Is Lamar Ready to Revive Football?

[TexasTerror]

This article confirms everything we have known about the issues that face Lamar from reviving football for the first time since the late 80s. The fan base at Lamar legitimately feels as if they can move the program to FBS pretty quickly after bringing back football per the NCAA rules related to such...
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Is Lamar University ready to revive football program?
By: PERRYN KEYS, The Enterprise
11/21/2007
Updated 11/21/2007 12:11:08 AM CST
BEAUMONT - Students at Lamar University could vote as soon as January to approve a fee that would help reinstate the school's football program, President Jimmy Simmons said this week.

In separate interviews Monday and Tuesday, Simmons made it clear the return of football still has quite a few hurdles. To help cover the costs of renovating facilities and funding the athletics department, the university would need:

# Private donations;

# Students to pass the referendum, allowing the university to charge an athletic fee; and

# Approval from the Texas State University System Board of Regents.

If that happens, football might return to the school for the first time since 1989.

http://beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19044610&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6

[TexasTerror]

Rush Wood: Collective effort needed to bring LU football back

http://beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19044605&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=583964&rfi=6

[TexasTerror]

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- at this current point in time, I do not believe that Lamar will be able to play in the next ten years at the FBS level (formerly I-A), atleast in the current structure of NCAA Division I football.

I really am interested to see if the Lamar fan base is willing to support an FCS program as it seems that many of the fans that I have corresponded, as small as that base is percentage-wise to the much larger base, like to badmouth the subdivision and think it as lower than them.

Perhaps once we figure out what the NCAA is doing when the moratorium comes to an end, my thoughts on the current structure of NCAA Division I football will change, but under the current system, Lamar in FBS -- just does not seem realistic over the next decade.

[McNeese_beat]

I'll repeat what I said too: It would be bad for the competitive level of the SLC. We're in an area over-saturated with college recruiters. SLC teams bump into Conference USA teams and second-tier major conference programs from the Big 12, the Big 10, etc., in their area already, recruiting kids at their level. I'm not talking about the 5-star recruits that are picking between Texas and A&M either.

I know McNeese signed a DB last year that got late offers from TCU and Rice. McNeese's tailback, Kris Bush, went to Michigan State out of John Curtis High and McNeese, which had recruited him, brought him back when he wanted to transfer. Forte, the star running back for Tulane, picked Tulane over McNeese (Forte's brother had played at McNeese). Those are three examples.

I know Sam Houston is placing more emphasis on West Texas in recruiting because of the pure number of recruiters you run into in Southeast Texas/ Houston. If you find a guy worth recruiting in the Triangle or Houston, you better be ready for a room full of competing coaches from all over the country.

The whole point is that it's tough enough to recruit without adding 63 more scholarships dead center in the over-recruited area. ...

I wouldn't mind TAMU-CC adding football nearly as much. I don't think any Division I programs have the Rio Grande Valley as a prime recruiting area. TAMU-CC could come into the league, own that area in recruiting, and add a niche to the league. Lamar would just make the league cannibalize itself. In my opinion, that has already happened to some extent with SLU adding football.

It's good for high school football players who want to have an opportunity to play Division I football and it's good for a league that wants a large, stable, lineup of teams. It's bad for that league's competitiveness.

[TexasTerror]

I want nine SLC teams -- four home, four away games guaranteed yearly. It'd help some of the scheduling woes of the SLC...

I am against UTSA and Lamar getting to play SLC football if they come to FCS and announce a date to move to FBS. Why have a team for two, three years before they take off? Not interested in such a move...

[MplsBison]

I want nine SLC teams -- four home, four away games guaranteed yearly. It'd help some of the scheduling woes of the SLC...


If you had 10 teams you could guarantee 4 home/4 away without stranding a conference team each week without a conference game.

[FCS Preview]

If you had 10 teams you could guarantee 4 home/4 away without stranding a conference team each week without a conference game.
You could also end up like the CAA - teams tied for first place who didn't face each other in the regular season.

[Lionsrking]

I'll repeat what I said too: It would be bad for the competitive level of the SLC. We're in an area over-saturated with college recruiters. SLC teams bump into Conference USA teams and second-tier major conference programs from the Big 12, the Big 10, etc., in their area already, recruiting kids at their level. I'm not talking about the 5-star recruits that are picking between Texas and A&M either.

I know McNeese signed a DB last year that got late offers from TCU and Rice. McNeese's tailback, Kris Bush, went to Michigan State out of John Curtis High and McNeese, which had recruited him, brought him back when he wanted to transfer. Forte, the star running back for Tulane, picked Tulane over McNeese (Forte's brother had played at McNeese). Those are three examples.

I know Sam Houston is placing more emphasis on West Texas in recruiting because of the pure number of recruiters you run into in Southeast Texas/ Houston. If you find a guy worth recruiting in the Triangle or Houston, you better be ready for a room full of competing coaches from all over the country.

The whole point is that it's tough enough to recruit without adding 63 more scholarships dead center in the over-recruited area. ...

I wouldn't mind TAMU-CC adding football nearly as much. I don't think any Division I programs have the Rio Grande Valley as a prime recruiting area. TAMU-CC could come into the league, own that area in recruiting, and add a niche to the league. Lamar would just make the league cannibalize itself. In my opinion, that has already happened to some extent with SLU adding football.

It's good for high school football players who want to have an opportunity to play Division I football and it's good for a league that wants a large, stable, lineup of teams. It's bad for that league's competitiveness.

Personally, I'm all for Lamar reinstating football and competing in the Southland Conference. We have a helluva time finding drivable FCS games and adding them would be a perfect fit. I understand what you're saying about the recruiting aspect, especially from a McNeese perspective, but I don't think they'll have much impact at all on us.

[MplsBison]

You could also end up like the CAA - teams tied for first place who didn't face each other in the regular season.

And that hurt the CAA this year?

[BearsCountry]

If you had 10 teams you could guarantee 4 home/4 away without stranding a conference team each week without a conference game.

What is wrong with a bye week during the season?

[MplsBison]

Right now, nothing.

When we go to a 12 game schedule, it won't work.

[McNeese_beat]

Personally, I'm all for Lamar reinstating football and competing in the Southland Conference. We have a helluva time finding drivable FCS games and adding them would be a perfect fit. I understand what you're saying about the recruiting aspect, especially from a McNeese perspective, but I don't think they'll have much impact at all on us.

Y'all are pretty unique in the league in that you can and do recruit southwestern Mississippi. Nicholls does a little, but I think you guys can probably build a pretty good team out of Northshore, Baton Rouge and Mississippi kids from Hattiesburg to the state line and down to Gulfport and Bay St. Louis. That area can be to you what SE Texas is to McNeese...

But what if a I-AA program started in McComb? That would cut your ___ off because you'd now be running into new competition not only in Kiln and Moss Point, but also in Bogalusa and Kentwood...

[TexasTerror]

If you had 10 teams you could guarantee 4 home/4 away without stranding a conference team each week without a conference game.

Do not want to be like the CAA with the tiebreaker issue and surely do not want to be like the SWAC with a mandate...

I think nine teams is as ideal as it gets. With the SWAC having more OOC games, having a team that 'sits out of OOC play' each week would not necessarily be a bad thing.

Only having three OOC games would be great for a conference that continues to have problems with scheduling, that we schedule ourselves out of the playoffs...

[TexasTerror]

Another article...

Resolution backs LU football
By: PERRYN KEYS, The Enterprise
11/22/2007
Updated 11/22/2007 12:09:10 AM CST

BEAUMONT - If donors step up to help fund the return of football at Lamar, university officials will ask its student body to vote yes or no in a referendum, possibly as early as January.

The outcome of that vote is somewhere in the future. But at least part of the student body has already gone on record in support of bringing back a program that's been missing from Cardinal Stadium since 1989.

On Nov. 13, the university's Student Government Association passed a resolution stating its support for Lamar to reinstate the sport.

"I believe it was just the right time for us to do something like that," said Obi Arisukwu, president of the SGA. "You can see how our school has expanded in the last couple years - we've got new dorms, a new dining hall, the new communications building and the new rec center. ... With the way our school is going, it felt like the right time to capitalize. To hold off any longer wouldn't have been right."

http://beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19048850&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6

[McNeese_beat]

Do not want to be like the CAA with the tiebreaker issue and surely do not want to be like the SWAC with a mandate...

I think nine teams is as ideal as it gets. With the SWAC having more OOC games, having a team that 'sits out of OOC play' each week would not necessarily be a bad thing.

Only having three OOC games would be great for a conference that continues to have problems with scheduling, that we schedule ourselves out of the playoffs...

I think some of the poor scheduling is by choice. If you played 8 conference games, some SLC teams might still play two money games because they are lucrative and available. Having the SWAC back off the nine-game mandate helps get FCS games. And having the Great West needing so many games help, but those games are costly because they aren't great draws at home and they are expensive airpline rides on the road.

Some of the lower-budget teams will still get two money games, a D-II, then eight conference games. In a 12-game season, they might try to get an FCS in there.

[TexasTerror]

A blog on the subject...

Lamar Football? It could be a TD ... or a big fumble

A football bounces in funny ways. You never know where it's gonna go.

It's been almost 20 years since Lamar University fielded a football team. Toward the end of LU's football program, the team was so bad it had become a money-loser. Losing money on college football in Texas is a really, really hard thing to do, but Lamar succeeded. The Cardinals' 33-77-1 record during the 1980s racked up $4.5 million in losses ... over a half million in 1989 alone, just before the team was disbanded. At that moment, football was hurting -- not helping -- education at Lamar.

But now Lamar President Jimmy Simmons is floating a trial blimp for a new football program. He wants students to vote on whether they'd pay up to $8.75 per credit hour -- over $105 a semester for a typical full-time student -- to help fund a football team. Football, Simmons says, will attract 2,000 more paying customers ... er, students to Lamar.

http://setxbayou.blogspot.com/2007/11/lamar-football.html

[TexasTerror]

I think some of the poor scheduling is by choice. If you played 8 conference games, some SLC teams might still play two money games because they are lucrative and available. Having the SWAC back off the nine-game mandate helps get FCS games. And having the Great West needing so many games help, but those games are costly because they aren't great draws at home and they are expensive airpline rides on the road.

Still, that'd be eight Div I games against FCS competition, which is better than some schools have done...

Some schools (i.e Nicholls St) played four OOC games this year against sub-Div I and FBS competition. They practically eliminated themselves from a playoff bid barring a win over an FBS (which they accomplished) and a 6-1 SLC slate, which is going to be tough.

If SHSU had eight SLC games, my hopes would be we'd see one regional FBS game and an FCS home and an FCS away. We'd probably see an FBS, an FCS (rotating home and away) and a sub-Div I squad. That's still 10 games against Div I competition compared to the nine we had this year (eight if you throw out the FBS game, which was tough to win)...

The more FCS games, the merrier!

[McNeese_beat]

Still, that'd be eight Div I games against FCS competition, which is better than some schools have done...

Some schools (i.e Nicholls St) played four OOC games this year against sub-Div I and FBS competition. They practically eliminated themselves from a playoff bid barring a win over an FBS (which they accomplished) and a 6-1 SLC slate, which is going to be tough.

If SHSU had eight SLC games, my hopes would be we'd see one regional FBS game and an FCS home and an FCS away. We'd probably see an FBS, an FCS (rotating home and away) and a sub-Div I squad. That's still 10 games against Div I competition compared to the nine we had this year (eight if you throw out the FBS game, which was tough to win)...

The more FCS games, the merrier!

This is why the FCS tends to thrive more in the east. There are natural non-conference rivalries that don't require thousands of dollars in charter plane and hotel costs per game.

Over in this part of the country, the natural non-conference rivals of the FCS teams all think they are big-time and move to the bowl subdivision...

What if the old SLC was still together and the Gulf Star grew as a group? The SLC would be an elite league (like it has been) and in time, the Gulf Star would have started to flourish, in my opinion. Plus, you would have the same kind of natural scheduling that the Southern, Colonial, Patriots, MEACs and Ivys enjoy.

But alas, the old SLC thought they needed to be in I-A and they cut everone's xxx-s off in the process...

[MplsBison]

Do not want to be like the CAA with the tiebreaker issue



Yep, the CAA really got burned hard this year on that issue...

[McNeese_beat]

Yep, the CAA really got burned hard this year on that issue...

What helps the CAA more than the number of conference games it plays is what's available to play in non-conference play. Between MEACs, NECs, and PLs you have a lot of Division I teams in the region that are willing to play you and you are likely to have a high winning percentage against them.

In the midwest, you have a couple of Pioneer League teams and that's it. Down here, there's the SWAC, but they've had a 9-game mandate.

[TexasTerror]

The Lamar fans thoughts on McNeese/FCS in a post on their board about the "blowout loss to EWU"...


That's another argument for Lamar not staying FCS and in the SLC. McNeese was undefeated and highly ranked for a FCS team and outside Lake Charles, nobody really cares.

Lamar needs to worry about being able to get to the level of McNeese before they talk trash about McNeese/FCS...

[GeauxColonels]

I agree that I wouldn't like to see Lamar added to the SLC football league - especially if they start-up the program with intentions on moving to FBS in the very near future. I would much rather a team like Delta State to move up into the league. This gets the league into Mississippi, gives Central Arkansas a somewhat closer opponent and spreads out the league members a little more.

I agree that you're really running into problems with 8 teams all recruiting the same player. Nicholls State has been fortunate to get numerous Southern Mississippi transfers and other JUCO players.

[TexasTerror]

GeauxColonels...

I think you see Tarleton State, who has made their mission of going to Div I, very clear...as the next team that enters the Southland Conference...

They'd make a lot of sense based on location and such...and don't fear, I'm a big proponent of Delta State as well... ;)

[Lionsrking]

GeauxColonels...

I think you see Tarleton State, who has made their mission of going to Div I, very clear...as the next team that enters the Southland Conference...

They'd make a lot of sense based on location and such...and don't fear, I'm a big proponent of Delta State as well... ;)

I know a lot of people at Delta State and I think they're content staying right where they are. Personally, I think they're a great candidate for the SLC, and would field competitive teams in most sports, but I think they would rather be a big fish in a smaller pond, rather than become a Jacksonville State.

[slycat]

what about West Texas A&M or Abilene Christian? i know the wta&m people talk about moving up to FCS like our fans talk about moving to FBS.

[TexasTerror]

Football, it's nearing in Beaumont...

Engineers Examine Cardinal Stadium While LU Studies Possible Return of Football Program
Jennifer Heathcock
November 28, 2007 - 7:16PM

An employee of an engineering firm, with blueprints in hand, checked out Cardinal Stadium Wednesday morning to look at what it would take to get the stadium ready for the return of football for the first time since 1989.

Regents with the Texas State University System got the ball rolling last week when they voted to set aside $12 million for Cardinal Stadium renovations.

Administrators say it would also take private donations, likely in the millions, although they won't be specific; student approval of an athletic fee of up to $8.75 per semester hour; and approval from the Texas State University System board of regents.

Administrators say it's possible students will get to vote in January and regents perhaps a month after that.

http://www.kfdm.com/news/football_23681___article.html/students_return.html

[TexasTerror]

Football fee plan adjusted to benefit students
12/4/2007

If Lamar University students approve a referendum in January to start a football program at Lamar University, and the Texas State University System Board of Regents approves the measure in February, it will start the clock running toward the first conference games in Fall 2010.

These actions would immediately create the need for money to hire a coach, to begin renovations and construction on a football complex and to support other activities related to bringing the sport to Lamar. To secure the funds, the university would issue revenue bonds against the anticipated revenue generated by the student fee.

Originally, the university administration had planned to begin charging the student fee in Fall 2008, collecting the fees during the two years before the beginning of conference play in order to have funds available for construction. The revised plan is to defer the student fee until Fall 2009. The university will meet the needs during the first year from other revenue sources.

http://lamar.edu/newsevents/news/207_5895.htm

[TexasTerror]

Could Lamar play conference football in 2010?

I'd assume that Lamar would not play conference games in their first season of competitive football. If they were to play SLC football, I am sure schools from the conference would agree to play them (if they could -- similar to how SELA and UCA got a few SLC schools when it was announced they'd come into the SLC).

SELA did not play a full SLC slate til year three. UCA, you can not compare due to a move up from Div II. SELA started football (again) from scratch...

[TexasTerror]

Another article...

Lamar University lays out football game plan
By: PERRYN KEYS, The Enterprise
12/05/2007
Updated 12/04/2007 11:45:47 PM CST

BEAUMONT - Although students at Lamar University still are likely to vote in January whether to approve a fee that could help reinstate football, the fee probably would not kick in until 2009, school officials said Tuesday.

But make no mistake, President Jimmy Simmons said: The university still plans to bring back football - and it still needs help from the student body and from donors to do so.

Simmons said Lamar hopes to keep its proposed timeline, which includes massive renovations to facilities and putting a team on the field for 2010.

For that to happen, the school needs a simple-majority vote from students in the January referendum. In addition, Lamar needs private donations - probably in the millions - and permission from its governing system, the Texas State University Board of Regents.

http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19084754&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6

[TexasTerror]

From a Lamar fan...

"I heard LU's private donations for football has already topped +$11 million."

Lamar's fan base on the 'Net, as small as it may be, tends to be reliable. Not necessarily this poster, as much as the others, but the fans are relatively well connected to the athletic department. We shall see...

[Fresno St. Alum]

TT, looks like Lamar is gonna get FB done soon. How can they go FBS though. There would have to be a split or a whole new conference to let Ga. Southern, Jax St., Texas St., UMass, Lamar, & UTSA in.

You could put UMass FB only MAC
Jax St. & Ga Southern FB only in the Belt? would the SoCon & OVC allow that?
Texas St., Lamar, UTSA left out

[TexasTerror]

Huge article today from Beaumont Enterprise that lays out the facts, updates on the press box fix-up and more...

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19119330&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=583964&rfi=6

We'll have an article on Monday regarding other SLC schools who are looking into football...

[813Jag]

Huge article today from Beaumont Enterprise that lays out the facts, updates on the press box fix-up and more...

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19119330&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=583964&rfi=6

We'll have an article on Monday regarding other SLC schools who are looking into football...
Have they made any improvements to their stadium? I haven't been there since '98.

[TexasTerror]

Have they made any improvements to their stadium? I haven't been there since '98.

FEMA is helping pay for some of them due to Hurricane Rita and they want to do more...which they would do, if they got football. Their women's soccer team plays there and they do want to make it more attractive for HS football -- additional revenue.

[Freightliner]

Higgins Fieldhouse has NO coaches offices located inside....the coaches offices were located inside the Montange Center (LU Basketball)

The fieldhouse consists of 2 locker rooms, a weight room, a training room, meeting room, and small coaches locker room.


Nothing has been done to Cardinal Stadium/Higgins Fieldhouse (other than some AC units on top of Higgins) since the program folded in 89.

[TexasTerror]

What is staying behind closed doors is the possibility that Lamar announces a move to FBS from the get-go. I doubt they would do that, but if Lamar did do that, most fans would hope that the SLC would not let Lamar into the conference for football.
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Southland Conference could accept new Lamar team
By PERRYN KEYS, The Enterprise
12/17/2007

If Lamar University re-instates football, the Southland Conference will probably give it a home.

SLC commissioner Tom Burnett said last week he's had preliminary discussions with Lamar officials about joining the Southland Conference as a football member.

"We haven't tackled everything from A to Z, obviously," Burnett said. "But yes, we have talked to them a little bit about possibilities."


http://beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19120944&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=583964&rfi=6

[McTailGator]

Personally, I'm all for Lamar reinstating football and competing in the Southland Conference. We have a helluva time finding drivable FCS games and adding them would be a perfect fit. I understand what you're saying about the recruiting aspect, especially from a McNeese perspective, but I don't think they'll have much impact at all on us.


I for one do not think that it will effect McNeese either.

We kicked Lamar's ass recruiting when they had football in the 70's and 80's, and we kicked their asses on the field too. Nothing will change. They will never be able to compete with our tradition, and our facilties after our renovations are complete in 09.

The Golden Triangle has a lot of players, and while we do get a few from there, a bunch also go to other places too. The main problem that they along with us have to deal with is the fact that MANY of the players that come out of there, have problems making the grades to be able to play in college.

Must be the water over their, but they really have a hard time getting students college ready over there. That's why we only get more players from there than we do now. It's worse than New Orleans players. It's not a lack of tallent, it's a lack of Brain Power.

[McTailGator]

Higgins Fieldhouse has NO coaches offices located inside....the coaches offices were located inside the Montange Center (LU Basketball)

The fieldhouse consists of 2 locker rooms, a weight room, a training room, meeting room, and small coaches locker room.


Nothing has been done to Cardinal Stadium/Higgins Fieldhouse (other than some AC units on top of Higgins) since the program folded in 89.


I heard they were going to build a new wieght room and a new home dressing room and club house onto the Montange center in the north EX of Cardinal Stadium, and basically leave the old field house as a visitors dressing room.

They have ALOT of work to do to their Press Box however. It's about to fall off the side of their grand stands.

[McTailGator]

The Lamar fans thoughts on McNeese/FCS in a post on their board about the "blowout loss to EWU"...



Lamar needs to worry about being able to get to the level of McNeese before they talk trash about McNeese/FCS...



I know Lamar's president personally.

He's a McNeese Alumn. If they think HE will support an FBS team, they may as well give up now. HE is the reason they left the SunBelch and returned to the SLC. HE is committed to being a LONG TERM member of the SLC.

If they don't like that, they best just give up their effort now, because they are FCS bound for as long as McNeese is a member of the FCS.

[Freightliner]

and we kicked their asses on the field too. Nothing will change.

I guess you forgot about this....It's Lamar's last game before dropping the program in 89 - a game I will remember for a LONG time.
*can still hear McNeese DB coach Ricky Matt screaming NO!!!! NOOOO!!! on the game film* (not in this video however)

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/lamar-vs-mcneese-1989/648123348

[Freightliner]

I heard they were going to build a new wieght room and a new home dressing room and club house onto the Montange center in the north EX of Cardinal Stadium, and basically leave the old field house as a visitors dressing room.

They have ALOT of work to do to their Press Box however. It's about to fall off the side of their grand stands.

Not a lot of space there...The Montange Center butts up right against Cardinal Stadium...

I'd just say tear Higgins down and start over....

As for the press box - heck...it was about to fall off the side of the grandstands back in 89!!

[McNeese_beat]

I for one do not think that it will effect McNeese either.

We kicked Lamar's ass recruiting when they had football in the 70's and 80's, and we kicked their asses on the field too. Nothing will change. They will never be able to compete with our tradition, and our facilties after our renovations are complete in 09.

The Golden Triangle has a lot of players, and while we do get a few from there, a bunch also go to other places too. The main problem that they along with us have to deal with is the fact that MANY of the players that come out of there, have problems making the grades to be able to play in college.

Must be the water over their, but they really have a hard time getting students college ready over there. That's why we only get more players from there than we do now. It's worse than New Orleans players. It's not a lack of tallent, it's a lack of Brain Power.

I completely disagree. McNeese did fine when both Lamar and SLU had football teams BEFORE prop 48 came into effect and cut down the talent pool by a bunch in Louisiana. As I've expressed before, the prop 48 effect was more than offset by the loss of LU's and SLU's programs as far as McNeese was concerned. It's no coincidence that McNeese had it's 2-9s shortly after the advent of prop 48. It's no coincidence that things turned around after LU and SLU dropped football...one could argue that McNeese "arrived" as a power by 1993, four years after LU dropped sport.

Of course, that's an oversimplification. The decline had much to do with John McCann and Sonny Jackson and the ascent had a lot to do with Bobby Keasler. But there's no denying the affects on recruiting when SE Texas is left wide open for the taking and 63 scholarships in Louisiana are gone.

I think we've already felt the affects of SLU's program. Not so much going head-to-head for recruits where the programs share the same interest; it's hard for SLU to compete. Where they have been a thorn in McNeese's side is that second-tier player, the kind of guy SLU will offer early, but McNeese holds back on. In the past, without SLU, McNeese is able to slide back and get those guys. These days, SLU is snatching them up. As an example, take a local kid McNeese offers, but the board at his position fills up, so the kid is left with SLU's offer, and he commits.

Eight years ago, the kid waits out McNeese because he doesn't have the SLU offer. So if one of McNeese's commitments de-commits, gets swiped up by LSU or UH or TCU, then there's still the local kid to offer. Now, that safety net is gone.

I'm sure you know who I'm talking about with this example...

[centexguy]

I know Lamar's president personally.

He's a McNeese Alumn. If they think HE will support an FBS team, they may as well give up now. HE is the reason they left the SunBelch and returned to the SLC. HE is committed to being a LONG TERM member of the SLC.

If they don't like that, they best just give up their effort now, because they are FCS bound for as long as McNeese is a member of the FCS.

Not sure how Simmons (Lamar's president) could be the reason Lamar left the Sunbelt since they left after the 1998 season, and he became Lamar's president in Sept. 1999, although he has been with the University for a long time. But they have not mentioned going FBS yet so it's all speculation.


Lamar has already started tearing down the press box. They are looking at expanding it and adding luxury boxes, depending how much money they raise. They are also looking to spend over $5 million on updating or replacing Higgnins field house. AD Billy Tubbs said in paper they have spent 5 years studying football and do plan on doing it right.

[McTailGator]

I guess you forgot about this....It's Lamar's last game before dropping the program in 89 - a game I will remember for a LONG time.
*can still hear McNeese DB coach Ricky Matt screaming NO!!!! NOOOO!!! on the game film* (not in this video however)

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/lamar-vs-mcneese-1989/648123348


Look at the HISTORY dude.

We started our 12 SLC Championships run when they were still in the SLC.

Face it. MCNEESE IS THE SLC...

[UCAMonkey]

Look at the HISTORY dude.

We started our 12 SLC Championships run when they were still in the SLC.

Face it. MCNEESE IS THE SLC...


When is the SLC going to do something in the playoffs! xwhistlex xpeacex

[TexasTerror]

When is the SLC going to do something in the playoffs! xwhistlex xpeacex

The year you guys are eligible...xnodx

Or if Bomar gets healthy, the needed pieces are there and we see the third in a series of FBS transfers that led the Kats to the promised land...

[UCAMonkey]

The year you guys are eligible...xnodx

Or if Bomar gets healthy, the needed pieces are there and we see the third in a series of FBS transfers that led the Kats to the promised land...

I really was hoping and thought McNeese would do something this year. xnonono2x

[TexasTerror]

The vote has been set...


KFDM News has learned the Lamar University Student Government Association has set a date for students to vote on a fee that is expected to lead to the return of a football program to the campus.

The vote will take place on January 29 and 30.

Students will decide whether to pay an athletic fee of $8.75 per credit hour to help fund a football program

Lamar University has been without a football program since 1989. Many supporters, including LU President Dr. Jimmy Simmons and LU Athletic Director Billy Tubbs, say the return of football would do more for the university than most people realize.

http://www.kfdm.com/news/football_24118___article.html/student_students.html

[centexguy]

Here's the video from the local news: http://www.kfdm.com/video/index.php?bcpid=1138292619&bclid=1137896012&bctid=1365214429