2002 - Bustle Is Promised Scheduling Duties

[CajunNation]

With the bowl tie-ins, there are more reasons to work on a balance of BCS pay games and more winnable match-ups. Scheduling is a beeyotch when you have to hunt for pay games... and we do... so that makes this "Monday morning" schedule critiqueing very whiny.

I agree, to an extent.

Bowl games are nice. No doubt. However, I just don't think we should be so fixated on "body bag" games. As I've shown before, we play the fewest BCS games of anybody in the SBC.

ULM has gotten more play off of their victory over Alabama than any podunk bowl game could have gotten them. In effect, every time you play a BCS game, you are playing for all of the accolades that come from a bowl game. You just have to win it.

If all we schedule for our money games are defending national champs or schools many people are picking to win the national championship that year, we are doing ourselves a disservice.

I think we are on more of the right track now with games against Illinois and Kansas State. I don't need to see Texas, Tennessee, or the BR school for a while.

That is until we decide to play defense.

[4LSU]

_"Was he given what he was promised?"

I don't know if he was or not, but since he signed a contract extension fairly recently he must have been happy with whatever he was given. If he wasn't, that would have been the time to speak up.

"...you have to remember he is using the Beamer model and this is the year."

I hope you are right. It's way past time for you guys to go bowling again.

[Zeebart21]

_ I don't know if he was or not, but since he signed a contract extension fairly recently he must have been happy with whatever he was given. If he wasn't, that would have been the time to speak up.

"...you have to remember he is using the Beamer model and this is the year."

I hope you are right. It's way past time for you guys to go bowling again. _

We've been bowling before?

Z

[RCAJUN90]

_ We've been bowling before?

Z

_

Of course we have been bowling!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantland_Rice_Bowl.~.

[Turbine]

In case there is no press conference associated with the extension. Here is a reminder.

[BonCajun]

Initial Rickey Bustle Press Conference


We all know that the Ragin Cajuns schedule is unrealistically tough. For a program having been as down as it was the 24th ranked schedule will just keep them there.

Having to deal with the 24th toughest schedule in the country is not fair to coach Bustle or his staff or the players. No BCS school so far has had it as tough as Louisiana has.

Fortunately for fans of Louisiana, Dr. Authement promised coach Bustle he could make his own schedule in the future, after this string of guaranteed loss games was over.

Here is a snippet from Coach Bustle?s initial press conference after he was hired. He was asked the question "How much will you have to do with scheduling?" Dr. Authement is the "you" in coach Bustles reply.

The voice that chimes in is that of former play by play announcer for the Cajuns; Todd Hamilton.

The second voice is that of Nelson, answering how long coach Bustles contract is.

[CajunRebel]

Exactly. No one seems to remember that under Stokley we played 2-3 games against Division 1-AA schools almost every year. They just remember that we had winning records.

And even though we play 2-3 tough BCS money games every year, people want Bustle fired because 6-6 isn't good enough.

When it's all said and done all anyone remembers is the record.

igeaux.mobi

[tdncz]

Its not ALL the record. Although the record is a big part, it is the absolute and CONSISTENT idiotic play calling that I have not been able to stand for over 4 years.
Remember 4 off-guard runs -- IN A ROW -- on the LSU 1???

[Just1More]

_ Exactly. No one seems to remember that under Stokley we played 2-3 games against Division 1-AA schools almost every year. They just remember that we had winning records.

And even though we play 2-3 tough BCS money games every year, people want Bustle fired because 6-6 isn't good enough.



igeaux.mobi _

I remember everything during the Stokley years... not just the records. I remember that every team we played, we never felt like we weren't capable of winning the game. Big programs weren't considered "money games"... they were considered "potential launch pads".

Oh... and all of the teams that we are currently sharing a conference with were either D1AA or didn't have a football program in the 80s and 90s.

It isn't Stokley's fault... and it isn't Bustle's fault... the size and success of our football program rests in the hands of the President and AD of the university. 90% the President and 10% the AD... at UL.

[zephyr]

_ Its not ALL the record. Although the record is a big part, it is the absolute and CONSISTENT idiotic play calling that I have not been able to stand for over 4 years.
Remember 4 off-guard runs -- IN A ROW -- on the LSU 1??? _

There will always be room in a coach's playbook for criticism. I've often criticized Bustle for his unwillingness to deviate from time to time from the zone read and run out of various formations or circumstances. I used to also pull my hair out when watching us play 10 yards off of WR's but blitzing 6 guys on 3rd and 4 when the other team's QB can make a simple adjustment and complete a 5 yard route time and time again. However, I also remember some poor playcalling when Baldwin would actually run the option with John Van Cleave which was an oxymoron of sorts. I also remember not having a viable rushing attack since the days of Brian Mitchell and people complaining that we could never move the ball. Recently, we've had one of the more productive offenses, especially rushing, of any team in the country. The point is, while Bustle does do some questionable things, I can't hide behind the fact that he's done a lot of positive things with this program over the past 8 years or so and has now made 6-6 unacceptable.

I do believe that Bustle is very limited in his ability to make the schedule, or at least the OOC part of it. I understand both sides as we need these money games to supplement our budget which is now as active as it has ever been to help update and upgrade facilities while doing so without a major backing from the community with private dollars. I would also like to see less BCS romps and more games like Ohio, Kent St, maybe La. Tech etc.. but its harder to schedule those guys because they are all doing the same thing, playing the big boys.

We are all seeing what one great year can do for a program by watching what is going on in Houston. Those guys have bigtime recruits now looking at their program and their coach is being mentioned for huge jobs. Last year put those guys on the map and they will possibly benefit from it for some time. We need this same type of year, although it is unlikely something close would certainly put us in better standing with some of the recruits that we might have lost to bigger schools.

[HoustonCajun]

_ I remember everything during the Stokley years... not just the records. I remember that every team we played, we never felt like we weren't capable of winning the game. Big programs weren't considered "money games"... they were considered "potential launch pads".

Oh... and all of the teams that we are currently sharing a conference with were either D1AA or didn't have a football program in the 80s and 90s.

It isn't Stokley's fault... and it isn't Bustle's fault... the size and success of our football program rests in the hands of the President and AD of the university. 90% the President and 10% the AD... at UL. _

Remember our 1996 schedule where we went 5-6 against certainly our most formidable schedule ever? That year and particularly the win over Texas A&M should have been our springboard to greater football success. To my recollection, Dr. A further cut our athletic budget the following year and we went downhill going 1-10 and 2-9 under Stokley, then the Baldwin years.

I don't think Stokley ever got the credit he deserved for what he did for UL football because Dr. A didn't allow him to win.

I'll also never forget talking to our AD, Nelson Schexnayder, at the Texas A&M game and saying to him that THIS is what UL football is all about and what we all want our games to be like week-in and week-out. Nelson replied something to the effect that he couldn't handle this kind of attendance and all the work that went with it each week. That left me speechless. Well, we all know what happened after that. That, to me, epitomizes while UL is what it is.

UL has never been about winning and about giving our coaches the resources to be successful. We have been a 1A program in name only. I truly believe Dr. A wanted the distinction of being a 1A program but had no intention of doing anything to elevate our program. I was hoping our new administration would take a different attitude, but am yet to see any difference in operations.

Nonetheless, this is the kind of schedule I wish UL played every year instead of all the former 1AA schools that not only dot our schedule but make up our conference. And, we haven't won against that. We have only a couple of years to prepare for perhaps the final conference realignment that is surely coming. I don't see the preparation nor the proclamation that we are moving in that direction. It's not too late, but the clock is ticking and time is quickly slipping away while schools like Troy and MT are passing us by. UL simply can't let this final opportunity elude us.

Florida (A) - Loss
Texas A&M (H) - Win
Southern Miss (A)- Loss
Louisiana Tech (A) - Win
Houston (H) - Loss
Ark. State (H) - Win
UAB (A) - Loss
Memphis (H) - Win
Virginia Tech (A) - Loss
Northern Illinois (H) - Win
Texas Tech (A) - Loss

[zephyr]

_ Remember our 1996 schedule where we went 5-6 against certainly our most formidable schedule ever? That year and particularly the win over Texas A&M should have been our springboard to greater football success. To my recollection, Dr. A further cut our athletic budget the following year and we went downhill going 1-10 and 2-9 under Stokley, then the Baldwin years.

I don't think Stokley ever got the credit he deserved for what he did for UL football because Dr. A didn't allow him to win.

I'll also never forget talking to our AD, Nelson Schexnayder, at the Texas A&M game and saying to him that THIS is what UL football is all about and what we all want our games to be like week-in and week-out. Nelson replied something to the effect that he couldn't handle this kind of attendance and all the work that went with it each week. That left me speechless. Well, we all know what happened after that. That, to me, epitomizes while UL is what it is.

UL has never been about winning and about giving our coaches the resources to be successful. We have been a 1A program in name only. I truly believe Dr. A wanted the distinction of being a 1A program but had no intention of doing anything to elevate our program. I was hoping our new administration would take a different attitude, but am yet to see any difference in operations.

Nonetheless, this is the kind of schedule I wish UL played every year instead of all the former 1AA schools that not only dot our schedule but make up our conference. And, we haven't won against that. We have only a couple of years to prepare for perhaps the final conference realignment that is surely coming. I don't see the preparation nor the proclamation that we are moving in that direction. It's not too late, but the clock is ticking and time is quickly slipping away while schools like Troy and MT are passing us by. UL simply can't let this final opportunity elude us.

Florida (A) - Loss
Texas A&M (H) - Win
Southern Miss (A)- Loss
Louisiana Tech (A) - Win
Houston (H) - Loss
Ark. State (H) - Win
UAB (A) - Loss
Memphis (H) - Win
Virginia Tech (A) - Loss
Northern Illinois (H) - Win
Texas Tech (A) - Loss _

I don't know how much MT is passing us by. Sure, they had a nice year this year and won their bowl game but they've done little in recent years to separate themselves from us. One could argue that they've underachieved as much as any team in the conference and I'd need more consistency from them to say they've done anything to put themselves in the upper echelon of this conference