Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
June 28, 2004
A Thursday report on the state of Louisiana-Monroe athletics seemed to put to rest the question of going back down to Division I-AA in football.
But it raised several others.
The Carr Report, presented to the University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors, encouraged a push for full membership in the Division I-A Sun Belt Conference - where ULM competes in football and women's swimming and diving. The rest of the university's teams are in the Division I-AA Southland Conference.
"NCAA legislation involving membership is a very significant factor before the university," Bill Carr said. "The standards have been increased - both in terms of attendance in football and in number of sports for women. This is why the Sun Belt Conference membership is so critical."
The ULS board on Thursday also endorsed the Carr Sports Associates Inc. report. But as ULM President Jim Cofer pointed out: "It's a conference decision."
Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters has indicated that he would like to add another full member to the conference this summer - but hasn't indicated which school would get the nod. Universities apply for membership.
Too, ULM received the review as it prepares for a second round of interviews to replace departing athletics director Bruce Hanks.
A reception for Bobby Staub, the senior associate athletics director at Alabama-Birmingham, is slated for 5 p.m. today. The other finalist is Mack Rhodes, executive senior associate athletics director at Texas-El Paso.
Whoever takes the job will have much work to do.
"Upon recommendation of the Carr Report, we will be spending the next 9-12 months working on a strategic plan for athletics to get us headed in the right direction," Cofer said. "We will look to our new AD to lead that charge."
The report underscores why a move to full membership in a Division I-A school makes sense, Cofer said.
An extra $3.1 million would be needed over a five-year period to move all athletics into the Sun Belt Conference.
At the same time, moving football down to the Southland Conference would cost more - $4.1 million over five years, Cofer says - because ULM would lose game guarantees. Louisiana-Monroe, for instance, is set to make about $500,000 every other year under a new contract to play the University of Arkansas in Little Rock.
"The stakes are high either way," said Tom Nicholson, a ULM supporter and president of Strauss Interests. "There are only hard choices here, and some potentially produce better results. It's harder to choose a path that promotes the whole student and the whole community, than it is to choose an easier path that has a lesser set of outcomes. To me it's clear there is every reason to choose the path that represents the higher standard."
The Sun Belt, one of 11 NCAA Division I-A conferences, offers 18 scholarship sports. ULM participates in 17 of those sports.
"Based on what I've seen of the other Sun Belt football teams, I definitely think we can compete in this league," said ULM fan Robert Canterbury, president of a software company in Monroe. "Although North Texas has had the most success in the conference in football since ULM has joined the Sun Belt, I don't see them being significantly more dominant than the other teams."
Still, the average athletic expenditure among Sun Belt schools is about $3 million more a year than those in the Southland Conference.
Cofer said he would have to reach out to external sources to raise the money - sponsorships, the city and parish governments, increased ticket sales and media revenue.
"This is so important to the economic welfare of our community," said Rep. Charles McDonald, D-Fairbanks.
"We're on board and we're staying on board," he said of university supporters. "We'll get private funds, state funds, federal funds - any kind of funds we can get our hands on."
News-Star senior writer Paul J. Letlow and the capital bureau's Mike Hasten contributed to this report.
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