coachacola

I find it entertaining to go to the different message boards and see what other fans think of all of this.  On the Sun Belt board they are calling the new WAC the Southland-lite and are laughing.  They look down on any team from the Southland.  UTSA and Texas State think they are better the Lamar even though they haven't accomplished anything in athletics and nobody attends their games.  The other SLC schools think that any school that wants to leave is being a snob. The bottom line is that the SLC gets no respect and is near the bottom as far as conferences go.  There's no money or glory at the FCS level, so even though the WAC seems like a terrible idea, in the long run it may in Lamar's best interest to pursue it.  But if Lamar can't afford to join the WAC then they'll stay in the SLC for a while.

Lamar put itself in a big hole during the '90s when they dropped football, then let enrollment drop then finally dropping out of the Sun Belt and back into the SLC.  Dr. Simmons and Billy Tubbs have fixed 2 of those 3.  The final step out of that hole is to get out of the SLC, and if not the Sun Belt then the WAC.  I have a feeling this meeting is more of a "let's get acquainted" meeting than an actual "let's tie the knot" meeting.  I also think La Tech's future in the WAC will have a big influence on what Lamar does. I don't think we'll see any Sun Belt fooball schools jump over to the WAC.  I think we may see this setup come 2014: Eastern division: La Tech New Mexico State UTSA Texas State Lamar Denver (non-football) Western division: Hawaii SJSU Idaho Utah State Montana Seattle (non-football) This could also be a strong basketball and baseball conference.  Both Utah State and New Mexico State were in the NCAA's last year.  I'd like to see those teams in Montagne Center over the likes of Nicholls State and Central Arkansas. Don't forget, this is all pure speculation and just for entertainment purposes only.

The official numbers are out: [quote]Lamar's headcount is 14,388, up 2.8 percent over last fall's record enrollment of 13,994. Semester credit hours totaled 140,904, an increase of 7.9 percent. [/quote] [quote]Growth of more than 1,100 on-campus students contributed to the record enrollment, Smith said. In recent years, much of Lamar's enrollment growth has been attributable largely to its distance learning programs. [/quote] [Hidden Content]

[quote name="bigred360" post="852924" timestamp="1285090074"] I was a moderator and wasn't in the right frame of mind to do a good job. So, I decided just to be a regular member. Thanks again for the compliments but you are very wise and make excellent post and I can tell you really love the Cards. Go Big Red.  ;) [/quote] Welcome back!

From what I can gather from several message boards Lamar will be talking to the WAC next week along with these schools: UTSA, Texas St., Denver, Seattle and Montana. [Hidden Content] [Hidden Content]

[quote name="NorthoftheBorder" post="852765" timestamp="1285079116"] Why did Georgia State get a vote?  Didn't they lose to a NAIA school 2 weeks ago? [/quote] They almost beat Jax State that's a very good FCS team.  Didn't Jax State beat Ole Miss a few weeks ago?

Lamar does like to do things very low key so it wouldn't surprise me if they did talk to the WAC next week without anyone knowing about it.  I think if Lamar believes they can afford the WAC and that there will be a eastern division with La Tech, Texas State, UTSA and others then they'll probably try to go for it.

[quote]Plus, you fail to mention half the SLC left at the same time. UNT, ULL, ULM, La Tech and Arkansas State. So it was bad football, losing money, poor attendance and bad decision making that killed the program in 1989. Lamar lost 2,000 students the very next semester which lead to less money academically. [/quote] Texantagonise does mention that when he talks about Lamar moving to a basketball conference.  Lamar left the SLC with those other schools to form the American South conference, which didn't sponsor football.  I think he's spot on with this observation: [quote] So the demise of Lamar was from over a decade of BAD football and the university thinking BIG.  They had the BIG DREAM of Lamar being a basketball powerhouse and gave no thought of what it would do to football. [/quote] Also, the local economy collapsed around this time and a lot of people moved out of the area which really hurt the university.  Lamar started having money problems which led to Lamar joining the Texas State University System in the 1990s.  The biggest blunder was leaving the Sun Belt and returning to the SLC.  Lamar should be in the same position as South Alabama (which is a similar sized school in a similar sized metro area) and already be in a FBS conference.  Lamar's peers were smart enough to get out and stay out of the SLC, now another group of SLC schools are doing the same.

[quote name="sleepy" post="848450" timestamp="1284648058"] [quote author=UNLV link=topic=72967.msg848397#msg848397 date=1284633475] [quote author=ispeakjive link=topic=72967.msg848356#msg848356 date=1284607278] That's a fair question, but it is ultimately apples and oranges.  Boise St. is the only big time program in Idaho and in that region.  They get their pick of the players in that region and have been successful enough to recruit outside of that region as well.  I love Lamar, but we would be competing to be the eighth pick of FBS recruits in the state behind UT, A&M, Tech, UH, Baylor, UTEP, and Rice.  And that doesn't even factor in LSU, Oklahoma, North Texas, and the other FBS schools in the state and region.  Lamar can fill a FCS niche here especially if Texas State and UTSA move up and have a very successful program for years to come. [/quote]Exactly like they did when they dropped the football program playing I-AA/FCS. Community support will once again dry up if LU continue to bring in "who are you" schools. That is a fact backed up by Lamars own history. [/quote] Football is a different game today than it was 25 years ago.  There is much more interest now than there was and we also have one man who as long as we satisfy him we are fine.  He does not want to go FBS tomorrow or anytime soon.  He wants to be a force in FCS for a while and see where it takes us.  If Lamar puts a WINNING product on the field that is ALL THAT MATTERS TO THIS COMMUNITY!!! There is one way for us to win now and that is FCS! [/quote] Who is this "one man"?  I've heard both Dr. Simmons and Billy Tubbs talk about going FBS in the future.  Is there someone else in the athletic department that doesn't want Lamar to go FBS?  From the PA News back in Feb 2009: [quote]Shhhh... quiet, please.... Jimmy Simmons is dreaming. The Lamar University president is not trying to toot his own saxophone either. "It probably won't happen under my administration," Dr. Simmons mused on Friday afternoon. "But we will have a beautifully designed football stadium. If you decide to go into the bowl division, our stadium could easily expand to 36,000.... You don't want to leave them short-handed for the future... If you don't dream big, you can't have big dreams happen." That's the kind of dreamer which Lamar's visionary leader really is. The good saxophone player already has dreamed big enough for the LU-Beaumont campus to restore football after a 20-year absence. It took such dreams and determination to shove Lamar football beyond the dream stage.[/quote] [Hidden Content] I still think Lamar is still 4 or 5 years from going FBS, but if an opportunity opens up they have to at least look into it.

Not sure why Lamar is slow in releasing the fall enrollment numbers, but according to the TSUS website Lamar's enrollment is 14,618.  I read somewhere else that semester credit hours are up 30% over last fall which would mean a healthy increase for the athletic department from student fees. Here's the complete list: Lamar University 14,618 Lamar Institute of Technology 3,238 Lamar State College-Orange 2,656 Lamar State College-Port Arthur 2,745 Sul Ross State University 2,124 Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College 1,109 Sam Houston State University 17,214 Texas State University-San Marcos 32,586 [Hidden Content]

From the "In The Cards" blog: [quote]Lamar plays Sept. 25 at Stephen F. Austin. Each ticket is $12. Contact the SFA ticket office by phone at (936) 468-5225.[/quote] [Hidden Content]

I'm from mid-county and went to Lamar in the 80s but live in the Austin area now.  Since I can't make it down very often I'm always checking out the web for any info I can find on Lamar.

The "In the Cards" blog says that their QB will not play against Lamar.

Just because UTSA is in a large metro area doesn't mean the fans will show up.  They don't show up for any of UTSA's basketball games and they like basketball in San Antonio.  It's more of a matter of the WAC needing schools and San Antonio is a nice large TV market for the league.  The WAC would probably try to get a tie-in to the Alamo Bowl. The big drawback to the WAC is travel expenses, but if you have a eastern division like UNLV said, you cut down a lot on travel expenses.  In football, that's maybe two trips out west.  Is that much more expensive than this year with a trip to South Dakota and Georgia?  Lamar already has a football game lined up with Hawaii in 2012!  Same with the other sports, they play most games against teams in the eastern division. I think one thing that gets overlooked is the exposure Lamar will get being in a FBS conference.  Both football and basketball will get more exposure.  The WAC will still have a contract with ESPN (which the SLC does not), so that's more money for the athletic department. Lamar doesn't have to join the WAC right away.  Let UTSA and some other schools join, then wait and see if La Tech stays or leaves.  If the WAC decides to go with an eastern division in a few years and needs another school or two then that's when Lamar makes their move if they believe it's feasible.

Coach Woodard's Facebook page also has tons of photos from the game!

Even more game day photos: Facebook, vol 2: [Hidden Content] Beaumont Enterprise: [Hidden Content] and: [Hidden Content] Lamar Athletics: [Hidden Content]

[quote name="becktobigs" post="846595" timestamp="1284409003"] All the other recent start-ups seem to be playing mostly home games against non-D1 teams their first year. and Georgia State lost to one of them.  Lambuth is an NAIA school making the transition to D2.  Bill Curry (he's 57-96 without the 3 years at Alabama) can really coach but at least I don't have to his constantly negative color commentary. [/quote] Attendance dropped from 30K for their first game to just 12K for this game.  I read that their season ticket sales aren't that great, they had a lot of students and walkups for their first game.

I don't think anyone here is against Texas State going FBS, most probably couldn't care one way or the other.  But Texas State is funding their push with $20/semester hour student fees.  So for them it really doesn't matter too much if nobody goes to their games, the money will keep coming in to support the athletic department.  As far as winning goes, Texas State just hasn't shown they can dominate the SLC.  Moving to the WAC where the long travel times will take a toll on the players will make that much harder to win.  (I think that's a big part of the reason La Tech hasn't been very successful in the WAC.) I'm glad Lamar chose a much lower athletic fee to fund football.  Lamar needs the community to support football, both in ticket sales and donations.  The best way to keep those numbers up is by winning, no matter what level.  Going FBS is all about money.  If Lamar can consistently bring in $4 to $5 million a year from football at the FCS level then moving to a decent FBS conference would be desirable.  I still think Lamar is still at least 4 years away from making that decision. Look at the attendance so far in the Sun Belt: UNT 23,743 (Rice) USA 22,376 (Pikeville College) MTSU 21,357 (Minnesota and Austin Peay) Troy 19,886 (Bowling Green) FIU 19,872 (Rutgers) ULL 15,103 (Arkansas State) McNeese had 19K for their game with us, we had over 16K.  After a few years the excitement of football wears of at either the FBS level and the FCS level.  Lamar must take care of winning first, year after year, and then let the rest take care of itself.

Tons of new photos posted on Lamar's Facebook page. [Hidden Content]

[quote name="TexasTerror" post="845394" timestamp="1284301865"] Liberty beat Ball State... down goes the MAC! [/quote] Last year I watched some MAC games on ESPN and they do have some crappy stadiums in that league.  Sometimes they do have a team or two that cracks the top 25, but it makes me wonder if the MAC (and the Sun Belt too) will ever produce at least one team like the WAC did with Boise State that will make waves in the BCS.

I heard that their starting QB should be back for the Lamar game, but he probably won't be 100%.  It's hard to say how well Lamar will play next week, which should make the whole season that more exciting.  Hopefully the fans will keep coming even if they do suffer a bad loss or two.  I think going 1-3 to start the season is to be expected, and going 2-2 should be cause for celebration.  All the other recent start-ups seem to be playing mostly home games against non-D1 teams their first year.

Future opponent Georgia State lost to a NAIA school today.  Last week they had 30K for the home opener.  This week I read they only had 12K.

South Dakota, a FCS independent, beat Big 10 school Minnesota 41-38 today.  Lamar plays South Dakota later this season in Beaumont.  I like the tough schedule Woodard has put together this year.  Even though Minnesota is exactly a FBS powerhouse, it's still impressive that a FCS school went on the road and beat them at home.

[quote name="puddin tane" post="844655" timestamp="1284233601"] [quote author=NorthoftheBorder link=topic=72367.msg837126#msg837126 date=1283479572] This will get your fired up UNLV!  Just saw on the Texas State Football site where they have announced a 13,500 seat expansion to Bobcat stadium that will start after the 2011 season.  It will bring that stadium capacity to about 28-29k.  Looks like they are getting ready for a move to FBS football.  Lamar needs to be getting their expansion plans "construction ready" in case they need to move quickly. [/quote] what in the worlds does texas st need with more seating?? they could give tickets away for free and still have 75% left [/quote] So they'll look attractive to a FBS conference.  I was lurking on the message board and they are expecting maybe 12K for their home opener today.

Going FBS is more of a long term goal than a short term goal.  A year or two ago Dr. Simmons said it probably wouldn't happen while he was president of LU.  Then just this past year either him or the AD said they were looking to go FBS in 4 or 5 years.  It's all about money so Lamar still needs to be talking to FBS conferences behind the scenes, even if they don't plan on moving up for a while.