re: So how long before La. tech leaves the WAC???

I don't have a problem with Tech or the other regional schools (bottom 1-A's)trying to establish some sort of a "name brand" as long as they are not using taxpayer dollars and student fees to do it. Last time I looked, every one of them were having to rely on such. LSU is the only public self-supporting athletic program in the state. As far as I am concerned, they can cut down on a pile of unnecessary travel costs and related expenses - not to mention visitor guarantees - by forming an all-state 1-AA league. ULM, Tech, and ULL need to go back to
1-AA. I know that it won't happen, but I would rather see cutbacks in that department instead of higher student fees as well as state monies that could be allocated to the academic side of those schools.

A couple of points about ULM, LA Tech and ULL:

These schools cannot use student fees for athletics....against state law. ULM was granted permission to use a couple hundred thousand for their jumbotron. LA Tech's jumbotron was private funds and ULL is lining up bond financing for what will be the biggest and best jumbotron in the state.

Back to "taxpayer dollars":

The most these schools can transfer is 1.5 million from the general fund. ULM has had to receive multiple bailouts for their athletic foundation and department. ULL has not asked the state for a bailout in the 15 years that I have watched and LA Tech has never.

LA Tech's total university revenue stream is nearing 70% from other sources other than "taxpayer dollars". With LSU's blessing, Tech will be able to transfer 4.5 million a year from the general fund to athletics starting in 2016.

ULL will be seeking a similar type arrangement that LA Tech has struck. ULM has no real shot at this.

As a concerned taxpayer, you do not want ULM to fail or move to FCS. The costs to unwind from FBS status is staggering and Title IX will carry expense on that campus for a decade.

They do use student fees for athletics. It's added in addition to full time tuition fees. Second, I am not addressing the big time schools. I am talking about the regional schools in LA. Times are not good and if everyone wants to be in the big time then let them pay their own way. Being FCS is no disgrace and a couple of schools had pretty decent D-1AA programs before they decided to make the leap. A lot of good match-ups died as a result, and there are fewer paying fans as a result of playing schools no one is interested in and in many cases losing to them. As to the gender equity thing, you can scale back, be successful at FCS level, and be legal. A number of schools are finding themselves having to do that anyway. To my knowledge, there are just two footbsll programs ranked in the state this season. LSU in the FBS division, and Louisiana College in Division III. McNeese may be ranked in the FCS but I have not checked lately. With the exception of LSU in this stste, it might be better to be a good smsller program than someone's weekly jailhouse bitch just so you can call yourself a FBS program. I also support more than one football program, but there are realities about the smaller colleges that at some point those who hold the purse strings will have to eventually acknowledge. I am glad you are doing grad achool and wish you the utmost of success. I had a number of fond memories from when I was in grad school a number of years ago.

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ULL is lining up bond financing for what will be the biggest and best jumbotron in the state.

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bigger than LSU's? Won't that look pretty out of place at Cajun Field? That Stadium is small....a giant jumbotron doesnt really make sense.

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Message Posted by nelatf Child please..... No they don't

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When I went there they passes a $20.00 a quarter fee for athletics, however they set it up wrong, so they just collected the money and were not able to spend it. Stupid SGA!

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LSU and Nebraska are the only two schools in the country that has a self-supporting athletic program.

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I get the point you are driving at, but I'd like to dispute this before anyone else starts running with that line.

There are 22 public universities whose athletic departments turn a profit and do not take a dime of government money.

Self-Sustaining Athletic Departments

You know there is medication for those delusions.

To an earlier post, it is called a student activity fee. You don't think they just walk in for free do you? It is assessed up front when paying other fees along with tuition, generally depending upon the number of hours taken. However, a lot of that money comes out of the state coffers.

To another thread, yeah I went to LSU. However, I am aware that a lot of fans did not, and that's ok. They are still supporting our Tigers. The funny thing is how many LSU shirts you see on folks at other schools around the state. Sounds like folks know who's good in football and who is not.

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No doubt LSU is the best football in state, will always be dominant; however, Tech is no slouch (you probably remember the '09 LSU/ Tech game)....Tech is best compared to a SoMiss, a good spoiler team at best....
You ARE WRONG about Tech students wearing LSU shirts. Maybe at other LA universities but Tech students for the most part have a lot of animosity towards the few that do..

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As an avid tiger fan who went to LA Tech, I will say that the issue is that traditionally the problem is that Tech has been lumped in as the same category as the directional schools. But they feel that they are a step above them. That is until this year. ULL is doing very well and tech can't win a close one. But that is what you get with a 17 year old starting qb.
The biggest issue is that in the 90's Tech was on the verge of being a bigger player in college football (the tim Rattay years) Probably not an SEC team but could have been a Louisville. The problem is that Tech was on a shoe string budget, and they relied on play for play games in order to fund the athletic dept. However once Tech started winning a few of those pay for play games no one wanted to schedule them. The lack of money hurt them.
I think West Monroe has a better chance of getting into conference USA than Tech, because North LA supports them. I don't feel like Tech can make it into cusa, but I do feel for the past 25 years the Tech program has been a notch above UL....
edited for flow.

LaTech wants to think it can be the next Boise. Actually it was Boise before Boise, but did nothing with it. In the late 90s, they beat Cal, Bama twice (once when Bama was conference champion) and now have nothing to show for it. The move from the Sunbelt to the WAC was good at the time to get with a better crowd, then Rice, SMU, Tulsa, maybe even TCU then.

While the WAC was too strung out, you could see the former SWC schools eventually moving to Conference USA. Tech couldn't get there on their own, but could possibly walk past the velvet rope with the group. Once the others moved to CUSA without Tech, the gamble failed and they should have gone back to the 'belt.

Their success on the field at the time was akin to an army outrunning its supply lines as it didn't have the money and fan support to sustain it and build on that success.