Fundraising/Investment Potential

[lcitsh]

_ Read Slam Dunked. That will change your opinion real quick. _

I have. It didn't.

[lcitsh]

_ Why don't you go ask a group of businessmen who wanted to each pledge $100,000 each year which would total $1,000,000 give or take annually for the athletic program. Dr. A did not want to allow them to donate only to athletics and wanted this to go into a general fund for which they would have little or no say in how it was distributed. They backed off and gave nothing. One of those men met with Hud recently to which I am not sure what was said or decided. You are right, I haven't spoken to Dr. A about any of the athletics budget issues over the years as I really only came to have a general understanding of them over recent years for which he had one foot out the door. I can tell you that if you deny that there were issues with him and his beliefs of how to fund an athletics program, it is YOU sir who is being ignorant.

I say this not because I am a detractor. I am far from it. That is because I know there are many reasons this program has not been given the resources to flourish and I'm sure tons of other reasons I have no idea about nor do many here. I know that Dr. A is well respected in the world of academia but the times we operate in have to make a distinction between the two and how they are funded. Athletics is forever more reliant on private dollars and there are people out there willing to offer it but they want to be able to have a word in where it is going and how it is used. _

That was the sticking point. When it came to who to use it on, that's when it became a problem. The one issue Dr. Authement had with those who wanted to donate had to do with personnel. Several of these donors wanted input into the hiring and firing of athletic department employees. Would you want someone who had no knowledge of your day to day operations tell you how to run your business? I realize that was not the issue in every case, but now that we have the RCAF, which Dr A. did have a hand in helping to develop, that is no longer a factor.

[SlappyCajun]

_ I have. It didn't. _

Look. I think Dr. A did I fine job on the academic side. However, with the exception of softball and maybe baseball. Every other athletic program and the University got worse under his watch. The fan base shrunk as well.

With academics, good, perhaps excellent.

With athletics, not good.

[Hammer58]

_ This is to all of Ray Authement's detractors:

I am more than a little tired of people on this board blaming Ray Authement for everything wrong with this athletic department. Unless you have direct knowledge of conversations between Ray & these "persons with check in hand" or the actions he took for or against the department, then you are speaking from a point of ignorance. Since you are entitled to your opinion, you have the right to be wrong, as you are in reference to any harm Ray has done to this athletic department. _

Go talk to Brandon Stokely or Jake Delhomme and ask them why they have a chip on their shoulder? Ask about Nelson Stokely's recruiting budget at the end of his tenure. Ask about basketball taking a cut equal to the ncaa tourney money for the year they went which was not restored the following year.

We do not need to speak to anyone, we have our own first hand knowledge from seeing the results for over 30 years. Coaches, players and administrators have come and gone but there have been 3 constants to UL athletics during that time: underperformance, lack of funding and Doc Authement.

You have an equal right to your erroneous opinion.

[JamesTheJeweler]

The greatest college President ever!!

Haaaaaaa! Never fails to make me laugh!!!


igeaux.mobi

[JamesTheJeweler]

I have. It didn't.

Dr. Authement???? I didn't realize you were a poster on this site!


igeaux.mobi

[VObserver]

_ That was the sticking point. When it came to who to use it on, that's when it became a problem. The one issue Dr. Authement had with those who wanted to donate had to do with personnel. Several of these donors wanted input into the hiring and firing of athletic department employees. Would you want someone who had no knowledge of your day to day operations tell you how to run your business? I realize that was not the issue in every case, but now that we have the RCAF, which Dr A. did have a hand in helping to develop, that is no longer a factor. _

I will give you first hand knowledge. in 1998, my son came here to run track. I volunteered to help the track program raise money. One of the ideas I had was to approach Stuller Settings about underwriting women's track and field, since his clientele is largely women and since T&F has more women than any other sport at UL.

I approached coach Lancon with this and he asked Schex. Schex came back with a statement that athletics was PROHIBITED by Dr. Authemont from soliciting money from Stuller, because Stuller had endowed a chair on the academic side.

Can't get much clearer than that. That decision had squat to do with personnel.

[cajunhawk]

What he did for academics cannot be measured. UL is a fine academic institution. He demanded excellence. I remember taking all those crazy standardized tests when I was graduating to make sure the Business College kept their accreditation. He also kept the university out of debt. Zero debt. On the academic side you could not have asked for a better university president.

On the athletic side he did everything he could to keep athletics firmly under his thumb and never overtaking the academic reputation of this institution. He left the basketball team out in the cold during the NCAA investigation. Turned his back on them. There was never a firm commitment to advance the athletic department. Look at what has been done in the short time since his retirement. It doesn't take much. All it takes is a want too. He didn't have it. Saw no need for it. And he may have been a bit correct. This is an academic institution. Not a minor league sports team. But academics and athletics can work together in harmony. Authement never saw it that way. Savoie does.

At the end of the day, his legacy will always be what he did for this university academically. We can't blame him for wanting to keep academics firmly numero uno at this university. The degree I have on the wall in my office means a lot more than it would had Ray Authement not cared about academics at UL. Because of what he did for academics, the precedent is set for Dr. Savoie to continue the academic excellence and invest and grow athletics for the overall good of UL. Without Paw Paw Ray, none of this is possible.

[Cajun90]

I will give you first hand knowledge. in 1998, my son came here to run track. I volunteered to help the track program raise money. One of the ideas I had was to approach Stuller Settings about underwriting women's track and field, since his clientele is largely women and since T&F has more women than any other sport at UL.

I approached coach Lancon with this and he asked Schex. Schex came back with a statement that athletics was PROHIBITED by Dr. Authemont from soliciting money from Stuller, because Stuller had endowed a chair on the academic side.

Can't get much clearer than that. That decision had squat to do with personnel.

I had a similar experience. First hand. Well he actually had Blanco tell me. Close enough. Bottom line is that NOBODY at UL could solicite anything without his approval. That approval, to my knowledge, was rarely allowed.

[Rebel02]

_ What he did for academics cannot be measured. UL is a fine academic institution. He demanded excellence. I remember taking all those crazy standardized tests when I was graduating to make sure the Business College kept their accreditation. He also kept the university out of debt. Zero debt. On the academic side you could not have asked for a better university president.

On the athletic side he did everything he could to keep athletics firmly under his thumb and never overtaking the academic reputation of this institution. He left the basketball team out in the cold during the NCAA investigation. Turned his back on them. There was never a firm commitment to advance the athletic department. Look at what has been done in the short time since his retirement. It doesn't take much. All it takes is a want too. He didn't have it. Saw no need for it. And he may have been a bit correct. This is an academic institution. Not a minor league sports team. But academics and athletics can work together in harmony. Authement never saw it that way. Savoie does.

At the end of the day, his legacy will always be what he did for this university academically. We can't blame him for wanting to keep academics firmly numero uno at this university. The degree I have on the wall in my office means a lot more than it would had Ray Authement not cared about academics at UL. Because of what he did for academics, the precedent is set for Dr. Savoie to continue the academic excellence and invest and grow athletics for the overall good of UL. Without Paw Paw Ray, none of this is possible. _

I don't agree with much hawk says, but this sums up exactly how I feel about Dr. Authement. I proudly hang my degree from UL thanks to the reputation that Dr. Authement helped build for this university.

Without Dr. Authement's leadership, I don't know if the university would have had the drive to form Team CajunBot, to build the LITE center, etc. Without his leadership, we would be a pretty normal university....nice looking campus, pretty standard colleges on campus, decent graduation rates. With his leadership, we are a unique university, with excellent colleges on campus, and a higher graduation than some of our peers.