Technically ULS has no "Flagship" (+USN&WR)

[covcaj]

I was in graduate school from 1970-72 and Graduate School rep on the SGA my last year. I was appointed to be the SGA rep on the Athletics Committee, which was made up of administrators, faculty, and the student rep. As far as I can remember, we met only once and did nothing all year. However, in the one meeting, Authemont stated emphatically that, if there was a surplus in the athletic budget, it would be put into the academic side because, "I am an academician." This was when USL was packing them into Blackham for basketball and football was having a good year (played in the Grantland Rice Bowl.) I assure you, Authemont had no use for athletics and his tenure proves it.

[Redgineer]

The net growth by UL in past two years is more than LTURd's best year.....ever. We are now lapping them 3x per year....working on lap #4.

Very Flagshippy

From this day forward, I will use flagshippy to define anything that is great, huge, bigly, etc.

[CharlieK]

And I think another president could have just as easily put us on a similar path as Southeastern or McNeese. Remember, he was hired internally. USL was not conducting national searches to find the best administrators. Could someone have done better? Probably, but most would have done worse.
Anyway, what is important is how we move forward. I am happy to see the organization TJoe has put together. I am not as optimistic as some of you that we will be a major academic/athletic power, But I think Tier 1 research status and a Top 50 athletic program are attainable in the next 5-10 years.

A top 50 athletic program with Tier 1 research status doesn't equate to an athletic/academic power? There are like 350 division 1 schools. Being in the top 50 athletically while also maintaining the highest research level would be the definition of a an Athletic/Academic power I would think.

[Cajun90]

I was in graduate school from 1970-72 and Graduate School rep on the SGA my last year. I was appointed to be the SGA rep on the Athletics Committee, which was made up of administrators, faculty, and the student rep. As far as I can remember, we met only once and did nothing all year. However, in the one meeting, Authemont stated emphatically that, if there was a surplus in the athletic budget, it would be put into the academic side because, "I am an academician." This was when USL was packing them into Blackham for basketball and football was having a good year (played in the Grantland Rice Bowl.) I assure you, Authemont had no use for athletics and his tenure proves it.

I saw him at plenty of athletic events like others have stated but with that said I also have heard first hand stories similar to yours. He just didn't have any vision for us to compete at any level beyond the state. He was also a micro manager when it came to fund raising. I personally was witness to that and it wasn't just athletics. You didn't go around asking for money without his permission.

I think part of the problem was the circumstances he arrived under. Keep in mind that he came to be president only because of the basketball scandal. Basketball was dead and the only thing he was concerned with was how to clean up the mess that got dumped in his lap. One of the ways to do that was to make sure booster influence was limited.

[Policarp]

From this day forward, I will use flagshippy to define anything that is great, huge, bigly, etc.

😎😎😎😎😎

[CharlieK]

I always thought the whole flagship thing was childish and ridiculous. You are what you are. We are far and away the top academic institution in our system, and second in the state only to LSU. Whether or not the rest of this backward ___ state thinks we are or wants to pretend that they are on our level doesn't matter. There is no stopping this train.

[LaCajunsFan]

Have you guys ever researched exactly what Tier 1 Status means? I tried it once, and finally gave up, because, at least when I tried it, there was no concrete definition. The best I could come up with are some screwy criteria generated by US News & World Report.

R3, R2, R1 Carnegie Research Status, on the other hand, quite easy to define.

Someone do us a favor and try to get a firm definition of what Tier 1 means. I'm too old to try again so I'll hang up and listen.

I should add, Tier 1 status was the phraseology that the necksters always used when measuring themselves in the mirror. It was meaningless in my humble opinion other than they had it because it was mentioned in a magazine. Carnegie Research Status is the real measure when one wants to compare accomplishments nationwide against other universities.

I agree: I have searched for this myself, to no avail. And I could be wrong, but I don't really think T'Joe and company are focusing on that...it is pretty clear that the R1 status is the main goal.

And to the other post about ltu@r, I think they are currently @$20 million, with their goal being to reach $50 million by 2020. As meager as that is, it is only 2 years left to get that done....so seems highly unlikely at this point.
Regardless, and as per Dr. S, by that time we will be R1, so it really won't matter a whole lot anyway. But it will make it that much more fun.

[ULvictory]

The title "Flagship" is used in this state to polish a turd. LSU uses it because it's all about perception to show the rest of the state that "we are bigger than you." What the title doesn't show is the huge tower of debt their school is in at the expense of us, the hardworking tax payers. But I guess someone has to pay for that lazy river and Tiger habitat.

With that being said, that R1 ranking for us is smelling good right about now with the efforts that we have put into research. Inside the academic world, THAT is what these people look at. They don't care as much about US News Report or the "flagship" title. When they see how much we have invested in research, that is how we gain the academic respect. The rest is just window dressing.

[LaCajunsFan]

The title "Flagship" is used in this state to polish a turd. LSU uses it because it's all about perception to show the rest of the state that "we are bigger than you." What the title doesn't show is the huge tower of debt their school is in at the expense of us, the hardworking tax payers. But I guess someone has to pay for that lazy river and Tiger habitat.

With that being said, that R1 ranking for us is smelling good right about now with the efforts that we have put into research. Inside the academic world, THAT is what these people look at. They don't care as much about US News Report or the "flagship" title. When they see how much we have invested in research, that is how we gain the academic respect. The rest is just window dressing.

And in just doing a quick search about acceptance rates, I found some pretty eye-opening data. These are the average %'s which were pretty consistent in the 5-6 different pages I found:

lsu: 76%
ltur: 62%
uno: 58%
UL: 55%

So that means that...by far...the easist school to get into in our state is the 'flagship.' That is just nothing short of amazing. And ltur is a push-over too. I guess that just means they gotta get as many suckers....I mean students....to pay off thost facilities as possible, as we know they have virtually no other source.

[ULvictory]

And in just doing a quick search about acceptance rates, I found some pretty eye-opening data. These are the average %'s which were pretty consistent in the 5-6 different pages I found:

lsu: 76%
ltur: 62%
uno: 58%
UL: 55%

So that means that...by far...the easist school to get into in our state is the 'flagship.' That is just nothing short of amazing. And ltur is a push-over too. I guess that just means they gotta get as many suckers....I mean students....to pay off thost facilities as possible, as we know they have virtually no other source.

And, as I mentioned in another thread, that LSU will be lowering their ACT standards to a composite score of 22 for the Fall of 2019. That 76% is about to get even higher.