Ricky's Gotta GEAUX

[California Cajun]

_ Cali,

Thanks for the excellent post, you always know how to put your thoughts into a written summarized form. It's been a long time since the days at the EAUX with the Delphi crew. I have seen those guys post on this and other boards. Good to see most are still around. I thought for sure my re-emergence on the site would draw a reply from Zeebart. How is John ? I have not heard from him in years.

I apologize if I have offended anyone with my comments on Coach Bustle. As I said he is a very good man. And as others have stated he has taken a program made it better than he when inherited it, but has gone as far as he can guide it.

I look forward to returning to Cajun Field and once again cheering on the Cajuns !

As I said earlier, whoever is involved in the new coach search, please get it right this time. As someone else remarked, if you win games, the rest will take care of itself.

Take care guys. _

The "Eauk" tailgating crew is still alive and well. The Delphi forum was shut down and re-located to Scout (louisiana.scout.com) to support Cajun T's (known as Guru on Delphi) efforts to provide first-class recruiting info for Cajun fans and establish a national presence for UL. He not only stays on top of recruiting info, he publishes game coverage, recruiting coverage, and donates any proceeds earned after expenses to UL Athletics.

Zeebart is still a huge presence (I say that in spite of the fact that he's lost a lot of weight) at Scout as well as over here on Ragin' Pagin. He'd blow away if we didn't force feed him before the games at Cajun Field.

I think all of us are torn with regards to Rickey Bustle. He's well-liked and brought the program a long way, but in all likelihood the loss to 26-straight-game loser WKU was his Waterloo. That's why football coaches make the money they do, because of the high-risk, high-reward nature of the job.

Come join us at the Eauk! The gang's still there.

[CAJUN_LXA685]

This is a hypothedical question, b/c I most certainly don't have the financial means to do it, but what if a Ragin Cajun Supporter said "I'll give the school $750,000 for a new coach's salary!" Is that allowed? Does the NCAA put a limit on the amount a coach's salary is paid by the school and how much comes from supporters?

Probably a pointless question, but I was just thinking if someone would do that so we can get a GOOD coach in here, would they be allowed to.

[Hammer58]

_ This is a hypothedical question, b/c I most certainly don't have the financial means to do it, but what if a Ragin Cajun Supporter said "I'll give the school $750,000 for a new coach's salary!" Is that allowed? Does the NCAA put a limit on the amount a coach's salary is paid by the school and how much comes from supporters?

Probably a pointless question, but I was just thinking if someone would do that so we can get a GOOD coach in here, would they be allowed to. _

I don't think there is any limit.All of the salaries of the coaches at the BCS schools are supplemented by private donations. I believe the state of Louisiana has a cap of around $250K on state funds so anything over that is private money. So that would mean the majority of Les Miles' multimilion dollar salary comes from private money.

[zephyr]

_ This is a hypothedical question, b/c I most certainly don't have the financial means to do it, but what if a Ragin Cajun Supporter said "I'll give the school $750,000 for a new coach's salary!" Is that allowed? Does the NCAA put a limit on the amount a coach's salary is paid by the school and how much comes from supporters?

Probably a pointless question, but I was just thinking if someone would do that so we can get a GOOD coach in here, would they be allowed to. _

No, they don't put a cap as most coaches are paid largely through private dollars. In this economic climate, its hard to go to any state for which an institution is a part of and increase salary positions for athletics. It' hard to go to any legislature or board of higher education and expect them to OK spending millions of dollars on football coaches when they are likely having to cut major fat off of their spending budgets...See Governor Jindal on that one. Anyhow, the cajuns can pay up to about 225k out of state funds for a coach hire. Even if we hire coach X to come here, it has to be approved by the UL school system. From there, any additional funds paid to that coach come from private funds. So yes, to answer your question, I presume that you could front that money and specifically state how it is allocated but I've obviously never been in a position to donate that type of money so I wouldn't know. Darnit!!

[Oiler]

I've heard several different figures concerning how much will it take to entice the kind of coach we'll soon be looking to hire. I figure $400K or so would put us in the hunt for some well established D-1 assistants. I think $600K would sweeten the pot of applicants pretty significantly, but that may not be possible. Has anyone that might know ever even hinted at what kind of money we'd be offering if we were to begin a search for a new head coach?

[cajun4life]

_ I've heard several different figures concerning how much will it take to entice the kind of coach we'll soon be looking to hire. I figure $400K or so would put us in the hunt for some well established D-1 assistants. I think $600K would sweeten the pot of applicants pretty significantly, but that may not be possible. Has anyone that might know ever even hinted at what kind of money we'd be offering if we were to begin a search for a new head coach? _

As per my sources, $350 to $500K will be the salary range for the next coach. The $500K can only be reached by meeting the certain incentives laid out by the AD's office.

[Turbine]

I was hoping to find a winning head coach from any version of the college ranks, hire him for $175Gs with attainable incentives to reach $500Gs by year 3 and beyond. igeaux.mobi

[Just1More]

_ As per my sources, $350 to $500K will be the salary range for the next coach. The $500K can only be reached by meeting the certain incentives laid out by the AD's office. _

Does the school (UL system) have to guarantee the coach the contract amount in the event the private funding cannot pay? If the extended money comes from private sources, I wouldn't think the state would care. If the contract requires the state to guarantee the salary, I can see where the state approvals can weigh in.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I don't recall getting a conclusive answer on this. Do you know?

[cajun4life]

_ Does the school (UL system) have to guarantee the coach the contract amount in the event the private funding cannot pay? If the extended money comes from private sources, I wouldn't think the state would care. If the contract requires the state to guarantee the salary, I can see where the state approvals can weigh in.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I don't recall getting a conclusive answer on this. Do you know? _

I am not sure about the state guaranteeing the contract for the full amount, but I would be pretty sure that the contract would state what funds were state allocated and which were private. I think that is how USA Today can get those breakdowns for just about every coaches salary. I am hoping that we are in between the $400-500K range for the base salary. I really think that if they had a huge RCAF push to get new members to help supplement the salary and leave the big money guys for stadium improvement funding.

[Hammer58]

_ I am not sure about the state guaranteeing the contract for the full amount, but I would be pretty sure that the contract would state what funds were state allocated and which were private. I think that is how USA Today can get those breakdowns for just about every coaches salary. I am hoping that we are in between the $400-500K range for the base salary. I really think that if they had a huge RCAF push to get new members to help supplement the salary and leave the big money guys for stadium improvement funding.

That is one reason why I favor making the announcement about the Coach's future now so that a big fundraising drive can begin immediately to build the fund available for the next staff's salaries.

[zephyr]

_ As per my sources, $350 to $500K will be the salary range for the next coach. The $500K can only be reached by meeting the certain incentives laid out by the AD's office. _

I would hope your sources are right but I've heard 400k will be about the ceiling that we approach. I don't know if that includes any type of incentive programs outside of direct state funding applied to private funds allocated to the remainder but 400k would still put us at the top of the Belt in coach pay. 500k would be nice to reach as that would entice some candidates out there that maybe think we are not serious about elevating this program

[Turbine]

$175K and not a penny more I want the very best possible coach out there.