For Glenn Raggio, It's All About WINS & LOSSES

[NewsCopy]

Cajuns' Winning Percentage in Big Five Sports fifth Third Nationally

Univerity of Louisiana actually third 3rd in Pentathelam

Glenn Raggio was curious.

How do Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns stack up against other universities in athletic achievement?

Not in every sport, necessarily, but in the school's high-profile endeavors.

So Raggio, a 1974 UL graduate and an admitted Cajun fanatic, decided to find out. Six months later, his findings are eye-opening.

Taking season records from the 2004-2005 school year in football, basketball, women's basketball, baseball and softball, Raggio researched the performance of 264 universities.

When he was finished, combining 4-7 in football, 20-11 in men's basketball, 22-9 in women's basketball, 48-19 in baseball and 51-10 in softball, he discovered that UL was 145-56 and that Ragin' Cajun squads won 72.14 percent of their contests.

That's No. 5 out of 264 schools.

No. 1 is Rose Bowl champion and College World Series champion Texas (158-50, 75.96 percent), followed by Tennessee (167-61, 73.25), Creighton (134-51, 72.43) and DePaul (91-35, 72.22).

Of those, Creighton does not play football and DePaul does not field teams in either football or baseball.

"I started on it in January," Raggio said. "I did not know where it would go, but as I got into it, I said this is looking good. I selected the five sports in which we are most representative on a national level.

"Now, in other areas of the country they might choose other sports, like ice hockey. But these are the ones I picked."

It's a remarkable discovery for a school with an athletic budget in the $7 million range, but Raggio contends that it's more than that.

"I had dollars as part of the equation, then erased it," Raggio said. "Dollars are the furthest thing from it. I think it goes to the character of the people you have at the university.

"It's not what you don't have. It's a matter of taking what you have and fertilizing it."

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

If Nelson Schexnayder was a mad scientist, he might clone fans like Glenn Raggio.

When the athletic director of Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns saw what Raggio had been doing for the last six months, it brought a smile to his face.

Raggio has compiled a study of 264 universities' success in football, men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball and has found that Cajun teams won 72.14 percent of the time in the 2004-2005 school year to rank a lofty No. 5 in the country.

"He focused on our best five sports," Schexnayder said, "and I'm pleased to see the Ragin' Cajuns ranked No. 5 in the country on the list. That's great to see."

"I'm curious about the doom-and-gloom fan," Raggio said. "After this research, I'm not sure we can win many more games than we are winning.

"After all the obstacles, this is a tribute to the coaches here, and to the kids who have signed on."

But the experience has also shown Schexnayder that UL has something else in its corner.

"Don't get me wrong. I love to see it," Schexnayder said. "It shows we're pretty good, at least in those five areas. But I think it also shows that we have committed and interested fans like Glenn.

"I think it's important to recognize fans that are as committed as any in the country. It's great to have fans who have that kind of passion."

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[1stTake]

These should have been follow up articles to a really huge story on the Ragin' Cajuns doing good across the board.

[LSU Bob]

Reading the web paper I followed the connecting stories and was happy to see LSU ranked 16th. At first that is, after looking closer it is clear LSU should be in the top ten. It also shows how small minded USL fans are, including division II schools on the list proves you do not belong in division I. Your fifth place ranking is a fluke.

[CRAWFISH61]

I was wondering how long it would take for some insecure, small minded, petty LSU fan would take to object to the listing. Thanks for noticing that the University of Louisiana is fifth and eleven spots behind is the purple and yellow. It was no Fluke.

[Turbine]

Your fifth place ranking is a fluke.

Well you are right . . . sortof . . . if you were wise enough to notice that LSU was 10th then you had to notice that The University of Louisiana ranks 3rd

[TheRaginCajun06]

More of a reason UL fans are tired of LSU. They couldn't stand up and congradulate us even if we won the Sun Belt Tournament, yet they expect praise on all levels. Screw ya'll UL is #3.... LSU is #16

Hahahaha

[skankinCajun]

includes division II schools, but DOESNT exclude division I schools, happy to see thats the way it turned out this past year. now lets look forward to this comming fall sports.

[gorcajun]

Well, it has been over a week that the results of the Pentathlelam has been released to the public via the web at http://www.raginpagin.com and the Sunday Advertiser of July 3, 2005. Thank you Turbine and Bruce Brown. The newspaper article represented my intentions.

Many people have insinuated claims, drawn false conclusions and tried to make the data reflect something that it does not present.


So here goes:

First of all, the won-loss records of each school and each sport are exactly that. One team wins, one team loses. It is a game-by-game look at wins and losses. Secondly, this data did not make a distinction between the RPI, strength of schedule, home/away games, bowl or NCAA tournament games. Thirdly, these are the numbers posted by the respective universities and/or conferences for each sport. Lastly, the point spread was never included in the mix. The research into the conferences, sports and universities took me much farther than I had ever imagined.

So that there is no misunderstanding, I will try to illustrate with an analogy that even some very young children can understand the basis of the Pentathlelam.

A young daughter, Sally, asks her daddy to play cards with her. She is only in the second grade but nonetheless she intends to make a real game of it. Daddy, a man with a great deal of education, having earned a PhD is befuddled as to the game that his little girl could play with him, but he agrees and tells his daughter to go get the deck of cards.

She has it all planned out. She brings from her room two stacks of cards. In each stack are 201 playing cards. That is just short of four decks. (It is exactly the number of games the Ragin Cajuns have played in the 2004-05 season in the five sports.) Sally tells Daddy to shuffle his blue stack and she does likewise with the VERMILION red stack. After several shuffles, the learned father, still in the dark as to the rules, asked, “What game are we going to play.”

“Battle” replied the little girl. (In my house of French speaking people the game was called “Bataille”). What is unique about Bataille is that no one knows the outcome of each clash until it is played on the table. (Hmmm, isn’t that the same way most athletic events are contested.) Daddy plays the first card from the top of his stack. It is a 10 and the little girl’s first card is an 8. Daddy wins one trick. That’s the way it goes. The next blue card is a 3 and the VERMILION red card is an ace. One trick for Sally. This goes on until the entire 201 cards from each stack is played on the table with the person having the highest card pulling the trick to his side. As it turned out, Sally the second grader had a total of 145 tricks against her older, wiser, richer, bigger Dad that had 56 tricks.

Did Sally know that she would beat her father, absolutely not. But didn’t Dad have just as much of a chance to play a higher card, yes, if it was the first one on the top of the stack. It is the fact that Sally played someone, in this case her father, but it could have also been her brother, uncle, mother, a complete stranger and or even her twin sister, each with different attributes. With the cards in sequence, it does not matter who the opponent is or the difference in suits or numbers of the cards.

All I know from the game and the PENTATHLELAM, is that Sally and the Ragin Cajuns won 145 tricks/games of the 201 battles/contests on the table/field of play.

[LSU Bob]

Secondly, this data did not make a distinction between the RPI, strength of schedule, home/away games, bowl or NCAA tournament games.

If that is true and I don't think it is, why does the newspaper include RPI? You must be mistaken go ask Mr. Raggio, somebody told you a fib. Congratulations Cajun Fans you finished third THIS YEAR. Don't get used to it.

[CDeb]

If that is true and I don't think it is, why does the newspaper include RPI? You must be mistaken go ask Mr. Raggio, somebody told you a fib. Congratulations Cajun Fans you finished third THIS YEAR. Don't get used to it.

What's your problem? Were you born a p-r-i-c-k or do you try?

[LSU Bob]

What's your problem? Were you born a p-r-i-c-k or do you try?

Who are you calling a ~~~~~ Mr. big time ~~~~~. I was being honest when I said "Congratulations Cajun Fans you finished third THIS YEAR. Don't get used to it." If you think the truth makes me a ~~~~~, then it takes one to know one.