Definitive answer on wbb Revenue Issue -

[glm47]

Okay, I hate it when Tech people get into hot arguments with Tech people, but this is really an important discussion, I think. I am glad to have both sides of this put out there where we can look at it, instead of just accepting what we are told by the Tech administration.

So, somebody tell me, seriously, at Louisiana Tech, given our current administration and their aversion to creative marketing, where do you get the money to pay a top WBB coach in today's market? It appears the bar is set at around $400,000 to $500,000 per year.

Where does this money come from?

From a successful football or mens bb program.

What is ironic about this is Oakes & Reneau go public and create an uproar by stating that womens bb is tech's signature program, that it has a higher budget than the mens and that money will be no object. And then look at what they ended up doing.

I guess they have been in gov't (Reneau) and politics (Oakes) so long they are just used to saying whatever they want at the moment and getting away with it with no accountability.

My real question in all this is did Reneau think he had someone that would back him financially to pay thei big dollars or was he just lying from the start?

[Dwayne From Minden]

As I previously stated 100 times already, women's NCAA basketball is GROWING.

Is it reality?

Or is it just perception -

http://www.ncaa.org/stats/w_basketba...attendance.pdf

Then contrast it with the 2005 WBB Tournament numbers -

Overall attendance of 233,066 with a per session avg of 6,855

That is another decrease in attendance overall by 85,600 people or 732 per session -

And that's with playing in an arena for the Final Four with 10,000+ more seats than the NO Arena where the Final Four was played in 2004 -

These are the NCAA's numbers -

That's a HUGE drop off over a two year period -

[Tech77]

Good question to end the post, GLM. I was very puzzled why Reneau would make that statement. We all knew that in the end we would not spend big bucks, 'cuz we don't have big bucks, and we don't have any strategy for raising big bucks.

From a successful football or mens bb program.

What is ironic about this is Oakes & Reneau go public and create an uproar by stating that womens bb is tech's signature program, that it has a higher budget than the mens and that money will be no object. And then look at what they ended up doing.

I guess they have been in gov't (Reneau) and politics (Oakes) so long they are just used to saying whatever they want at the moment and getting away with it with no accountability.

My real question in all this is did Reneau think he had someone that would back him financially to pay thei big dollars or was he just lying from the start?

[Dirtydawg]

Good question to end the post, GLM. I was very puzzled why Reneau would make that statement. We all knew that in the end we would not spend big bucks, 'cuz we don't have big bucks, and we don't have any strategy for raising big bucks.

Maybe he thought he had the support of the those who were willing to shell out to fire JB3, and they weren't as concerned as he was about this hire.

[altadawg]

From a successful football or mens bb program.

What is ironic about this is Oakes & Reneau go public and create an uproar by stating that womens bb is tech's signature program, that it has a higher budget than the mens and that money will be no object. And then look at what they ended up doing.

I guess they have been in gov't (Reneau) and politics (Oakes) so long they are just used to saying whatever they want at the moment and getting away with it with no accountability.

My real question in all this is did Reneau think he had someone that would back him financially to pay thei big dollars or was he just lying from the start?

IMO, Never truer words have been spoken.

[1L_dawg]

As I previously stated 100 times already, women's NCAA basketball is GROWING. Even though the men's game has had a 50-year head start, the women drew over 28K to their NCAA final on Tuesday night.

The women's NCAA tournament will eventually draw big bucks from a TV network just like the men do. And that will draw tons of CORPORATE advertisers. Consequently, it's better for LA Tech to be an early adopter in the women's game rather than miss the ride altogether.

Think people! The LA Tech men aren't going to a FINAL FOUR in your lifetime.

HD

You just keep telling yourself that...I myself "will call a spade a spade."

We have hung our hat on WBB for many years now. Look at where it has gotten our athletic program. I am not blaming the Techsters, but a WBB program cannot carry an AD. MBB or FB can. If you want to bank the future on WBB, please say one time with me..."FINANCIAL SUICIDE."

You also mentioned that our MBB team will never make it to a final four in our lifetime...you might be right, but we don't need to make it to the final four to make it a solid financial decision to invest in MBB. Just making it to the BIG DANCE is more profitable than the Techsters going to the Final Four. I don't have the exact figures (maybe Dwayne can chime in here), but I am confident in making that assertion.

In terms of return on investment, there is nothing better than a MBB team that can earn NCAA BB "credits." We have been there in the past (1980's) and can realistically do it again with the help of the AD. Meanwhile, you can wait on the exponential growth of WBB.

1LD