Louisiana College Sports: Hustle out of town for Bustle?

[Just1More]

I believe it is entirely appropriate to review the contributions of Rickey Bustle and include numerous complimentary remarks. He is a very good person and a good football coach. The circumstances perhaps as much or more than his own abilities may be dictating the necessity of the end of his career at UL. Regardless of which side of that argument you land, it is nonetheless highly necessary that we act with our heads in this case moreso than our hearts. Let the lovers love the next guy too.

Even if someone could argue that Bustle is an outstanding head football coach... when you labor for 9 seasons with an FBS ranking (just one measuring stick of success) of unspectacular proportions, in the world of college football, you must seek new means to find greater success. Has the university done everything it needs to do? Have the fans done their part? Not yet. But that is another requirement of the new mission.

I am a strong advocate of using the mission formula that I know works. You must take one of the most visible contributing factors, the coach, and push a tremendous responsibility... including a hefty pricetag... on their head. I consider him being of fine character and his student-athletes going to class and behaving properly a non-negotiable requirement of the entire school. If it even has to be discussed more than once, there are issues at the school that transcend the coach. The maintenance supervisor had better focus on maintenance and the football coach better be focused on winning football games.

I consider the discussion of the "character of a coach" equivalent to a any other position at UL. Have we done a great background and morality check on every professor at UL? Is it acceptable that one that teaches Philosophy, English or Music is a great teacher, but is an oddball character-wise?

I look at a professor of Computer Science and say "can he teach me what I'm here to learn?". He can be a geek who wears a dress on the weekends for all I care. And as far as the football coach goes... I very much hope his main vocation is coaching football. If he's a sweetheart guy in the process... so be it. Personally, I will keep an eye on his coaching and that is where he will get 98% of the weight of his grade from me.

[raginsaints]

_ Uuuuhhmm, how do we know that a thorough search hasnt been ongoing?

Happy Thanksgiving.

Z _

That would be grounds for a lawsuit.

[SlappyCajun]

_ That would be grounds for a lawsuit. _

No it wouldn't.

[Turbine]

_ Your last statement may be true in terms of the W-L record this season but I don't think it is that bad in terms of talent and the overall state of the program. _

On Stokley's end of career . . .

Epic meltdown cannot be totally attributed to lack of institutional support.

Take this with a grain of salt but having read 20 books on (and being close to the subject) I have a sneaking -cringing- suspicion the insidious ravages of what eventually claimed his life were just starting work effecting the speed of thought and decision.

Other similarities; both have an NFL receiver on the roster and neither survives coaching heir son. Unless you can count 2-9 as surviving.

I don't know if Stokley had talent or not in 1998 I know he had one year where he went from 2 wins to 8 wins. Did he go from no talent to full talent in one year?

UL needs a coach who can think fast, that is the number one asset a coach can bring to the field on game day.

jmo

[Just1More]

_ That's a quick turnaround. I don't like that, I'd rather us do a thorough search. _

I remember when my old girlfriend thought I'd started dating someone else really fast after our breakup. I told her that the search process didn't start when she finally gave me my house keys back, it started when she stopped delivering the goods.

[Clutch0364]

_ I remember when my old girlfriend thought I'd started dating someone else really fast after our breakup. I told her that the search process didn't start when she finally gave me my house keys back, it started when she stopped delivering the goods. _

I nominate this for post of the year LOL

[cajun4life]

_ That's a quick turnaround. I don't like that, I'd rather us do a thorough search. _

The athletic department has a list of prospective coaches in all sports. They do this in order to expedite the hiring process in order to not take a catastrophic hit in recruiting.

They have a list for football, m&w basketball, baseball, and softball too. It is always good to have a short list of guys that meet the search criteria just in case.

I also believe that prior to the season starting the administration had informed Coach Bustle that it would take a winning season or bowl game in order to be retained as HC. As soon as those two goal were no longer attainable the search process started IMO. If that is the case, which I think it is, the athletic department has been gauging interest from potential candidates and began to vet them against their search criteria. I would think that it is safe to say the athletic department has 7 or 8 candidates already lined up to formally interview beginning next Tuesday.

[Hammer58]

_ On Stokley's end of career . . .
Other similarities; both have an NFL receiver on the roster and neither survives coaching heir son. Unless you can count 2-9 as surviving.

I don't know if Stokley had talent or not in 1998 I know he had one year where he went from 2 wins to 8 wins. Did he go from no talent to full talent in one year?

UL needs a coach who can think fast, that is the number one asset a coach can bring to the field on game day.

jmo _

At the end Coach Stokely had zero recruiting budget. Admittedly that is attributable to the administration and not him. coach Bustle has been operating under more resources so the cupboard is not as bare. As it is we have six commitments for next year right now.

[lcitsh]

_ It seems like we do this year after year. Many people feel that the time is now to move on and bring in another coach to lead this program. Others tend to think that we certainly can get no better than what we have now, we are a coaching graveyard, our win cap is 6 etc...For those two schools of thought, there are certain facts that are present and will remain in place. First, Bustle did elevate the program to a level that is higher than what it was when he got here. Some disagree but they are wrong. Six wins around here is getting a coach fired. Ten years ago, I think any fan out there would have given up a limb to see a 6 win cajun team. The program is now at a point that we are planning expansion on stadiums, we have field turf, and indoor practice facility etc... The program is better off. Second, a change is being made. If you do not believe this and feel that this program is still operating from the depths of Dr. A's tenure, there's not much anyone out there can say or do to make you change your mind and you likely live a pretty miserable life. The fact is, a change will be made in about 11 solid days and this university will have the funds, even in budget cuts and economic downturns to pay the new coach and his staff more than any other team in the SBC even though we rank less than halfway in athletic budget funds. With the ability to pay the new coach the amount we are willing to, we will attract some quality candidates. Who we hire and who we interview will not be known for a little bit but I can assure you that the program is moving forward. Now, only if some of our fans would do the same...... _

100% totally accurate, on all points.

[Turbine]

_ At the end Coach Stokely had zero recruiting budget. Admittedly that is attributable to the administration and not him. coach Bustle has been operating under more resources so the cupboard is not as bare. As it is we have six commitments for next year right now. _

No recruiting budget is bad, it would take a serious situation for a former AD to let that slide. It took some kind of mental toughness to withstand the rigors of demanding a recruiting budget with Authement.

Did Baldwin get the recruiting budget Stokley lacked?

[Hammer58]

_ No recruiting budget is bad, it would take a serious situation for a former AD to let that slide. It took some kind of mental toughness to withstand the rigors of demanding a recruiting budget with Authement.

Did Baldwin get the recruiting budget Stokley lacked? _

I believe he did. I never heard any complaints during the Baldwin years of having his recruiting budget cut, His problem was in recruiting too many talented athletes who never saw the field because they cold not cut it in the classroom. Hence when Bustle go there we did not even have our full allotment of 85 scholarship players on the roster.

[lcitsh]

_ The athletic department has a list of prospective coaches in all sports. They do this in order to expedite the hiring process in order to not take a catastrophic hit in recruiting.

They have a list for football, m&w basketball, baseball, and softball too. It is always good to have a short list of guys that meet the search criteria just in case.

I also believe that prior to the season starting the administration had informed Coach Bustle that it would take a winning season or bowl game in order to be retained as HC. As soon as those two goal were no longer attainable the search process started IMO. If that is the case, which I think it is, the athletic department has been gauging interest from potential candidates and began to vet them against their search criteria. I would think that it is safe to say the athletic department has 7 or 8 candidates already lined up to formally interview beginning next Tuesday. _

Mostly correct, but a little bit incomplete. The info in your first two paragraphs is right. The admin did not make specific demands in regards as to what was needed to be done for this season, but the restructuring of the buy-out clause was part of the expectation explanation for this season. The search actually began after the WKU loss. Ricky was informed then that he would not be brought back for next season, he informed his coaches and I'm sure the players were informed soon after that.
The same process used to find Robert's replacement is being utilized for the next head football coach. The AD has contacted that firm (I don't know the name), they are searching and have received interest from more than a few people. The AD will begin actual interviews once there is an opening.