coachacola

[quote name="ispeakjive" post="866888" timestamp="1286336326"] Did any of you care about the hotly-contested Troy v. Middle Tennessee State on ESPN showcasing two low-level FBS teams no one really knows or cares about?  My guess is neither did anyone else. I'm sure the Sugar, Rose, Fiesta, Orange, Cotton, etc. Bowl committees were dialed into that game as well.  Lamar should be envious. [/quote] I watched a little of it.  Do you plan on watching any SLC games on ESPN this year...oh wait, ESPN never shows SLC games, or even Montana or Appy State games.  Why worry about being on national TV when the local station will broadcast a few games?

[quote name="Twig" post="865759" timestamp="1286225093"] [quote author=coachacola link=topic=73890.msg865751#msg865751 date=1286224301] [quote author=sleepy link=topic=73890.msg865738#msg865738 date=1286223212] [quote author=coachacola link=topic=73890.msg865720#msg865720 date=1286222069] [b]Coach Woodard may need to make some adjustments to his staff this offseason.  Is there a reason Nathan Reeves is the offensive line coach when he has no experience coaching this position?  There's a lot of HS coaches on the staff, and very few with D1 college coaching experience.  Seems like Todd Dodge at UNT took a lot of heat for bringing in too many HS coaches.[/b] SHSU may be a little younger plus they have a new coaching staff, but I bet they have more overall depth and experience just because they are not starting from scratch like Lamar is.  Next year we'll get a better read on this team after Woodard gets a year D1 coaching behind him and he brings in another round of recruits. [/quote] Tell me your not serious.  What coaches would leave other programs to come to Lamar as a first year program???? Come on!!!! [/quote] So you are saying that no assistant coach from another FCS school would even bother to coach at Lamar?  What if they were offered a pay raise?  If Lamar can only afford to hire HS coaches then maybe we're in for a lot of disappointments. [/quote] Pay raise????  Who are we gonna pay more than??? [/quote] Are you saying that all FCS schools pay their coaches more than Lamar does?

[quote name="sleepy" post="865738" timestamp="1286223212"] [quote author=coachacola link=topic=73890.msg865720#msg865720 date=1286222069] [b]Coach Woodard may need to make some adjustments to his staff this offseason.  Is there a reason Nathan Reeves is the offensive line coach when he has no experience coaching this position?  There's a lot of HS coaches on the staff, and very few with D1 college coaching experience.  Seems like Todd Dodge at UNT took a lot of heat for bringing in too many HS coaches.[/b] SHSU may be a little younger plus they have a new coaching staff, but I bet they have more overall depth and experience just because they are not starting from scratch like Lamar is.  Next year we'll get a better read on this team after Woodard gets a year D1 coaching behind him and he brings in another round of recruits. [/quote] Tell me your not serious.  What coaches would leave other programs to come to Lamar as a first year program???? Come on!!!! [/quote] So you are saying that no assistant coach from another FCS school would even bother to coach at Lamar?  What if they were offered a pay raise?  If Lamar can only afford to hire HS coaches then maybe we're in for a lot of disappointments.

Coach Woodard may need to make some adjustments to his staff this offseason.  Is there a reason Nathan Reeves is the offensive line coach when he has no experience coaching this position?  There's a lot of HS coaches on the staff, and very few with D1 college coaching experience.  Seems like Todd Dodge at UNT took a lot of heat for bringing in too many HS coaches. SHSU may be a little younger plus they have a new coaching staff, but I bet they have more overall depth and experience just because they are not starting from scratch like Lamar is.  Next year we'll get a better read on this team after Woodard gets a year D1 coaching behind him and he brings in another round of recruits.

First I want to say that having the games on KLVI is great.  I was listening to part of the game here in Northeast Austin and for the most part the reception was very clear. Lamar is sitting 2-3 now, after 3 road games and 4 SLC foes, not the best way to pick up wins after 21 years of no football.  Five wins is still possible which would be a great accomplishment for this team.  I don't think these two blowouts mean much since both the coaching staff and the team have so little D1 experience.  We'll see what I kind of players Woodard can recruit after this season is over.

[quote name="TexasTerror" post="864849" timestamp="1286114037"] The top team, by far and away... SHSU SLC Schools 72. Lamar (38 points) 66. Northwestern State (42 points) 61. Stephen F. Austin (45 points) 44. Texas A&M-CC (51 points) 29. Sam Houston State (67 points) [/quote] Which is why the SLC is considered a low-major these days in basketball.

[quote name="the sports guy" post="862418" timestamp="1285943683"] Off topic a little.......but every time I read an article from the Enterprise, I look to the left of the page and see a picture of some thug.  I have to remind myself that the picture isnt the guy they are talking about in the article. :D [/quote] I think the same thing.  :D

I read somewhere there was a hiring freeze so I don't think they could have gone outside Lamar to hire an AD, but I could be wrong on that.  Lamar also is saving some money by having Tidwell as the AD since he's not getting a raise and he's still the basketball coach.  He seems to be a go-getter which is what Lamar needs now.  Isn't that part of the reason he replaced Tubbs as AD?

There's also the fact that schools that participate in the FCS playoffs lose money.  Most FCS schools average less than 10K per game so it's not a money maker.  So for schools like UTSA and Texas State, if they have the money they'll make the jump to FBS.  There's a lot of FCS schools out there talking about going FBS.  I would not be surprised one bit if the NCAA gets rid of the FCS/FBS divisions.  What other D1 sport has divisions like that?

Hawaii is talking about leaving the WAC for the Big West (football goes independent).  There's rumors that TCU is talking to the Big East which means the MWC could take Utah State.  The WAC will eventually become the new "southwest conference" with very few west coast teams.  The SLC is becoming weaker and weaker as a conference and I doubt Simmons and Tidwell will allow Lamar to stick around for that.

[quote name="NorthoftheBorder" post="861512" timestamp="1285862637"] I'm really beginning to wonder if we have fans of other schools masquarading as LU fans, or do we have some people from the 80's who still think we should not have brought football back, or just a few who like to look at the clever posts they make. [/quote] This is part of the "SETX mentality" that UNLV talks about.

Sad news indeed.  He was only 56.

More D2 schools will probably join the SLC which will make some fans here happy.

[quote name="westendfirst" post="861215" timestamp="1285809990"] [quote author=coachacola link=topic=73261.msg861138#msg861138 date=1285806808] Both Rice and North Texas are hardly ever any good but they have no intentions of dropping down.  Texas State and UTSA will soon be competing with North Texas for the worst FBS team in Texas, but both schools see that as a better option than staying in the SLC.  I wouldn't be surprised if both Lamar and SHSU are both FBS schools within 5 years. [/quote] you either have been smoking some funny looking cigarettes or you just need a serious reality check. [/quote] You must think Dr. Simmons and Billy Tubbs have been smoking too since that's their timeline to go FBS, not mine.

Both Rice and North Texas are hardly ever any good but they have no intentions of dropping down.  Texas State and UTSA will soon be competing with North Texas for the worst FBS team in Texas, but both schools see that as a better option than staying in the SLC.  I wouldn't be surprised if both Lamar and SHSU are both FBS schools within 5 years.

[quote name="HoopInsider_Cooper" post="860914" timestamp="1285791054"] [font=Courier]WAC met with the following teams: Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, Seattle University, Montana and the University of Denver. Case closed.[/font] [/quote] For now, but my guess is that by 2015 Lamar will be in a FBS conference.

I bet Lamar has already talked to the WAC but isn't ready to make the jump now.  La Tech's travel budget was around $2.5 million in 2008-2009, compared to Lamar's non-football travel budget of almost $800K.  On top of that, to go FBS then requires 22 more football scholarships, at least doubling Woodard's salary and his assistants, expanding the football stadium, and adding more women's sports. The WAC will not be done expanding this year.  There's always going to be opportunities out there for Lamar.  I just don't buy into the "this our last chance to go FBS forever" argument.  It's going to take a lot of money for Lamar to go FBS and succeed, they can't do it overnight.

I've heard that Bevil is still hurt so he probably won't be near 100% healthy for the SHSU game.  The offense will definitely struggle if he's not at the top of his game.

[quote name="mffl" post="859147" timestamp="1285611515"] Heard from a good source that this isn't true. [/quote] Looks like your source is right: [quote]WAC commissioner Karl Benson and the league's membership committee, comprised of the six athletic directors from the remaining schools, will hear formal presentations from five schools Tuesday in Dallas. Benson said football-playing schools Texas State, UT-San Antonio and Montana along with non-football-playing schools Seattle and Denver will make presentations to the committee.[/quote] Read more: [Hidden Content]

[quote name="UNLV" post="859014" timestamp="1285602283"] We need to stop making excuses for the quit in the coaches and players or else we will see this same giving up attitude in future games. [/quote] What would you do, fire Woodard?  Get over it already.  ::)

Lamar had the guts to schedule FCS teams their first year back instead of just playing a bunch of cupcakes.  Nobody was laughing when Lamar almost beat McNeese and did beat SLU.  This loss will be forgotten about by the end of the season.  People all over the internet were laughing at SFA just a few weeks ago when they were faking injuries against A&M.  Once Lamar beats a few more FCS teams and ends the year with 5 or 6 wins then next year Lamar will be one of the favorites to win the SLC.

Good question.  Somebody should bring this up with the athletic department.

Woodard said in an interview last month that one of the reasons Lamar signed a lot of JUCO players is that fans expect Lamar to win right away.  Reading all these comments confirms that he was right about that.  This is a good thing because it means there's already a lot of passionate Lamar football fans. For some perspective, both ODU and South Alabama started their football programs last year and I don't think either one scheduled a FCS team.  Lamar has already played 3 on the road and now sits 2-2 on the year with 5 home games left.  A 6 win season is still in reach which I think would surpass everyone's expectations. As far as the team goes, the defense isn't very good yet.  They gave up a lot of points against both McNeese and SLU, those teams just don't have the potent offense that SFA does.  McNeese just lost 40-7 at home to Cal Poly so they are not a good team so far this season.  Lamar's offense relies on Bevil, so if he's hurt or has a off night then the offense struggles.  Throw in the fact the team is turnover prone then nights like this was bound to happen.  No big deal. HoopCoop also brings up a good point about having game film on Lamar.  We'll see how well the coaching staff can start making adjustments now that our opponents know that that shutting down the passing game and forcing turnovers is that way to beat Lamar.

Here's the link:  [Hidden Content]

Sun Belt teams have their games shown on ESPN, you won't see any SLC games on ESPN.  The Sun Belt champion plays in the New Orleans Bowl, which gets more viewers and pays out more money than the FCS championship game.  Sun Belt teams get home and home games with CUSA and SEC teams while the SLC gets teams like Arkansas Tech, Cal Poly, Southern Utah, maybe even a SWAC team.  Go look for recruiting and other football info around the web, finding info about the Sun Belt teams is pretty easy, not so easy for SLC schools.  Sure there's a lot of hurdles, risk and negatives to going FBS, but any FBS conference is an upgrade over the SLC.  There's just more prestige and exposure to being in a FBS conference, even if it's the WAC or the Sun Belt.  No D1 schools are lining up to join the SLC, but the WAC faces an uncertain future and there's already a line forming to get in.