuff is just to make disgruntled fans happy. It's a matter of recruiting money and getting the very best players that are overlooked by the power conferences. It can be done. Troy can hang with anyone.

I don't know the size of Troy's athletic budget but I'll bet it is much larger than UL's. I'm sure someone with a knowledge will correct me or make a factual statement.

\

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/GetOneInstitutionData.aspx

Troy 14.3 mill (16.8% larger)
Louisiana 11.9 mill

[Turbine]

_ Again, apples and oranges.

Heinz 57 and A1

You only need to pay enough sauce to keep a coach motivated.

Good coaches are falling from trees (so to speak) the admin just needs to pluck the right one. For an up and comer from a smaller program, one with human resource and coaching skills, that might be less than the current staff makes.

The caveat is you MUST be willing to stay on the positive side of the sauce equation even if it requires mid season raises because as soon as it falls below, he is either gone or will not do his job to the best of his abilities.

jmo

ps One sauce is made from oranges the other from apples.

[zephyr]

_ Heinz 57 and A1

You only need to pay enough sauce to keep a coach motivated.

Good coaches are falling from trees (so to speak) the admin just needs to pluck the right one. For an up and comer from a smaller program, one with human resource and coaching skills, that might be less than the current staff makes.

The caveat is you MUST be willing to stay on the positive side of the sauce equation even if it requires mid season raises because as soon as it falls below, he is either gone or will not do his job to the best of his abilities.

jmo

ps One sauce is made from oranges the other from apples. _

That is what makes a coaching hire for us that much more tricky and important at the same time. We have to hit it head on and make the right choice or things can sour big time quickly for us. Funds are not as ample as larger programs and choosing a candidate, one that is likely an assistant somewhere else is difficult and risky when you don't know how they will manage a program. Also, I'm not sure what Ricky makes but I think its in the 225k-250k range. Having said that, we will have to pay in the upper 300's if not more to get the quality candidate that we want, up and comer or not. I figure we're going to have to spend 150k or more easily to get the type of guy we feel has the experience or take a chance on a little more of a sleeper at a lower rate.