Why are we not adding ULL? Football program would be a plus. Basketball has a history, and is on the rise with the coach I wish UNT had hired. Baseball team a plus.

Besides La Tech, which is right now behind UL, I don't get why they wouldn't be in the league. Their fan base is incredible, too.

Can somebody who knows better than me please explain?

I really don't understand why they were not one of the sunbelt teams we brought along. I think most UNT fans wil agree when I say that they were one of our favorite conference mates as well.

Why aren't we ADDING ULL? Cause we're at 14. There is zero reason to add anyone else from the belt.

Why didnt we ADD ULL is a more valid question. Probably don't want to have two Louisina teams, not sure of the purpose of that except for proximity (and the west is fairly compact). ULL might've reached their ceiling while LATech can stop grow. Also, I'm not sure if we can call ULL better than Tech right now. Techs coming of a great year in hoops and football, while ULL (and the rest of the sunbelt) weren't to good in the basketball sector.


Either way, does it matter? We're not expanding til we lose more, and any other discussion is likely to stir people up and someone will get mad. What's done is done, and it's getting stupid how much we're still talking about this.

Not only was UL-L not added, they were not even considered when CUSA added UNT, FIU, MT, FAU, and WKU to CUSA. That is something I've wondered about myself. University President's and Chancellors make the decision about who to add, so UL-L had apparently managed to alienate enough of those guys to get black-balled during realignment. I think UL-L has a chip on their shoulder about being passed up by schools that have not been FBS level as long as they have. They just never got their politics in order as well as others did and it cost them.

You can't just invite ULL without inviting ULM. Those 2 are tied at the hip. And Tech's little brothers.

(04-24-2014 02:09 AM)untlynchka Wrote:  Why are we not adding ULL? Football program would be a plus. Basketball has a history, and is on the rise with the coach I wish UNT had hired. Baseball team a plus.

Besides La Tech, which is right now behind UL, I don't get why they wouldn't be in the league. Their fan base is incredible, too.

Can somebody who knows better than me please explain?

I really don't understand why they were not one of the sunbelt teams we brought along. I think most UNT fans wil agree when I say that they were one of our favorite conference mates as well.

I've given it a lot of thought. I think the people running USM at the time wanted Tech, because they seemed like a ready-made rival who would be a cheap road trip and who wouldn't outspend us or leave CUSA. They were fundamentally lazy. I think the conference wanted Tech because they had been in the WAC and have an OK academic reputation, and wouldn't leave.

Once we decided we wanted Tech, ULL was screwed. Tech doesn't want ULL in because of geography, status, etc.

We don't need more members & ULL is not only a good fit for the Sun Belt, their posters claim they are happy there. Sigh, an off-season non-issue. Next topic.

(04-24-2014 06:55 AM)T_Won1 Wrote:  You can't just invite ULL without inviting ULM. Those 2 are tied at the hip. And Tech's little brothers.

Not really; what about Northwestern State, UNO, etc.?

Please no they are doing well but no. I wish we pulled from other conferences.

SMTTT

(04-24-2014 02:09 AM)untlynchka Wrote:  Why are we not adding ULL? Football program would be a plus. Basketball has a history, and is on the rise with the coach I wish UNT had hired. Baseball team a plus.

Besides La Tech, which is right now behind UL, I don't get why they wouldn't be in the league. Their fan base is incredible, too.

Can somebody who knows better than me please explain?

I really don't understand why they were not one of the sunbelt teams we brought along. I think most UNT fans wil agree when I say that they were one of our favorite conference mates as well.

Granted, these are 2012 numbers... but ULaLa averaged 22,865 per football game. Is that incredible to you?

(04-24-2014 12:23 PM)WhyIsTheRumGone Wrote:  Granted, these are 2012 numbers... but ULaLa averaged 22,865 per football game. Is that incredible to you?

25,976 last year. That would be quite good in today's C-USA. Not incredible, though.

I think the primary reason was CUSA wasnt looking to expand by adding the best football schools in the historically weakest football conference.
ARK State
ULL
MTU
WKU
Troy
Rather they were looking at what schools have markets that could benefit the conference in contract negotiations.
UNT
FIU
FAU
ODU
Charlotte
MTU
WKU
UTSA
Given that the conference already had Tulane and Tech was a natural fit, why go after a 3rd school in LA.

(04-24-2014 12:48 PM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 12:23 PM)WhyIsTheRumGone Wrote:  Granted, these are 2012 numbers... but ULaLa averaged 22,865 per football game. Is that incredible to you?

25,976 last year. That would be quite good in today's C-USA. Not incredible, though.

2013 Average C-USA Attendance

UTSA - 29,213
UTEP - 28,375
Louisiana Lafayette 25,976
Marshall - 25,023
USM - 22,752
UNT - 21,030
Rice - 18,785
MTSU - 18,715
La Tech - 18,666
WKU - 18,334
FIU - 15,453
FAU - 14,552
UAB - 10,548

Wow. You're right. Most of those #'s are ugly.

(04-24-2014 02:09 AM)untlynchka Wrote:  Why are we not adding ULL? Football program would be a plus. Basketball has a history, and is on the rise with the coach I wish UNT had hired. Baseball team a plus.

Besides La Tech, which is right now behind UL, I don't get why they wouldn't be in the league. Their fan base is incredible, too.

Can somebody who knows better than me please explain?

I really don't understand why they were not one of the sunbelt teams we brought along. I think most UNT fans wil agree when I say that they were one of our favorite conference mates as well.

Saying ULL's football program would be a "plus" is like saying USM's football program is a minus. It only accounts for the most recent seasons.

Hudspeth will be the first coach to leave ULL with a winning record since they joined D1.

Prior to Hudspeth, ULL had gone 166-255 (.394) since moving up to D1 in 1974.

There's no evidence that they can maintain any success without Hudspeth.

All of that said, they have a better program than the other schools we selected but I think the others have a far greater ceiling and they are either in big markets or geographically placed in areas in which the conference wanted to gain a foothold (Mid-Alantic and Florida). We have plenty of Southeastern schools.

(04-24-2014 01:52 PM)eaglenjxn Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 02:09 AM)untlynchka Wrote:  Why are we not adding ULL? Football program would be a plus. Basketball has a history, and is on the rise with the coach I wish UNT had hired. Baseball team a plus.

Besides La Tech, which is right now behind UL, I don't get why they wouldn't be in the league. Their fan base is incredible, too.

Can somebody who knows better than me please explain?

I really don't understand why they were not one of the sunbelt teams we brought along. I think most UNT fans wil agree when I say that they were one of our favorite conference mates as well.

Saying ULL's football program would be a "plus" is like saying USM's football program is a minus. It only accounts for the most recent seasons.

Hudspeth will be the first coach to leave ULL with a winning record since they joined D1.

Prior to Hudspeth, ULL had gone 166-255 (.394) since moving up to D1 in 1974.

There's no evidence that they can maintain any success without Hudspeth.

All of that said, they have a better program than the other schools we selected but I think the others have a far greater ceiling and they are either in big markets or geographically placed in areas in which the conference wanted to gain a foothold (Mid-Alantic and Florida). We have plenty of Southeastern schools.

La Tech has a better FB program than ULL.

(04-24-2014 07:12 PM)winston70 Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:52 PM)eaglenjxn Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 02:09 AM)untlynchka Wrote:  Why are we not adding ULL? Football program would be a plus. Basketball has a history, and is on the rise with the coach I wish UNT had hired. Baseball team a plus.

Besides La Tech, which is right now behind UL, I don't get why they wouldn't be in the league. Their fan base is incredible, too.

Can somebody who knows better than me please explain?

I really don't understand why they were not one of the sunbelt teams we brought along. I think most UNT fans wil agree when I say that they were one of our favorite conference mates as well.

Saying ULL's football program would be a "plus" is like saying USM's football program is a minus. It only accounts for the most recent seasons.

Hudspeth will be the first coach to leave ULL with a winning record since they joined D1.

Prior to Hudspeth, ULL had gone 166-255 (.394) since moving up to D1 in 1974.

There's no evidence that they can maintain any success without Hudspeth.

All of that said, they have a better program than the other schools we selected but I think the others have a far greater ceiling and they are either in big markets or geographically placed in areas in which the conference wanted to gain a foothold (Mid-Alantic and Florida). We have plenty of Southeastern schools.

La Tech has a better FB program than ULL.

ULL has far more potential to grow into a major brand than LA Tech or probably any other CUSA school. They are the university of the Cajun people. LA Tech appeals to their 12,000 students and a proportional number of alumni, many of whom are also LSU fans. I just don't see how Tech will ever grow into a major shared identity like Bama or LSU. Who would participate in that shared identity?

With the Cajuns, I see it happening. A sense of "we" is forming around ULL athletics. No school in CUSA right now has the underlying situation in place to do that. USM came close, in the pre-Boise era, but ultimately our own leadership and the Liberty Bowl ceiling killed us. That stillborn identity was basically the identity Boise has now, that of the brazen underdog.

And it's quite possible that's what Banowsky and his commuter school henchmen are doing to ULL: boxing them in, keeping them as far away from BCS access as possible. Keep them in the SBC. Make them fight the mighty AAC and MWC for that Sugar Bowl berth they really need in order to explode. Better to let UConn, or Cincy, or Temple grow into a major. We've already seen the whole puppet show with USM and Louisville.

It's short-sighted, though. The Cajuns have the raw material in place to be something bigger than any mid-major commuter school. They really could grow a national brand identity like Bama or FSU has.

The simple answer is that at the time invites were going out it was widely believed markets were the end all be all of college football money. The great market share snatch of the Big East, which soon became the AAC, was debunked as a valid strategy when they received about 1/4 what reasonable people expected from tv contracts.

Shreveport, coupled with LaTech's long term success was seen as the better option during that time. Tulane had not been invited yet, to the AAC and adding ULL would probably have been seen as saturating the Louisiana market in a state that only gives a **** about LSU anyway, like all of our respective states and their flagship schools.

Go there once. Watch fans from your school get arrested and hauled out for nothing more than cheering.
Listen to the ul fans outside for about 5 minutes and you will understand why they were not and wont be considered.

ULL did not pursue a CUSA invite. Their president was happy in the Belt at the time.
As far as all the ULL could be this and ULL could be that; it seems that can be said about any number of schools. There is just a whole lot of "could" in their situation The truth of the matter is ULL has historically done nothing. They have a recent win streak and are trying to take advantage of that fact to finally get some acknowledgement of the school. If they can parlay the past couple of years into some sustained success, build their budget and grab some fans outside a Acadiana, they "could" enhance their standing in the world.
I do think it is untrue to say Tech would try to keep ULL out of the conference. I really believe it would be just the opposite. Now, I have no idea if Tech would support that mythical UL place.

(04-24-2014 08:29 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  Go there once. Watch fans from your school get arrested and hauled out for nothing more than cheering.
Listen to the ul fans outside for about 5 minutes and you will understand why they were not and wont be considered.

I feel like there's an interesting story to be told here... or, maybe the story is just "I cheered for my team and got arrested while a bunch of ********* mocked me in broken English."

Maybe using powers-of-arrest to win football games is a Louisiana thing. The St. Paul's School in Covington, LA was briefly famous last season for having the Covington Police arrest an opposing team's coaches.