coachacola

Looks like SHSU is the team to beat in the conference: #105 Sam Houston St - The Bearkats will rely on juco transfers and new coach J. Hooten to stem the loss of backcourt. Their best frontcourt player (Clavell) is also a juco transfer.  I still believe that in the SLC you have to recruit a lot of juco players because it's near impossible to recruit top notch HS players every year.

The Equity in Athletics website has just posted most school's 2009-2010 athletic budgets.  Lamar's budget has jumped from about $8.1 million to a little over $10 million, mostly due to the new athletic fee.  Not bad considering the budget was around $5 million 4 or 5 years ago.  It'll be even higher once they start counting revenue from football. That's a good budget for the Southland Conference, but for the Sun Belt that would put them near the bottom.  If they can jack up the budget to at least $15 million in the next few years then they should be able to make the jump to FBS if they so desire. Link: [Hidden Content]

From the In The Cards blog... [quote]The good news for the Lamar University football team is that quarterback Andre Bevil’s injury is merely a sprained wrist. He will miss a second straight day of practice Wednesday but might return Thursday, coach Ray Woodard said. The bad news is that defensive tackle Adren Dorsey might be out for the rest of the season because of a back injury that has lingered since the preseason. Dorsey stood with crutches and did not put weight on his left leg during Tuesday’s practice. Crutches are commonly used for severe back strains. “His back is not responding, and it’s a shame because he really played well in the first quarter at North Dakota,” said Woodard, whose team suffered a 31-6 loss Saturday at the University of North Dakota. “That had a lot to do with the difference in the game. He was really holding down the middle real well.” The loss of Dorsey is compounded by the loss of defensive tackle Mario Foster to a torn knee ligament injury earlier this season. Foster has not played in the last two games.[/quote] More: [Hidden Content]

Lamar has quite a few local players on the roster so I don't see the point in bringing more of them unless they are quality D1 players.  Nobody will come to the games if they are losing, no matter how many local players are on the roster.  Bringing in local players like Beard, Gillam, the Chavis brothers, and Coleman is the way to go.  Getting Hall and Johnson on the team next year would really spark interest as they are both local guys and very talented. Lamar's defense is beginning to step up but they do seem to miss a lot of tackles.  Both the offense and defense are making too many mistakes, which is probably to be expected from a first year program.  And as others have mentioned, this team is not very deep, so the offense is beginning to sputter as the season wears on.  The big pass play has been missing for a while, not sure if that will come back this season. Against South Alabama, Georgia State gave up a lot more points and yardage than Lamar did.  Georgia State appears to be weak defending the run so I expect Lamar to do a lot of running Saturday, especially if Prewitt is the quarterback.  If they can have some success running them maybe that will open up the passing game a little and maybe they can make a couple of big passes and score some quick points.

[quote]That's the most honest, non-dramatic post I've seen on this board all season. [/quote] I thought we weren't allowed to make those kinds of posts around here.  ;D

According to the Regents' Meeting Minutes from August 2008, Woodard was hired at $130K a year.  That was two years ago so it's possible he's gotten a raise since then. [Hidden Content]

I think Woodard makes at around $135K and the assistants around $60K.  The OC and DC may make more than that.  I doubt we'll see Woodard and the other coaches getting big raises any time soon so unless Dodge wants a big time cut in pay he won't be coming to Lamar.

Georgia State isn't that good, but with Lamar's weak offense they don't have to be very good to win.  I predict a Lamar rushing TD this Saturday and Lamar may pull out a close win.

#157 Stephen F Austin - Returning three top scorers from balanced offensive attack, expect the Lumberjacks near the top of the conference. Who's left on the schedule?  Texas, TAMU-CC and SHSU?

And in the other Lamar forum it's being reported that Doug Prewitt will start for Lamar.

Fourth game of the year is against these guys: #172 SMU - D Williams (17/3/4) is gone, so Papa Dia (12/9) will be expected to pick up the slack. They'll slip in the conf. standings.

[quote name="JJWooten" post="894012" timestamp="1288650006"] [quote author=coachacola link=topic=75142.msg893971#msg893971 date=1288646655] Toughest non-conference home game on Dec 22: #179 Canisius - Griffs will miss F. Turner at PG slot, but have improved by 4-5 games every yr with this senior class -- 19 wins this yr? [/quote] I have literally NEVER heard of that school. [/quote] When I first say the schedule I thought Roc had scheduled 5 non-D1 schools...then I looked them up and noticed they were a D1 school.  I agree where geezer, Lamar should be playing these types of schools and not the non-D1 schools.

Toughest non-conference home game on Dec 22: #179 Canisius - Griffs will miss F. Turner at PG slot, but have improved by 4-5 games every yr with this senior class -- 19 wins this yr?

Two more opponents: #191 TAMU-CC - Seniorss J. Reynolds (10/6/1) and D. Watt (13/8/2) should provide an exciting frontcourt duo for the Islanders this year. #182 Arkansas St - Star B. Reed transferred to Ga Tech, but 4 other starters are back for John Brady. Key will be health of D. Boone. I bet Texas will be the only opponent Lamar faces that comes in less than 100 in this list.  If Roc can put together a half decent team they should be able to pile up the wins...but that's a big IF.

[quote name="wouldsmith" post="893447" timestamp="1288612895"] [quote author=bigred360 link=topic=75337.msg893313#msg893313 date=1288579024] [quote author=wouldsmith link=topic=75337.msg893187#msg893187 date=1288569419] Lamar football program will be Just as it was 20 years ago. [/quote] Sorry, don't agree for several reasons. One, being Lamar just spent about $30 million on the new athletic complex, the suites, press box, turf, scoreboard and renovating Provost Umphrey Stadium. Two, football is being 110% supported by the university administration and the athletic department. Three, this is our first year as a start-up program and we are all guilty of expecting too much too soon. Four, the students voted for the return of football by 78% and have a football fee added for each credit hour they are taking. Five, have you been to a home game yet? The tailgating and game day atmosphere has been great for every game and those spots were sold with a three year commitment. Now, within the next three years Lamar needs to be competing for the SLC championship. So give the coaching staff some time as LU has the best facilities in the conference. This is a major recruiting advantage. We will have the off season strength and conditioning program (Lamar has never had a strength and conditioning coach) and we have two coaches that is their job to get the returning players bigger, stronger and faster. Then add a couple recruiting classes to add depth and better athletes. It is way too early to compare this current squad and those 20 years ago. [/quote] They can spend as much as They want....its all hype.  Just wait and see what the attendance is next year or two.  Then remember my words.....it'll be just like 20 years ago...minus 30 million dollars.  Haha [/quote] Maybe it'll be like 30 years ago when they averaged over 16K a year.  It's not all hype, but why let facts get in the way of your opinion?

They made the soccer tourney. [Hidden Content]

[quote name="puddin tane" post="893174" timestamp="1288568396"] [quote author=hipster link=topic=75337.msg893098#msg893098 date=1288562728] A very passionate post but I believe that so ala played lamar and georgia st are they part of the cream puff schedule?  Remember we still have to play ga st and have a cream puff left in panhandle st so maybe we still have a chance! [/quote] first year program Ga St. scored 30 something on so. bammy....we scored zip... we need an OC [/quote] Georgia State also lost to a NAIA team.  South Alabama had a year start on Lamar but they went the route of playing easier teams their first year.  They do have about 10 seniors on their team and a lot of FBS transfers too.  Woodard was right about one thing when he said that the fans expect Lamar to win right away.

#211 Texas St - Transfers AJ Stewart (Kentucky) and E. Ross (Miami) will have instant impact as a part of Texas St's overhaul this season. AJ Stewart has already been suspended from the team but I don't know for how long.  Seems he may have some attitude problems.

#216 UL-Lafayette - Sam Houston's Bob Marlin takes over the helm for a program that needs an infusion. Gradnigo & Daigle lead the way.

Another rumor is TCU leaving for the Big East, then the MWC would grab another WAC team.  I think the MWC will eventually be filled with mostly old WAC schools while the WAC gets filled up with ex-SLC schools.  I think the Sun Belt needs to do something because football-wise they seem to be stagnant.

Neither rivals or espn is listing any commits for Lamar.  I noticed that most of the FBS schools already have a nice list of commits while the FCS schools have few or none.

These conference moves will continue happen for a while.  Lamar has time to get their ducks in a row before making any moves.

I listened to the 3rd quarter.  I thought Lamar had a chance when they were only down 14-6 but things went downhill fast.  Way too many mistakes were made and it took less than a quarter for the game to get out of hand.

Another early season opponent at the SMU tourney: #220 Portland St - No postseason carrot b/c of APR violations means this is a throwaway season for Tyler Geving's Vikings.

I looked at the roster and they have a ton of freshmen and sophomores on the team.  They'll keep getting better each year, but for them to make the SLC tourney this year they'll need some help.