Cumbie staying!

Letter from the AD, Cumbie to Return in 2025

Dear Bulldog Nation,


Thank you for your continued support, passion, and loyalty for Bulldog football. Louisiana Tech's storied football legacy is one that has cultivated a passionate fanbase who shows unwavering support.


The end of a season is a time of reflection and assessment. After careful consideration, we are looking forward to Sonny Cumbie's return as our head football coach for the 2025 season. Our Bulldogs made progress during the season, our defense ranks in the top 3 in the conference in every major defensive statistical category and top 15 nationally in total defense, eight games were determined by a single score, and we saw a group of student-athletes who never quit and showed us the meaning of grit, resiliency and perseverance.


In a pre-season interview I shared that the evaluation of our football program goes beyond wins and losses but is a holistic approach grounded in data, fiduciary responsibility, academic progress, and long-term sustainability. With the ever-changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics, it is important that we remain disciplined and focused in our approach.


This approach demands the review of several programmatic operations within. In the coming weeks and months, we will focus on:
· our offensive schematic and tactical approach;
· restructuring football personnel to maximize our ability to develop and grow student-athletes;
· off-season workouts grounded in competition, attention to detail, and discipline;
· reimagining roster management, focused on the ability to recruit and retain top talent; and
· strategic assessment of expenses to invest more in player acquisition and compensation.


This approach will improve on-field results for the 2025 season. I am confident that Sonny will meet these challenges head-on and we will be there to support all changes necessary to achieve the only acceptable on-field result.


As the college athletics enterprise evolves at a rapid pace, we remain committed to embracing innovation and a decision-making strategy that ensures success. The goal for our football program is, and always will be, post-season competitiveness. We will not lower that standard and I promise we will return to that expectation.
As we close this 2024 season and begin to write the 2025 chapter, I am calling upon our Bulldog nation to continue to support this football program however possible. We need every one of our Loyal Blue supporters now more than ever. Together, I am confident that we will begin the next successful run of Bulldog football.
All the best and Go Dogs!

Ryan Ivey
VP/Director of Athletics

Louisiana Tech University

https://latechsports.com/news/2024/12/1/football-letter-from-the-ad-cumbie-to-return-in-2025.aspx

“fiduciary responsibility”

Didn’t have the money to buy him out. Good luck with those season ticket sales. I’m sure they will be way lower.

What a joke.

Fire a guy then spend the next decade clawing our way back to where we started.

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Originally Posted by revf

“fiduciary responsibility”

Didn’t have the money to buy him out. Good luck with those season ticket sales. I’m sure they will be way lower.

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Marginal decline...

Just like this year

We don't sale a whole lot if season tickets in any sport except baseball

On the bright side, if they save the program, what a resume builder for coach and AD. Bringing us back to relevance would be the equal to the Titanic surviving the iceberg, the crew repairing the hull at sea, and them safely arriving at harbor.

Ryan Ivey must have went to the Mickey Loomis School of Management. He basically gave us the we can't afford to get rid of him and the good organizations look beyond the results garbage. We are now below rock bottom

We can't afford to keep him
That was the last chance for any relevance

To be honest with the way they're playing I don't think you could give them away for free

In his defense he hasn’t impregnated a student athlete.

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Originally Posted by RUBLUE

In his defense he hasn’t impregnated a student athlete.

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He tried...but missed! and she was wide open too.

You all knew it was coming…
https://youtu.be/pjv6qdYbs2Q?si=MpqZit_w3zf7MF14

"our defense ranks in the top 3 in the conference in every major defensive statistical category and top 15 nationally in total defense, eight games were determined by a single score, and we saw a group of student-athletes who never quit and showed us the meaning of grit, resiliency and perseverance"

So, fire Cumbie and promote the DC, because Cumbie didn't have a damn thing to do with the defense. When Cumbie was hired we were sold a bill of goods about a powerful offense from this P5 coordinator etc. etc. He has been offensive but not in the right way.

If $1 million is too much to buy out a crap coach then shut it down folks because that's peanuts if we are going to try and stay at this level at a minimum. Any good players or coaches will be here 1-2 years at most and gone in the portal or to a better job. $100 dollars from 10,000 alumni buys him out. Problem is you crapped on the little fans under several previous regimes, depended on a few wealthy alums (many of which sadly are passing away in recent times), and now there are no "average" alums that give a shit, much less $100.

We are the most poorly run athletic business in country.

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Originally Posted by DallasDog

"our defense ranks in the top 3 in the conference in every major defensive statistical category and top 15 nationally in total defense, eight games were determined by a single score, and we saw a group of student-athletes who never quit and showed us the meaning of grit, resiliency and perseverance"

So, fire Cumbie and promote the DC, because Cumbie didn't have a damn thing to do with the defense. When Cumbie was hired we were sold a bill of goods about a powerful offense from this P5 coordinator etc. etc. He has been offensive but not in the right way.

If $1 million is too much to buy out a crap coach then shut it down folks because that's peanuts if we are going to try and stay at this level at a minimum. Any good players or coaches will be here 1-2 years at most and gone in the portal or to a better job. $100 dollars from 10,000 alumni buys him out. Problem is you crapped on the little fans under several previous regimes, depended on a few wealthy alums (many of which sadly are passing away in recCumnie ent times), and now there are no "average" alums that give a shit, much less $100.

We are the most poorly run athletic business in country.

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Alot of "Cumbie must go" which I heard all year. What the hell is a viable alternative. The only one with any legs is making our Defensive coach the head coach or be prepared to pay him to stay. Otherwise he will be gone. What are the alternatives, hire another coach and wait, how long for him to be successful. I hear nothing but, complaints. Someone give a plan that is better than what we are doing for next year. You really want our football to disappear? Give me something better, and why it would work better. Anyone can complain and whine. Suggest alternatives, please.

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Originally Posted by TechFanno1

You really want our football to disappear?

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Football has already disappeared.

I don't want the guy(s) refusing to fire him being the ones who hire the next coach. Our former non-qualified ADs and president have mismanaged the athletic program to death. We did get a lot of "stuff", but the only ones there to see it are the high dollar parking pass peeps. Looks like our most recent hires at President and AD are following right along. How's that working out for you?

Henderson is only in Ruston for the fat paycheck, and he'll stay until he has his 20 years in the system, then either leave for another gig or just retire. Henderson doesn't give a shit about Tech, he cares only for himself. That's his history, his track record. Now, some might say, so? he's just looking out for himself and his family. Yep, true. But please don't place even an ounce of hope in Henderson doing ANYTHING that benefits Tech. He doesn't care.

When the whales won't fund the buy-out is there really another alternative or than keeping him?

Bigger question is if he mordaciously goes 7-5 next year how do you not extend him -

Talk about a corner to further back yourself into

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Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden

Bigger question is if he mordaciously goes 7-5 next year how do you not extend him -

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Give him his 5 years and hope he gets hired away, which is highly unlikely considering 18 wins in 4 years against powder puffs.

Ok Ivey! You explained your reasoning for keeping Cumbie. You have all these ideas that are supposed to improve Tech football! So if after the 2025 season is a turd YOUR HEAD AS WELL AS CUMBIE ARE ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by TechFanno1

Alot of "Cumbie must go" which I heard all year. What the hell is a viable alternative. The only one with any legs is making our Defensive coach the head coach or be prepared to pay him to stay. Otherwise he will be gone. What are the alternatives, hire another coach and wait, how long for him to be successful. I hear nothing but, complaints. Someone give a plan that is better than what we are doing for next year. You really want our football to disappear? Give me something better, and why it would work better. Anyone can complain and whine. Suggest alternatives, please.

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The alternatives about which way to go with possible new coaches has been discussed in other threads over the last couple of years, the keeping Holtz vs. Cumbie, Cumbie vs. someone new etc. Options have been given, including pay etc, buyout etc.. so if you want to go back and find those and read them cool, if not cool as well.

We have waited for Cumbie to be successful and he hasn't and we know what we have with him which is crap. So, I am happy to try and find a better solution and if it takes a bit, then you wait, but the one of the problems is the people that have been making the hires are making crap hires, its possible to have success in 1-2 years if you hire the right person and we know it isn't Cumbie.

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Originally Posted by PawDawg

Football has already disappeared.

I don't want the guy(s) refusing to fire him being the ones who hire the next coach. Our former non-qualified ADs and president have mismanaged the athletic program to death. We did get a lot of "stuff", but the only ones there to see it are the high dollar parking pass peeps. Looks like our most recent hires at President and AD are following right along. How's that working out for you?

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suggest your plan that would be better. I am still waiting. Lay out a plan that will work with our budget.

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Originally Posted by dawg80

Henderson is only in Ruston for the fat paycheck, and he'll stay until he has his 20 years in the system, then either leave for another gig or just retire. Henderson doesn't give a shit about Tech, he cares only for himself. That's his history, his track record. Now, some might say, so? he's just looking out for himself and his family. Yep, true. But please don't place even an ounce of hope in Henderson doing ANYTHING that benefits Tech. He doesn't care.

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The whole situation about how he got the job and we didn't even get to see if there were any candidates out there that would have been a good fit or option. Especially someone from outside this state, just stunk of Louisiana politics and another way to screw everyone but LSU.

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Originally Posted by DallasDog

"our defense ranks in the top 3 in the conference in every major defensive statistical category and top 15 nationally in total defense, eight games were determined by a single score, and we saw a group of student-athletes who never quit and showed us the meaning of grit, resiliency and perseverance"

So, fire Cumbie and promote the DC, because Cumbie didn't have a damn thing to do with the defense. When Cumbie was hired we were sold a bill of goods about a powerful offense from this P5 coordinator etc. etc. He has been offensive but not in the right way.

If $1 million is too much to buy out a crap coach then shut it down folks because that's peanuts if we are going to try and stay at this level at a minimum. Any good players or coaches will be here 1-2 years at most and gone in the portal or to a better job. $100 dollars from 10,000 alumni buys him out. Problem is you crapped on the little fans under several previous regimes, depended on a few wealthy alums (many of which sadly are passing away in recent times), and now there are no "average" alums that give a shit, much less $100.

We are the most poorly run athletic business in country.

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Like most everyone else here I was hoping we would make the change. But I do wonder why people keep saying the buyout would have been $1 million. Would it not have been $2 million? He has two years remaining on his contract.

From what I have found on multiple sites about the contract is the info below in red. The buyout info was not consistent like everything else, so I believe it's in the ranges list below in blue. I think there is no buy of the final year. I am sure there are people around here who have even more concrete numbers.

Cumbie signed a 5-year deal worth 4.85 million

Year 1 - $900,000
Year 2 - $950,000
Year 3 - $1,000,000
Year 4 - $1,000,000
Year 5 - $1,000,000

Assistant Salary Pool:

Year 1 - 1.4 mil
Year 2 - 1.4 mil
Year 3 - 1.5 mil
Year 4 - 1.5 mil
Year 5 - 1.5 mil

Tech's assistant salary pool was 1.258 mil in 2021.

The football staff (consisting of five members including DFO, Video Coordinator, High School Liaison, Sports Performance Coach and Secretary) will be have a pool of $300,000.

Incentives:

Play in C-USA Champ Game - $50,000
Win C-USA Champ Game - $100,000
Participate in Non-NY6 Bowl - $25,000
Participate in NY6 Bowl - $75,000
Win any Bowl Game - $50,000
Defeat P5 Program in Regular Season - $25,000
Win National Championship - $500,000
C-USA Coach of Year - $25,000
National Coach of Year - $100,000
APR Rate Greater than or equal to 960 - $35,000
Cumulative Team GPA over 3.0 - $25,000
9 Regular Season Wins - $25,000
10 Regular Season Wins - $50,000

The buyout totals hit the 4.85 after next season:

2022 - 1.75 mil
2023 - 1.75 mil
2024 - 800Kish
2025 - 600Kish

Now if by some miracle they end up with a winning season next year I am sure we will reward him with an unnecessary and overvalued extension for 2026 and beyond.

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Originally Posted by DallasDog

The whole situation about how he got the job and we didn't even get to see if there were any candidates out there that would have been a good fit or option. Especially someone from outside this state, just stunk of Louisiana politics and another way to screw everyone but LSU.

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I wish we could get out from under the janky ass University of Louisiana System. Have our own board of supervisors. People who love Tech running the show. No more BS hires from the likes of NWST and McNeese.

The only thing that could save the ULS system is shutting down several of the wasteful colleges in Louisiana and making the pie a little larger for remaining school.

When we were shot down for LSUS that proved that no one is allowed to actually better themselves outside the LSU system. That school has been and continues to die on the vine because no one in the LSU system actual cares about. Tech would have been able to steady the ship and the numbers it would have produced would have been a small but positive boon to academics and athletics. In time I think it would have been a real positive. Not allowing any public schools outside of Southern to have a medical or law school also keeps the ULS down. I work for UT Law and I see the direct benefits of those types of graduate schools for campus success.

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Originally Posted by TechFanno1

suggest your plan that would be better. I am still waiting. Lay out a plan that will work with our budget.

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I've done that many times over the years. You always come back with this when you are defeated in one of your lame arguments defending any and every decision Tech makes (or doesn't make).

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Originally Posted by Tech77

Like most everyone else here I was hoping we would make the change. But I do wonder why people keep saying the buyout would have been $1 million. Would it not have been $2 million? He has two years remaining on his contract.

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His buyout now is 75% of his remaining contract - so basically 1.75 million

Assistants are under contract till Feb 2025

Would of cost in the neighborhood of $2 million to pull the string - plus the cost of signing a new HC and staff

One lone whale promised $750,000 and told them to find the rest, no one else stepped up to the plate

They can't pull it out of the operation budget because it aint there

All this money has to come into the Foundation to fund the buy-outs

There was really no other alternative

Same principle applies to Brook and her husband's buyouts

The money and the desire to give the money just isn't there

I like Ivey - to me he is much better than McClelland and Wood any day of the week - there is a transparency in his way of doing business that is fresh

At least Ivey sees the bigger picture which is something I think Guice, Wood, and McClelland could never do.

If you read between the lines of the interview, they are basically paying Crumblie to be a cheerleader for 1 year, and not picking up his contract. I mean the Dude has to hire an offensive play caller and become hands off the QBs (his own coaching position).

He is not getting a renewal even if he wins the national championship. Crumblie is about as neutered as a 1 million dollar head coach can be. They are paying him to do nothing. Which is why if I am Crumblie, I am looking for a coordinator position at a P5 somewhere.

If I had a guess behind the scenes, they are offering Jeremiah Johnson incentives to stay for a year with a promise of the head coaching position.

What is underneath Ivey's words speaks volumes about the state of Louisiana Tech Athletics.

We have been crumbling for years under previous leadership.

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Originally Posted by revf

If you read between the lines of the interview, they are basically paying Crumblie to be a cheerleader for 1 year, and not picking up his contract. I mean the Dude has to hire an offensive play caller and become hands off the QBs (his own coaching position).

He is not getting a renewal even if he wins the national championship. Crumblie is about as neutered as a 1 million dollar head coach can be. They are paying him to do nothing. Which is why if I am Crumblie, I am looking for a coordinator position at a P5 somewhere.

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Don't kid yourself -

If he wins, he will be given a one year renewal - not 6-6 with a bowl but wins 7-6 or better

He will be extended ONE YEAR

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Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden

Don't kid yourself -

If he wins, he will be given a one year renewal - not 6-6 with a bowl but wins 7-6 or better

He will be extended ONE YEAR

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You really think clown car crumblie can make 6-6? :laugh:

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Originally Posted by revf

You really think clown car crumblie can make 6-6? :laugh:

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With our luck he will...

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Originally Posted by revf

You really think clown car crumblie can make 6-6? :laugh:

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He lost 5 games this year by one score, 3 in overtime. CUSA isn't going to get markedly stronger. He just needs the breeze to blow the other direction, and he could be 7-6. Hell, he could have been 10-2 and the two biggies on the schedule this year were about as weak as we will ever get. That's what makes his lack of ability and dumpster fire of a tenure so frustrating to begin with.

To the point of one donor giving 40% of the buyout and not being able to get the rest. It's because they ask the same 10 people every time without any real effort to growing the donor base. Other schools our size manage to engage alumni of every level.... we can't and rarely ever have. This is going back to alumni from the 60's and 70's through my wife and I's time, through my neice who will be graduating soon.

Failure on a systemic decades long level.

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Originally Posted by revf

At least Ivey sees the bigger picture which is something I think Guice, Wood, and McClelland could never do.

If you read between the lines of the interview, they are basically paying Crumblie to be a cheerleader for 1 year, and not picking up his contract. I mean the Dude has to hire an offensive play caller and become hands off the QBs (his own coaching position).

He is not getting a renewal even if he wins the national championship. Crumblie is about as neutered as a 1 million dollar head coach can be. They are paying him to do nothing. Which is why if I am Crumblie, I am looking for a coordinator position at a P5 somewhere. Finally someone is offering what is in play here.

If I had a guess behind the scenes, they are offering Jeremiah Johnson incentives to stay for a year with a promise of the head coaching position.

What is underneath Ivey's words speaks volumes about the state of Louisiana Tech Athletics.

We have been crumbling for years under previous leadership.

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Thank you for a very well thought out explanation and not just throwing up your hands "what shall we do, what shall do" Do we have the same buyout problem with Brooke?

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Originally Posted by TechFanno1

Thank you for a very well thought out explanation and not just throwing up your hands "what shall we do, what shall do" Do we have the same buyout problem with Brooke?

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This is Brooke’s final contract year.

It’s telling that it hasn’t been extended

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Originally Posted by revf

This is Brooke’s final contract year.

It’s telling that it hasn’t been extended

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McLelland extended it through 2027 I believe

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Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden

McLelland extended it through 2027 I believe

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Last I could find was 2025-2026 by Wood…

https://latechsports.com/news/2022/6...-contract.aspx

Time to bring back Christie Sides

Let’s see how well Cumbie does having to rebuild the only good thing we had this season. Defense. Nobody in the country will ever “reload” again. Every year is a rebuild. Even the chiggers lost 15 of their 16 signees from last year to the portal.

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Originally Posted by techman05

Let’s see how well Cumbie does having to rebuild the only good thing we had this season. Defense. Nobody in the country will ever “reload” again. Every year is a rebuild. Even the chiggers lost 15 of their 16 signees from last year to the portal.

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What a mess the NCAA's spinoff of wokeism turned out to be. This is what happens when academia and bureaucrats team up to form a half assed plan.

The most glaring thing to me is the destruction of bowl games that had given to the NCAA for 50 years or more. There were SO many ways to prevent this from happening.

Transfer portal should not open until the final game of the season or after a head coach leaves, whichever is later in that season.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by revf

At least Ivey sees the bigger picture which is something I think Guice, Wood, and McClelland could never do.

If you read between the lines of the interview, they are basically paying Crumblie to be a cheerleader for 1 year, and not picking up his contract. I mean the Dude has to hire an offensive play caller and become hands off the QBs (his own coaching position).

He is not getting a renewal even if he wins the national championship. Crumblie is about as neutered as a 1 million dollar head coach can be. They are paying him to do nothing. Which is why if I am Crumblie, I am looking for a coordinator position at a P5 somewhere.

If I had a guess behind the scenes, they are offering Jeremiah Johnson incentives to stay for a year with a promise of the head coaching position.

What is underneath Ivey's words speaks volumes about the state of Louisiana Tech Athletics.

We have been crumbling for years under previous leadership.

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I would like to believe you, but I don't think a P5 school is going to pay to buy out Cumbie for an OC or some other position before his contract is over. I could be wrong, but I just don't see it. A HC position?, Sure, but not an OC unless he was damn damn good.

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Originally Posted by Bill Brasky

Time to bring back Christie Sides

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That would be crazy, get rid of Brooke and replace her with her former college roommate.