All systems go for LU football/FRAN SPOTTED ON CAMPUS

[Guest abovetherim]

By Tom Halliburton

The Port Arthur News

BEAUMONT -- Red, White and Hut-One... Hut-Two... B--I--G.. R--E--D, Big Red.

All systems appear on 'go' for a return of Lamar football to conduct an exhibition season in 2009 and a regular Southland Conference season in 2010.

LU-Beaumont president Dr. Jimmy Simmons confirmed Wednesday a job posting for a head football coach was announced earlier this month and re-posted on Wednesday to enhance greater public awareness and cognizance that LU football

definitely looks to have a future after lying dormant for nearly 20 years.

Simmons also verified to The Port Arthur News that Lamar was in the process of consummating an agreement with Leo A. Daly in regard to architectural cost analysis for upgrades and renovations to Cardinal Stadium and other LU football-related facilities.

One of the nation's 10 largest architecture, engineering, planning, and interior design firms in the United States, Leo A. Daly is the parent company for the West Houston office of Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam, Inc. This same national engineering firm was involved in the process to design Houston's Reliant Stadium.

Simmons and LU-Beaumont athletic director Billy Tubbs recently agreed to speed up the coaching search process, rather than wait to begin that matter after the completion of a cost analysis and its approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Rather than intending to have a coach in place no later than August, Lamar officials at this point have changed the target date to May 1, if not sooner.

"We made the decision that we can probably accomplish our goals better if we can put a face to the Lamar football program," Dr. Simmons said Wednesday. "If we find the one we like, we're going to try to get that person on board as

soon as possible.

"There are still some hurdles to clear, but we decided they would be easier to clear if we have a coach on board."

Lamar originally announced that it intended to accept applications for the head coaching position on Mar. 11. The application period ended Mar. 21 and a very limited number of coaches in the Southeast Texas area realized the

University had posted the job. Tubbs informed The News on Wednesday that LU had posted the job once again on Wednesday.

When asked to comment on the likelihood of football's return to Lamar, Simmons summed up his assessment in one word, "great."

"I guarantee you that we could not have a better person with more national contacts than Billy Tubbs to be involved in this process," Simmons said.

According to the posted qualifications for the LU coaching position, a bachelor's degree is required, a master's degree is preferred and college coaching experience is required.

Tubbs stressed, though, that the hiring process did not always go hand and hand with the official job posting. The Lamar athletic director compared the matter of searching for a coach with the recruiting game in college athletics.

"Hiring can be like recruiting," Tubbs said. "You might be recruiting some people for a job like this that don't apply for it. It's a long process. But right now our target date is May 1 (to hire a Lamar head football coach).

"Are we searching? Yes... Could we hire before May 1? Yes."

Any interested applicants should send a letter, resume, and three references to Lamar University; Human Resouces; P.O. Box 11127; Beaumont, TX. 77710.

One of the first men to express interest in the job was former Lamar head coach Larry Kennan, who currently is the executive director of the NFL Coaches Association. Kennan left Lamar after the 1981 season to take an assistant coaching position with the Oakland Raiders and was on the staff of a Super Bowl champion with the Raiders.

Kennan also coached in the NFL at New England, Seattle and Indianapolis and did a second stint with the Raiders in the mids 1990s. He was head coach of the London Monarchs and led them to the first championship of the World League of American Football.Several other big name former coaches have been thrown out in speculation for the Lamar job. Included are former Texas A&M head coaches R.C. Slocum and Dennis Franchione and Larry Coker, who won a national championship at Miami. Les Koenning Jr., Franchione's offensive coordinator at A&M, has told friends in Southeast Texas he's interested.

Another possibility might be former Oklahoma State coach Pat Jones.

One successful area high school coach thought to have some interest is West Brook's Craig Stump. Stump meets the criteria of having college coaching experience. He was an assistant for Jackie Sherrill at Mississippi State.

http://www.panews.com/sports/local_story_086230421.html?start:int=15

[KFDM COOP]

8) Great news!!!!!!!

[BearWolf]

sounds like we will get a great hire

[Guest roberthollister]

Could Franchione, Slocum and Coker really be interested?  I honestly think it's too good to be true.  One of those three would definitely make headlines.

[KFDM COOP]

Stump would be a great hire to!!

[Guest abovetherim]

Coach Stump will get a pay raise to go to Lamar as OC. With the promise like Coach Roc he would have the inside track as the new HC.

Please don't tell me you would hire Coach Stump over the over 4/5 guys? One coach has a freaking National Championship at the DI level and he will be 60 when Lamar plays their first game.

Coach Stump will make about $100,000 as OC at Lamar. I have been informed my $1.5 million yearly budget I posted a few weeks about is more like $2 million.

I know you are just sticking up for a former MSU football coach but with the money donors are giving Lamar they have to make a splash with the HC and he has to be the face of the football team for at least one season as he will have no scholarship players on campus.

[KFDM COOP]

Not saying i would pick him over the others, just saying i think he would do a good job. Hopefully whoever gets it will recruit local as well! There's alot of good players here locally that would love to play at Lamar.

[Guest abovetherim]

The two coaches the new Lamar coach would be smart to talk with are Coach Stump and Coach Neumann. You are correct Coach Stump could recruit the heck out of this area.

Please see the prior post was edited. I wasn't attempting to bash your guy. I think he'll make a GREAT HC at the college level one day.

[Guest Jags]

Recruit local talent please whoever gets it!!

[fullcourtpress45]

This is the last chance for Lamar to get this football thing right and Craig Stump will not be the head coach.

[UNLV]

Larry Kennan and OC Craig Stumps would be beyond super. Kennan seem to have the best football mind

of the mentioned canidates, however he don't have the name recognition that would get the best recruits possible AND

steal the better recruits away from SHSU, SFA, & McNeese.

[TexasTerror]

What's this LU-Beaumont deal? That sounds funny...

I'm really surprised Lamar wants to hop into full-SLC mode in 2010. I said it before, I doubt this will happen, though it does continually get brought up. Seems it makes more sense for Lamar to play in the SLC in year 2 or year 3 while the SLC will help Lamar with scheduling in 2010...

No football program start-up over the last few years has played a full conference schedule their first year. Seems like it would not be beneficial for the program to do that...but Tubbs is the "mastermind" here and I am sure he knows what he's doing, even if there is no precedent...

I'm going to confirm there is no precedent...by finding out what ODU is doing and what a few others have done...

[UNLV]

What's this LU-Beaumont deal? That sounds funny...

I'm really surprised Lamar wants to hop into full-SLC mode in 2010. I said it before, I doubt this will happen, though it does continually get brought up. Seems it makes more sense for Lamar to play in the SLC in year 2 or year 3 while the SLC will help Lamar with scheduling in 2010...

No football program start-up over the last few years has played a full conference schedule their first year. Seems like it would not be beneficial for the program to do that...but Tubbs is the "mastermind" here and I am sure he knows what he's doing, even if there is no precedent...

I'm going to confirm there is no precedent...by finding out what ODU is doing and what a few others have done...

What if Lamar wins the SLC the first year. I could see Terror exploding...lol.

[TexasTerror]

What if Lamar wins the SLC the first year. I could see Terror exploding...lol.

Lamar would not win the SLC their first year...they'd be lucky to get two wins in the conference if they played a full schedule. The week in and week out of the SLC is brutal, I do not think a young team would be able to deal with it on a week to week basis. This is not pee-wee football.

[Ruckdad]

Recruit local talent please whoever gets it!!

I have said it before and will continue to say it - it's not about recruiting local talent, it's about recruiting TALENT period.  I don't care if the roster is made up of 60 scholarship players from Hawaii as long as they win!

[UNLV]

What if Lamar wins the SLC the first year. I could see Terror exploding...lol.

Lamar would not win the SLC their first year...they'd be lucky to get two wins in the conference if they played a full schedule. The week in and week out of the SLC is brutal, I do not think a young team would be able to deal with it on a week to week basis. This is not pee-wee football.

The only thing the SLC is brutal in is being a lower tier conference. Lamar goes .500 or better in the slc the first year. You heard it here first.

[BLUEDOVE3]

Lamar would be lucky to win 2 games the first year. It's a building process with experience, mental maturity, talent, etc. It will be easier to recruit local talent to fit into football than basketball. Basketball takes more development skill and smarts.

Oh yeah, I broke the news about the hiring process before the papers.

[TexasTerror]

Lamar would be lucky to win 2 games the first year. It's a building process with experience, mental maturity, talent, etc. It will be easier to recruit local talent to fit into football than basketball. Basketball takes more development skill and smarts.

Lamar should be able to win a few more than two games if they schedule as they should -- instead of this participating in the SLC schedule garbage. If they really do their part in scheduling properly, you guys could end up with 7-8 home games in season #1, which I think would be great for the buildup of your program...

2 SWAC programs

2 FCS non-scholarship

2-3 SLC squads

3-4 non-Div I

1-2 scholarship FCS (winnable)

[TexasTerror]

On AGS, the sentiment is that Lamar will not be able to compete in the SLC til 2012 after they have played two years of FCS football (seeing that 2009 does not count).

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According to a fan from the NEC, who has seen teams go through the process, "NCAA rule is that their second year they must play at least half of their games vs. Division I - only the first year is an exception to the rule."

Looking at the SLC by-laws, I could not find anything specific regarding the rules for membership/football for pre-existing schools that do not have football already. Again, it would surprise me if SLC football and Lamar were intertwined in year one (2010), though the SLC will do their part to help with scheduling...

Hope Billy Tubbs is making calls and setting up a schedule now as I know quite a few schools, many in the SLC included, already have quite a few of their games in 2010 set (which is another reason I think Lamar will not be able to play a full schedule)...

[Guest abovetherim]

I know I haven't stated Lamar will be playing a full SLC schedule by the year 2010. I can't speak for my brothers here but I haven't heard news to that effect.

[Guest ROCFAN]

Been a while since i've posted but glad to be back. Glad to see things headed in the right direction and can't wait until kickoff!!

[Guest abovetherim]

Great to have you posting again!

[UNLV]

Terror, Lamar will play a full slc schedule the first year. Hopefully SHSU comes to Beaumont first.

[TexasTerror]

Here's the announced games of the ODU schedule thus far...this is a first year program in 2009, doing exhibitions in 2008...

You have seen SLU's first year schedule before.

Old Dominion Schedule

vs Monmouth (not full scholarship, Div I)

vs Presbyterian (new full scholarship Div I)

vs Georgetown (non scholarship Div I)

vs Chowan (sub Div I)

at Jacksonville (non scholarship Div I)

Lamar will not play a full SLC slate in 2010.

UNLV, until it comes out of Tom Burnett's mouth himself, it's not going to happen...it's absolutely bad for the development of your program.

[UNLV]

Here's the announced games of the ODU schedule thus far...this is a first year program in 2009, doing exhibitions in 2008...

You have seen SLU's first year schedule before.

Old Dominion Schedule

vs Monmouth (not full scholarship, Div I)

vs Presbyterian (new full scholarship Div I)

vs Georgetown (non scholarship Div I)

vs Chowan (sub Div I)

at Jacksonville (non scholarship Div I)

Lamar will not play a full SLC slate in 2010.

UNLV, until it comes out of Tom Burnett's mouth himself, it's not going to happen...it's absolutely bad for the development of your program.

When Tubbs speak, SLC obey. Wednesday/Thursday, have you forgot.