State of the Program

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChangeMaker

The Bulldog Report

Early 2000 was a great time for Louisiana Tech football. We were coming off an 8-3 season, where we defeated SEC champion Alabama. We had been accepted into the Western Athletic Conference and the future was bright. Unfortunately, we became complacent. In the world of college athletics, if you’re not moving forward aggressively, you’re falling behind.

The next season would prove to be very poor. Our Athletic Director set up the first of many irresponsible schedules. We played eight road games and only four home games; two of which were against teams from Division IAA (this type of schedule would not be permitted under current NCAA rules for Division IA programs). The only wins we got in 2000 were against Mississippi Valley State, ULL, and ULM. We lost to Stephen F. Austin at Homecoming.

In 2001, we won the WAC. On the basis of that WAC championship, Jim Oakes decided to sign Coach Bicknell to a three-year contract extension. This decision would prove to be a poor one.

The Bulldogs had a very bad year in 2002. Jim Oakes once again set up an irresponsible schedule, forcing us to play Clemson, Texas A&M, and Penn State, all on the road within a four week period. Coach Bicknell failed to prepare his team for conference games. The team was unable to rebound from the difficult schedule. Tech then lost in back-to-back weeks to SMU and Rice, who were a combined 0-11 at the time. We finished the season 4-8.

In 2003, the team showed promise with a win over Michigan State (the last BCS team that Tech has beaten). Then, the proverbial wheels fell off. For Homecoming, we were down by three with 1:22 remaining. Jack Bicknell again showed that he does not have the fortitude to be a Division I head coach. Ryan Moats had rushed for 267 yards that day, but instead of letting our best player try to get the first down, Bicknell allowed our kicker to attempt a 53 yard field goal in terrible conditions. Needless to say, we lost the game. Two weeks later, in a game that Tech fans had been anticipating for quite some time, Bicknell laid down against LSU. Run plays and screen passes were the only plays we ran because he was trying to be conservative and run time off the clock. The last two games of the season, Bicknell’s team quit on him. We lost 48-18 at Tulsa and came home to be humiliated by Rice 49-14. Rice ran for a school record of 672 yards. Numbers like that are a direct result of poor coaching and preparation. Bicknell had lost total control of his team. Jim Oakes again took the easy way out, saying he could not afford financially to terminate Jack Bicknell.

In 2004, Jim Oakes continued his lazy scheduling. He agreed to play at Tennessee for a big paycheck, ruining any chance of our having a winning season. We played at Miami, Auburn, and Tennessee within four weeks of each other and finished the season with three losses in our last five games. We finished 6-6 that year and because Jim Oakes signed the Tennessee deal instead of playing a smaller school, Miami (Ohio) played in the Independence Bowl.

Last year appeared to be 2001 all over again. We had seven wins, but four were against teams that had competed in the Sunbelt Conference the year before. Once again Jim Oakes gave Jack Bicknell an extension because it was the easy thing to do.

This 2006 season started out just like 2004. For our 13th game, Jim Oakes took a money game against Nebraska instead of providing a game against a team that we could realistically be expected to compete with. Once again were beaten badly by four good teams. Once again Jack Bicknell failed to motivate his team and we lost to Idaho at Homecoming. We committed eight turnovers. Six were directly attributed to the quarterback, but Bicknell refused to go to the bench. Coaching like this is not only unfair to the fans, it’s unfair to the struggling player. When we were down by 10 with 3:50 left on the clock, we punted. That one decision again showed that Jack Bicknell is a quitter.

It is past time for a change. Jim Oakes continues to make reckless decisions. He forces our football team to play numerous road games in order to make enough revenue to make his budget. He refuses to put the work in to earn the budget money we need. Instead, he prefers to sell the football team to the highest bidder. Baylor just announced that Tech has backed out of a series that was to start in 2007. Instead of playing a beatable team that was willing to return the game, we now must play a team that will pay us a little more money. That is money that could easily be made up by selling tickets to fans that want to see a winning team. As long as Jim Oakes is in charge, we will never have consistent success.

Jim Oakes would rather make excuses than move our athletic program forward. He continually fails to schedule for success. Our facilities have only been improved by the private donations of fans that can’t stand to see things as bad as they are. Jim Oakes has never fired a coach for poor performance. He allowed Kim Mulkey-Robertson to leave and he failed to bring in Tech graduate Mike McConathy after he led Northwestern State to a win in the NCAA tournament. He promoted Jack Bicknell from offensive line coach to head coach, a very rare move, but of course we could not afford an experienced coach. Keith Richard and Chris Long were both promoted from assistant coach to head coach because that is the easiest thing for Jim Oakes to do. We have one of the two smallest budgets in the WAC. Mr. Oakes would rather blame the school’s administration for his lack of budget than actually do anything to increase it. He has allowed several key employees to leave just this year because of his micro-management and inter-office politics. Mr. Oakes does not care to improve our athletic program, only to maintain it. He routinely refuses outside help and will not accept that corporate partners are the key to success.

Jack Bicknell is also a wealth of excuses. He would rather tell you how good the other team is and lay down for them than to actually try to beat them. His continued conservative style has taken us from a tough team to a beaten team. Three players have already quit the team this year. Jack continuously blames the schedule and, while the schedule is unreasonable, it is no excuse for failing to prepare our teams. Another hallmark of the Bicknell era is a lack of player development. It could be intelligently argued that Luke McCown got worse in his four years at Tech. Zac Champion was highly touted out of high school and has been in the system for four years. Despite that, he was directly responsible for six turnovers against a substandard Idaho defense.

Jack Bicknell and Jim Oakes are both bad for Louisiana Tech. Together they are a potent poison that will take this program to depths it has never seen. Every year we hear the same excuses, make the same mistakes, and the fan base experiences the same disappointment. How bad must this situation get before we see a change?

Recently the WAC came out with a strategic plan to improve its member institutions. If this administration is serious about meeting these standards, they must make changes. They must bring in the right person to lead us to success. If we do not, Louisiana Tech will be back in the Sunbelt Conference very soon. The current athletic administration is not capable of meeting these demands. In 2005, they came out with The Game Plan, which was a set of goals made in order to appease fans who had been questioning the direction of the current leadership. More than a year later, no effort has been made to achieve these goals, in part because the plan didn’t specifically detail how the goals would be reached. The only goals that have been met were because of one generous donor, not because of any plan being implemented.

We need to go out and search for the most qualified person we can find to be our AD, someone that understands the importance of growing and marketing the program, someone that has a burning hunger for success, and who will not allow himself to accept that things are not as good as they can possibly be. We need someone who will bring the same attitude to the entire athletic department that Wade Simoneaux has brought to baseball – a desire to be all we can be.

Louisiana Tech must get with the program. If we are to remain in the WAC or ever get into Conference USA, we must increase our budget. We must schedule opponents with whom our teams can compete. There are plenty of ways to increase the budget that our AD has yet to even attempt because they take away some of his control that he demands.

1. Develop corporate sponsorships. We need major corporations putting their names on our facilities. That will enable us to get new revenues to upgrade our facilities and fund our programs.
2. Sell advertising on a Jumbo-Tron-type video board. This is another revenue stream that we do not currently have.
3. Charge for parking. People will pay for it; they pay to park anywhere else they go.
4. Take over concessions and take back the Team Shop. When you let other people sell concessions and merchandise, you are letting them have the profits.
5. Win games to sell more tickets. Winning brings people, which brings money, which pays for teams to come to Ruston. You have to start the cycle somewhere. Schedule better and it will pay for itself.
6. Advertise on TV as well as billboards, radio, and newspapers. Advertise aggressively, not randomly. Keep Louisiana Tech’s name in front of everyone.
7. Advertise in Ruston, Monroe, and Shreveport aggressively. Also advertise in Central Louisiana and Southern Arkansas. Ruston is not big enough to support our teams by itself; we need to be a regional power, not just a local state university.
8. Set goals to encourage more CHAMPS memberships. Do not simply ask for money to meet the budget. Formulate CHAMPS groups in cities with high numbers of alumni. At the very least have groups in Ruston, Monroe, Shreveport, Homer-Minden, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Dallas, Houston, Little Rock, El Dorado, and Alexandria. Also consider groups in Tyler, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Vicksburg, Natchez-Ferriday, Memphis, and Jackson.
9. Ask the fans for help instead of shutting them out because they criticize. There are hundreds of fans that would love to help complete tasks for the athletic department. Unfortunately, they are too often turned away because they do not agree with everything the AD does.
10. Get the Coaches out to promote their teams. Have them do coaches shows on TV and radio. Put incentives in their contracts in order to drive them toward success. Most schools have incentives in their coach’s contracts.

As you can tell, we do not have the appropriate level of corporate sponsorships. The football stadium at Troy University is Movie Gallery Stadium. Troy University is in the Sun Belt Conference, yet they have a larger budget than Louisiana Tech. Our AD tells people that we will be the next team in Conference USA. We have heard that twice before and twice we have been passed over for another school that is rapidly improving like Troy is now. The only improvements made to our facilities under Jim Oakes have all been funded by private donors who were generous enough to do it themselves when the AD failed. This includes the new turf and the upgraded lights at the football stadium, the columns at the football and baseball stadiums, the new seats at the baseball stadium, and the backstop and nets at the softball field. We still have condemned bleachers at the track and we have to play our home tennis matches at Ruston High because we will not fix our courts. Jim Oakes was not going to let the tennis team travel to a conference match in 2004 because he did not want to spend the money. Unhappy fans decided to pay for the trip. Jim Oakes also hired a basketball coach to coach tennis in 2005 because he could do it on a part time basis. Only high schools do things like this, not Division I universities! We do not have a Jumbo-Tron. We do not charge for parking. We sub out concessions. We do not win enough games. We do not advertise enough at all, not even close.

How can we be more successful?
1. Play more home games. Never play a road game with no return. Only play teams that will come to Shreveport or, even better, Ruston. The Baylor deal would have been perfect. The home team wins more often than the road team. In basketball, play a SWAC school such as Jackson State, Southern, or UAPB in Ruston for every BCS team that you play on the road. We can no longer make one-for-one deals with these schools. If we want to be a mid-major team, we need to act like it. Pay them whatever it takes.

2. Quit relying on junior college players. They come in with bad habits and take just as long as high school kids to get adjusted. They create high turnover on the rosters. Only sign the very best junior college athletes and limit them to 20% of your signing class.

3. Sign local kids. They will take more pride in their program and they will generate more fan interest.

4. Pay coaches more. We can not promote assistant coaches, pay them cheaply and expect them to succeed. We can not hire NFL Europe coaches, graduate assistants, or near retirement assistants, pay them very little, and expect them to do a great job. Our assistant coaching turnover is too high. Idaho and New Mexico State realize this and they are well on their way to passing us on the WAC ladder.

5. In football, the NCAA now allows Division IA teams to play one team from Division IAA every year with no penalty. Instead of playing Nicholls St., Mississippi Valley State, or other schools that our fans are not interested in, play Southern and Northwestern State. Those two teams will travel very well to Ruston and our fans will come out to see those games. Play them alternating years and play Southern on a week when Grambling is on the road, their fans will come watch too. Pay them whatever it takes. Spend money to make money.

6. In basketball, develop series contracts with Northwestern State, ULM, UALR, UNO, and Centenary. We need road games for which we can take a bus instead of flying. It saves money, and our teams will be less road-weary. When those teams come to Ruston, our fans will be more likely to come see them play, since they have actually heard of them.

7. Incentive-based contracts:

A. One dollar for every "single" game ticket sold after accounting for season tickets and not including student tickets.
B. Ten dollars for every season ticket sold after the first 10,000.
C. Cash bonus for bowl appearance.
D. Cash bonus for reaching an academic goal (graduation rate increase).
E. Cash bonus for being ranked in top 25 at end of season.
F. Cash bonus for BCS game appearance (over and above the regular bowl game bonus).

There is also the additional income all coaches receive from their weekly shows, camps, equipment contracts, etc.

Jim Oakes and Jack Bicknell must be terminated at the same time. Our offense is not even a shell of what it was eight years ago. We desperately need new blood on our offensive staff. Conroy Hines should be promoted to Assistant AD for football and also taken off the staff. Moving Conroy Hines does two things; it allows another coach to become the offensive coordinator and it also allows Conroy to keep doing the great job he does with off-the-field issues on the team. Let Coach Jackson and Coach Perot have the team for the rest of the year. They have enough pride in Louisiana Tech, that they would give 100% effort in trying to salvage the season. At the very least, they would not punt when they are down by 10 with less than 4:00 to go. They would TRY to win games.

At the end of the season, we should conduct a REAL nationwide search for the next head coach for our football team. I have full confidence that a good AD would hire the right coach for us and he would not hire the cheapest candidate or the most convenient candidate. It would do no good whatsoever to allow Jim Oakes to remain in place. If Jack Bicknell is fired and Jim Oakes is allowed to hire the next football coach, then we will be in the same situation. Mr. Oakes will not hire the right man; only the most convenient. If Jack Bicknell is fired in order to take the fall for a bad season, and Jim Oakes promotes Conroy Hines to be our head coach, we will continue our downward spiral. We must replace them both, and we must do it as soon as possible.

Dr. Reneau has stated that Athletics is the window through which the world sees a university. We are in desperate need of gallons of Windex and a lot of elbow grease. It is very important that we do everything we can to continue to improve in everything we do. If we fail, we will lose all progress that we have made for the last 18 years. We cannot let the same excuses hold us back. The pride in our school that we had seven years ago is still there but it is fading. Please give us a reason to have hope, please do the right thing. Our fans, our student athletes, and our supporters deserve better. We are better. We are not Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, or Louisiana-Ruston. We are LOUISIANA TECH!

Athletic Budgets:

Louisiana Tech $11,009,487

WAC schools:

Boise State $16,693,080

Fresno State $26,691,142

Hawaii $19,878.946

Idaho $11,864,247

Nevada $18,677,243

New Mexico State $12,856,716

San Jose $13,157,436

Utah State $10,965,546

Conference USA:

Alabama-Birmingham $18,784,112

Central Florida $22,089,418

East Carolina $21,128,219

Houston $22,648,933

Memphis $24,289,381

Marshall $16,323,459

Southern Mississippi $18,246,484

UTEP $21,325,408

Tech's Comparative 7 (schools that are in mid-major conferences in rural areas):

Athletic Budgets:

Louisiana Tech $11,009,487

Southern Miss $18,246,484

Marshall $16,323,459

East Carolina $21,128,219

Wyoming $21,445,005

Miami, OH $20,558,287

Ball State $15,146,885

Troy $11,975,714

Football Attendance:

Louisiana Tech

1998 16,748
1999 25,408
2000 16,636
2001 20,433
2002 18,477
2003 20,778
2004 17,548
2005 16,416

2005 Attendance of other schools:

Fresno 39,307
Hawaii 32,735
Boise 30,112
Nevada 15,076
UTEP 47,899
ECU 33,046
Memphis 39,991
UCF 28,462
USM 27,862
Marshall 26,510
UAB 20,101
Houston 15,054

WAC Coaches Salaries:

Dick Tomey, SJSU - $142,386
Dennis Erickson, IU - $172,412
Jack Bicknell, LT - $200,000
Brent Guy, USU - $222,525
Hal Mumme, NMSU - $261,876
Chris Ault, UN - $284,680
June Jones, UH - $378,936
Chris Petersen, BSU - $479,100
Pat Hill, FSU - $617,034

Louisiana Tech:

SOFTBALL:

2003 16-42 overall, 6-14 in conference
2004 27-33 overall, 10-11 in conference
2005 18-47 overall, 4-17 in conference
2006 18-31 overall, 5-11 in conference

VOLLEYBALL:

2001 8-20 overall, 0-13 in conference
2002 19-16 overall, 4-9 in conference
2003 16-15 overall, 4-9 in conference
2004 6-21 overall, 1-12 in conference
2005 15-18 overall, 2-14 in conference
2006 currently 6-17 overall, 0-6 in conference

TENNIS:

2003 5-10 overall, swept 4 times
2004 9-11 overall, swept 2 times
2005 8-11 overall, swept once
2006 4-14 overall, swept 12 times*

* Played our NCAA Division I matches at the local high school

In 2002 or 2003 the decision was made to add women's bowling to our NCAA Division I and WAC program. This decision means we compete against the following institutions:

Mississippi Valley State
Jackson State
Alabama State
Grambling State
Prairie View A&M
Texas Southern
Southern University

Other statistics:

Baseball:
NCAA appearances 1994 – 2006: 0

Softball:
NCAA appearances 1994 – 2006: once, in 1995

Men's Basketball:
NCAA appearances 1982 – 1993: 6
NCAA appearances 1994 – 2006: 0*
Announced Attendance 1982 - 1993 (pre current administration) avg. 3307
Announced Attendance 1994 - 2006 (post current administration) avg. 1995

*Louisiana Tech’s Men’s Basketball team has never reached the finals of the WAC tournament. 2006 was the first year to ever make the semi-finals. 2006 was also the first year that a player was drafted into the NBA since P.J. Brown was drafted 14 years earlier.

Football:
In 2006 eight Division IA football programs had the choice of playing 13 games. Here is how they break down:

Four decided to play just 12-
San Jose State 12 games 7 at home
UNLV 12 games 6 at home
Nevada Reno 12 games 6 at home
Idaho 12 games 5 at home

Four decided to play the 13-
Hawaii 13 games 8 at home
Purdue 13 games 7 at home
Oklahoma State 13 games 7 at home
LA Tech 13 games 5 at home

“On Oct. 4, 1989, the Spirit of 1988, a bronze Bulldog statue guarding the south entrance to Aillet Stadium, was unveiled to commemorate head coach Joe Raymond Peace’s Tech team of 1988, which endured the brutal schedule in order to meet Division IA scheduling requirements.”
-Louisiana Tech 2006 Football Media Guide.

The Spirit of 1988 is meant to commemorate the team that had to play at Mississippi State, at Texas A&M, and at Florida State. Here we are almost twenty years later and we are playing at Nebraska, at Texas A&M, and at Clemson.

It is finally time to retire this thread. Please unsticky.

JAY