Return of football at Lamar would be benefit to many: Article from 06/29/07

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By PERRYN KEYS, The Enterprise

06/29/2007

Updated 07/12/2007 11:06:05 PM CDT

Maybe you think it won't matter if Lamar University reinstates its football program. And maybe I've got evidence that says otherwise.

A football team at Lamar can help the university grow. A football team at Lamar can help the community grow.

It has happened before.

Come with me, to the late 1990s and a place called Hammond, La., home of Southeastern Louisiana - now one of Lamar's Southland Conference rivals.

Southeastern had nixed football after the 1985 season, and, after more than a decade without it, the school had all the buzz of a library at midnight. Locals thought so much of their backyard univeristy, they jokingly called it Hammond High.

In 2001, SLU president Sally Clausen kicked off a campaign to raise $5 million toward athletics, with the intent to reinstate football if the school met its goal.

A year later, Clausen's successor, Randy Moffett, proudly announced the school reached its $5 million goal. He green-lighted the hiring of Hal Mumme as SLU's head coach, and the Lions started the process of fielding a football team for the first time in 18 years.

And wouldn't you know it? A funny thing happened in Louisiana's so-called "Florida Parishes," the area between Baton Rouge and the Mississippi border.

Folks there got excited about their backyard univeristy.

In the 2003 fall semester - the same time SLU's football program took the field again - the school hit a record enrollment of 15,662 students.

"Our first and foremost responsibility is to have students come here, get a top-quality education and graduate," Moffett said. "But there is a side of the university outside of the classrooms. That's student organizations, and that includes our athletic programs. ... It (the return of football) has kindled a spirit and an enthusiasm; an engagement that we didn't have before."

The community has grown, too.

According to 2000 U.S. Census figures, the population in Tangipahoa Parish was 100,588. By 2005, according to a Census Bureau estimate, the population had grown to 113,137. It's an increase of 12.5 percent - without the influx of a major business relocating to the area.

A 2004 study by the university concluded football had an $8.3 million economic impact on the area.

"Bringing back football created a significant impact on the hospitality industry, not only in Hammond but in the entire area," Betty Stewart, executive director of the Tangipahoa Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau, said at the time. "Visitors were introduced to our communities for the first time - and based on the positive comments to our hotels and restaurants, they will be back."

If and when Lamar brings back football, that same kind of buzz can happen on campus.

How? Think about how programs recruit.

Nowadays, if Lamar coaches bring in recruits for an official visit in the fall, the only buzz on campus comes from the crickets. Where are the high school kids supposed to go? To the bookstore? To the sandwich shop? To the bars they're not supposed to be in?

If, however, football returns - even with limited success - the pre-game atmosphere, at Cardinal Stadium on a Saturday afternoon, could have a great impact on recruits of every sport.

But it's more than that. Football can help a handful of other programs succeed, too.

Let's say there's a young man who wants to play football and run the 200-meter dash in college.

Without football, Lamar track coach Trey Clark can't offer the young man a scholarship - because he doesn't have any left to offer. With football, that same athlete can get a football scholarship and run for Clark in the spring, and the men's track team could have the star sprinter it desperately needs.

In other words, football can make a difference - to a university and to a community.

It should happen at Lamar. It needs to happen at Lamar.

In several interviews with The Enterprise, Lamar president Jimmy Simmons has openly discussed bringing back football.

You can bet he probably will.

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