Perspective

[DallasDog]

Feel free to continue to B!tch about anything and everything, but no power house or even continuously successful program is built over night. We have a history of derailing ourselves. Perspective is important though.

Back to back bowl bids for only our second time since Indy Bowls in 77 and 78. 1-1 in those bowls.

currently tied for the most wins in any back to back seasons since moving back up in '88. Holtz has (17 wins), with the possibility of one more to set the record at 18. Dykes '11 and '12 teams (17-8). If we win the bowl this year, Holtz will be (18-9).

Dykes 1 bowl game (we all know about the bowl problem that keep this from being two) was a loss to a good TCU.

Holtz with a win will have back to back bowl wins as well.

While yesterday was a swift kick to the balls for all of us die-hard fans, we are still trending in a more positive direction than at anytime in the last 25 years and currently have our most proactive president and at least an AD that while the jury is still out seems to have made solid hires in basketball (early i know), and possibly baseball.

If you guys still want to jump from the ledge, PM me first so I can give you my information, feel free to leave me anything of value in your will.

[johnnylightnin]

Great post.

[Dawg85]

The most disappointing aspect of yesterday was not the loss itself, but the manner in which we got our butt kicked. It was a strange sight to see. No one seemed mentally ready to play or had their hearts in it.
And we had so much at stake. I agree we are trending in the right direction but every year we seem to piss away good opportunities.

[KSDAWG]

Good stuff DD

[DogsWin]

Here's some perspective for you. In all of those years playing those excellent Boise State teams, they never beat us in our house like USM beat us yesterday.

2003 H BSU, 43-37 lost by 6
2005 H BSU, 30-13 lost by 17
2007 H BSU, 45-31 lost by 14
2009 H BSU, 45-35 lost by 10
2015 H USM, 58-24 lost by 34

[Blue Dawg]

The most disappointing aspect of yesterday was not the loss itself, but the manner in which we got our butt kicked. It was a strange sight to see. No one seemed mentally ready to play or had their hearts in it.
And we had so much at stake. I agree we are trending in the right direction but every year we seem to piss away good opportunities.

I can handle losing, I can give due deserved credit to a good, focused USM team, but I can't handle a team giving up the way we gave up the last two weeks.

We piss away every chance we have to get better. I don't understand how the storm of circumstances is relentless every year regardless of sport, coach, president, whatever.

[PawDawg]

Something has happened to this team since the beginning of the season. What we saw yesterday and at UTEP did not resemble a "team" at all. "Team" in includes the coaches. They were not coaching yesterday. He can blame lack of execution all he wants, but piss poor special teams, not enough men on the field, and lack of hustle is on the coaches.

Somebody asked me this morning if HCSH gets a bonus for timouts not called. If so, he is KILLING it with bonuses.

[nadB]

What he's really killing is our fan base. We only have five home games per year, and lots of folks aren't gonna pay good money to watch that kind of crap.
.

[maverick]

Something has happened to this team since the beginning of the season. What we saw yesterday and at UTEP did not resemble a "team" at all. "Team" in includes the coaches. They were not coaching yesterday. He can blame lack of execution all he wants, but piss poor special teams, not enough men on the field, and lack of hustle is on the coaches.

Somebody asked me this morning if HCSH gets a bonus for timouts not called. If so, he is KILLING it with bonuses.

Funny, my husband and I laughed about this all last year. Dude loves to hold on to his timeouts!

[baw011]

Ive been pulling this info together this afternoon and this seems like good thread to share.

In an effort to gather my personal thoughts on the current state of Louisiana Tech football, I compiled some stats and educated assumptions on where we have been, where we are, and where we could be.

Tech's overall record in the last 8 seasons (2008-2015) is 55-45, .55 W-L% that includes a bowl record of 2-1. Our average SOS during this period was 95.

However, Louisiana Tech football has 9 Wins - 17 Losses (.346) in "big" games since 2008 that had the potential to advance the program.

These only include games Tech had a chance to win and had something on the line e.i. conference championship, bowl game, big home crowd, P5 opponent, TV game, ranked opponent, in-state opponent, etc. This list does NOT include power5 games we were not competitive in, games against average conference foes, or "not interesting" non-conference opponents.

In (my opinion) to the W-L over this span, there are many positive and negative milestones for La Tech football listed below. +11 program advancing milestones and -8 setbacks.

2015
8-4 SOS 113 Home 20,977
L Southern Miss 58-24 (CUSA west)
L Mississippi State 45-20 (SEC)
L Kansas State 39-33 (Big12)
+1 $20 million DAC opens
-1 blown out at home
+1 win 8 games & bowl berth


2014
9-5 SOS 75 Home 20,054
Budget $19.2
W Illinois 35-18 (HOD bowl)
L Marshall 26-23 (CUSA champ)
W Rice 76-31 (conference)
L Northwestern 30-27 (in-state)
W ULL 48-20 (in-state)
-1 lose to in-state fcs team
+1 win 9 games & CUSA west
+1 bowl win

2013
4-8 SOS 125 Home 18,666
Budget $18.5
L Army 35-16 (DFW crowd)
L Tulane 24-15 (in-state)
-1 losing season / lose momentum
+1 Dr. Guice & joining CUSA

2012
9-3 SOS 102 Home 25,841*
Budget $18.7
L Utah State 48-41 (chance for BCS)
L Texas A&M 59-57 (tv game)
W Virginia 44-38 (ACC)
W Illinois 52-24 (Big10)
W Houston 56-49 (regional peer)
+1 mid season top 25
+1 win 9 games
-1 lose head coach
-1 missed bowl berth

2011
8-5 SOS 86 Home 21,518
Budget $17.1
L TCU 31-24 (poinsettia bowl)
W Mississippi 27-7 (SEC)
L Mississippi State 26-20 (int in ez)
L Houston 35-34 (blew big lead)
+1 bowl berth
+1 WAC championship

2010
5-7 SOS 69 Home 19,485
Budget $16.5
L Nevada 35-17 (chance to bowl)
L Navy 37-23 (big home crowd)
-1 lose head coach
-1 back to back losing seasons

2009
4-8 SOS 78 Home 20,000
Budget $16.0
L LSU 24-16 (lead halftime)
L Boise State 45-35 (ranked)
+1 video board installed
-1 losing season

2008
8-5 SOS 113 Home 18,020
Budget $14.6
W Mississippi State 22-17 (SEC)
L Nevada 35-31 (home finally)
W Northern Illinois 17-10 (I Bowl)
+1 bowl win w/ good attendance



+66.1% NCAA average revenue 08-14
+76.0% Tech revenue 08-14

$62.0 NCAA average revenue 2014
$19.2 Tech revenue 2014



My priority list moving forward (all of these affect the others):

1) winning .500 "games of interest" (anything short doesn't grow the program). Scheduling and winning home games that our casual fans find interesting is the fastest way to build our fan base.

2) continue to increase the budget to the CUSA median of $27.8 (coaches salaries, support staff, administration, marketing, recruiting, etc)

3) major targeted campaign to increase alumni and regional support, attendance, and season tickets sales. An attendance target of the American Athletic Conference average of 29k should be our goal. This needs to include better in-game cheering, chants, defensive noise, etc.). Also, we need to continue expansion into larger regional markets (Dallas, Shreveport, Monroe, and Alexandria). Last, the culture of laissez faire alumni athletic support must change. Proving La Tech can compete consistently at the top level of college football falls on either fans or the team.

4) improve facilities and game day amenities (athletic facilities, revenue generating club seats, better tailgate environment, better concessions, in stadium retail store, etc). A "big time atmosphere" has a trickle down affect on new fans, recruits, media, etc.

5) grow enrollment to the current target of 15-18k students. The current administration is well on their way to achieving this over the next 5-6 years. Increasing Tech's national profile and attracting top students from around our region will hep reinforce game day attendance and future alumni support. Ruston's population and level of support also needs to increase.

[LATECH87]

Thanks for the info and personal insight! We have made many steps in the right directions. I think I speak for many of us, its the way we loss the games year in and year out that is so frustrating. After that its the fair weather support from many alumni and locals. It's not easy being a TECH FAN but I am damn proud to be a LOUISIANA TECH ALUM! FOREVER LOYAL

[Blue Dawg]

This is excellent work. I was thinking about something similar in the shower (as all great thoughts are born). We have a net of +3 over 8 years according to your metrics. Now the question is, is this a good growth rate? What should we expect to see per year?

[PawDawg]

My priority list moving forward (all of these affect the others):

1) winning .500 "games of interest" (anything short doesn't grow the program). Scheduling and winning home games that our casual fans find interesting is the fastest way to build our fan base.

2) continue to increase the budget to the CUSA median of $27.8 (coaches salaries, support staff, administration, marketing, recruiting, etc)

3) major targeted campaign to increase alumni and regional support, attendance, and season tickets sales. An attendance target of the American Athletic Conference average of 29k should be our goal. This needs to include better in-game cheering, chants, defensive noise, etc.). Also, we need to continue expansion into larger regional markets (Dallas, Shreveport, Monroe, and Alexandria). Last, the culture of laissez faire alumni athletic support must change. Proving La Tech can compete consistently at the top level of college football falls on either fans or the team.

4) improve facilities and game day amenities (athletic facilities, revenue generating club seats, better tailgate environment, better concessions, in stadium retail store, etc). A "big time atmosphere" has a trickle down affect on new fans, recruits, media, etc.

5) grow enrollment to the current target of 15-18k students. The current administration is well on their way to achieving this over the next 5-6 years. Increasing Tech's national profile and attracting top students from around our region will hep reinforce game day attendance and future alumni support. Ruston's population and level of support also needs to increase.

Wow! This is great stuff! Thanks for all your work in putting this together. I only quoted the 5 priorities because they are what we control and all of them are realistic. Please send this to Dr. Guice and our AD.

[latechbulldawgfanatic]

Funny, my husband and I laughed about this all last year. Dude loves to hold on to his timeouts!

Yeah, he dang sure should have called a timeout on the phantom catch so they could review it before the next play right before half. I was furious. Then that led to points for them.

[Cal&Ken]

Yeah, he dang sure should have called a timeout on the phantom catch so they could review it before the next play right before half. I was furious. Then that led to points for them.

We were screaming for a timeout there-that was so frustrating!