Cumbie still employed?

Thought I saw a post saying they are waiting out his buyout 1 more year. He's pretty bad there.

Didn't they scapegoat an assistant?

Look forward to placing more moneyline bets against La Tech on Tuesday nights

It would be funny if Holtz took the ULM job

Fired the DC, yes. They preached 2 years ago, Cumbie was off the air raid tree. I haven't seen it.

Yea he's regressed.

I agree. Skip wasn’t the answer, but it was the answer Tech could afford. Cumbie is either incompetent, a fraud, or he doesn’t have the ponies in the stable to bring the air raid to Ruston.

So many people at Ruston require one individual (no names) to pay for everything. In turn, when someone like that pays, they own you. Nothing against that fellow at all, but the powers that be that keep him as their greatest financier is the root of the problem.

Tech’s biggest problem - the same it has had for 100 years- no one in Ruston thinks outside the box. They borrow ideas from everywhere. Ruston kinda wants to be Shreveport but with more of a West Monroe vibe. They kinda want to be one of those towns just North of Jackson but with with a more Louisiana vibe. They can’t overlook Arkansas, so they have to sprinkle some Arkansas hootenany in there too. Hell they still see themselves as rivals of Jonesboro for crying out loud.

Then there’s Tech sitting in the middle of it all. Nice school, but is it a small-time suitcase college or is it a up and coming big time university? Depends on who’s in charge and how much money is flowing through the coffers. Let’s face it - Tech is a fine engineering school and I presume some of their graduates have done as good, if not better, than the un-named Ruston financier. Where’s their money? Who’s hunting those whales?

But what’s even more disconcerting is that I fear no one at Tech even has the vision of taking Tech to another level. If you talk to die hards, they’ll tell you it’s LSU bias in the State and they won’t let them be a big dog. I call bullshite on that- the State would benefit from another big time university once they saw a clear economic path there.

And up and until this point I’m just talking about Tech/Ruston from the general fund / curricula standpoint. I’ve not even touched on athletics.

Their athletic department is even moreso hamstrung because of that Tech / Ruston mentality to begin with. Small potato ideas begat small potatoes. Big ideas yield bigger potatoes. The entirety of their failures stem from the lack of vision and leadership inside their own athletic department coupled with a small potato / general administration.

Without money - and we’re talking a lot of money, there’s no way in hell Tech sniffs a bowl game let alone a winning season. Ever. Recruits see/hear know this. They travel they see stuff. They feel and smell small potatoes there and they don’t see any NIL money coming in their pocket unless they agree to share some with certain un-named individuals.
They ain’t coming without money, and they ain’t getting any more money.

Tech died the day they joined ConfUSA. Nobody goes to a college football game on Tuesday or Wednesday let alone Friday! Tuesdays are for Jr High, Wednesdays they are at Temple Baptist. Fridays they are at Ruston High. Those will always take priority over a losing college football product. And the students won’t get off their couch to watch a loser of a game.

Tech has one solution. Find more cash whales. Get casino money in there, get Karl Malone, get rich ambitious engineers or their companies. Get an Elon Musk type of money person.

Or close it all down. It’s dead already.

Yes Cumbie needs to go. But who else are you going to get with small potato money?

Well, Tech has done what smaller schools have to do--get that big name coach early in their career before they bolt to a bigger conference. Dooley and Dykes did really good things at Tech. But you have to capitalize on the momentum immediately. One bad hire cycle ruins the momentum.

Cumbie inherited a mediocre program from a momentum standpoint. But if in year three he just treads water, I say it's a no-go.

The long term fix is as you say: pump money into the brand, i.e. football and general fscilities. We have done a lot of that--new athletic complex at the stadium, south end zone jumbotron coming, softball and baseball upgrades and oitright new fields, soccer field, campus apartment and rec field upgrades, more parking lots. We have facilities. Tech hasn't invested only in academics. Give Guice credit--campus looks modern, especially for athletics all around.

But then, where are the big name engineers? Maybe that's how we got the campus upgrades? Have they been investing? I don't know. But we do have facilities now. Now go get the man! Air raid, baby! We may lose, but put up points doing it! Make it exciting. Make us dangerous. And get into the Big XII! That gets real tv slots and opens us up to money and exposure.

I think we have a base from a facilities standpoint. Now we need the alumni to put up the $ for the coach. Why can't we be a yearly perennial like BYU, Tulane, etc.?

Flyingtiger82, you nailed it. There is not much I can add to what you posted. Very good & true post.