Crazy Card Fan

I hope that Jason Henderson is a not considered an option to become AD, he is one of the most unpleasant, uncharismatic people I've ever dealt with in my life. Lamar Athletics would suffer under the leadership of this guy. I hope they can try and intice Donny Coryell back to Beaumont.

I see not having a summer camp as a positive! From experience I can tell you that running camps are ALOT of work, work that diverts your attention from the business of running a DI sports program. The obvious follow up question to this is... WHY DO COACHES BOTHER WITH CAMPS? The answer is simple, camps make money that line the coaches pocket (in some cases the coaches will funnel some of that $$ back into the program).

This is a really classy move by Tidwell, Coach Payton has done more for Lamar University than most people realize. Congratulations to Coach Payton and again, well done Coach Tidwell - what a classy thing to do  :)

Is there a net broadcast anywhere? The one linked on the LU website only plays audio. :(

The preseason regional rankings for our region. Despite the loss of two all Americans the Cardinals are ranked 4th SOUTH CENTRAL Region Rank School Location Conference 2009 FINISH 1 Arkansas Fayetteville, Ark.   SEC 1 2 Texas Austin, Texas   Big 12 2 3 Texas A&M College Station,    Big 12 4 4 Lamar Beaumont, Texas   Southland 3 5 McNeese State La,              Southland 6 6 Stephen F. Austin   Southland 5 7 Baylor Waco, Texas   Big 12 7 8 Ark.-Little Rock Ark.           Sun Belt 8 9 Rice Houston, Texas           Conference USA 10 10 UTSA Texas           Southland 8 11 TCU Fort Worth, Texas   Mountain West 12 Houston Houston, Texas   Conference USA 13 13 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi   Corpus Christi, Texas Southland 12

Most posters on here have good points. My two cents worth - Billy Tubbs wanted into CUSA, and his backup was Sunbelt, he was looking to make this move in 2-3 years. Informal conversations with schools and officials in these conferences was a day to day occurence. The BIG question for me now is this: What direction does Larry Tidwell want to take the school into?  I believe Tidwell will be as aggressive as he possibly can be in getting Lamar to go FBS, within the constraints of the budget. IMHO - unless there is an eastern division, the WAC is not a realistic choice due to travel budgets. Lamar is ready to compete in an FBS conference in every sport besides Football (which is unproven).

I'm not sure if this ever got aired publicly, but Larry Coker was interviewed for the job, and Woodard got the job instead of the old guy. Coker was desperate to get back to coaching, but I'm glad we didn't pick him up. Farmer Fran also had an informal interview. Woodard came with recommendations from all the right places, he lacks experience, but has bucket loads of all the other ingredents needed to succeed in DI football - connections, recruiting accumen, respect of other coaches, work ethic, confidence etc etc.

bobbymcgee - Love your user name, Joplin was the greatest!!!!! not sure why this would make me nuts? please explain your reasoning... I get that he's vastly inexperienced, but I see him as destined for success, would love to see the first part of his successful NCAA DI coaching career be at Lamar as opposed to a rival in a year or two.

In response to the "anti-Gilligan" messages that are popping up on this board; In many instances the posters, (Chucky, baseball 25 etc), have very valid points, HOWEVER....... Gilligan has earnt the right to run his team however he see's fit, and the administration have, and most likely will continue to give him a free Raine to continue doing so. He is (like it or not) a legend in the college game, and almost every major success in the history of L.U. baseball is because of his hard work. Fact is, we as fans have incredibly high standards of expectation for this ball club, but this is because Gilligan built it from nothing to a nationally respected program. I get that it hurts to see the team not play how we feel they should, but I would implore people to respect Gilligan and his contribution to the program, and trust that he will have the club back on track ASAP. I really do understand the frustration of some fans on the board, but I guess all I'm saying is that weather you love or hate Gilligan, we should all show him the respect he deserves. [color=red][i][b]Go L.U. Baseball!! [/b][/i][/color]

Great pick up - this has me a little more excited about next season! Roc can stack the whole team with Juco kids for all I care - I'm sure we all agree that WINNING is the main priority.  :D

Just reading a little about his history and success. He's 26, talented, motivated, and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. If Roc does end up leaving, would Tubbs be willing to roll the dice on this guy? and if not why the heck not??? I'll be following his career so maybe in a few years I can get back on this board and say "I told you so!"

Any word on how the search for a New AD is going?? Hopefully they hire a young up and comer who will continue the remarkable growth of this program! Go Sea hawks!!

NCAA All American Samuel Kosgei ran 13:35.75 at this weekends Mt. Sac Relays in California, to break current teammate Francis Kasagules record by about 30seconds. his time puts him right up with the very elite in the NCAA and he beat several pro runners in the race. I hope everyone on this board realizes how Lucky Lamar is to have an athlete of this caliber at the school, the performance of some of the distance runners & golfers at Lamar puts Basketball / Baseball to shame!

How is this any sort of a guiding document? Its a facilities report. Not commissioned by the Athletics Department. Lamar Athletics has no guiding principles, no direction, and no plan. and consequently is languishing. This is all due to a lack of effective leadership. Good things have happened, but it has been the result of good work (or luck) of the individual coaches.

I can 100% guarantee they did not. Which is unfortunate.

Found this document on the ULM website, it is there guiding document that maps out what they want to achieve and how they plan to do it. [Hidden Content] I think if you take the time to read through some of it you will be very impressed. I'm a business person, and a former business student, I love this sort of thing. And I think (know) that this is exactly what is lacking at Lamar, and clear, organized, and achievable system that sets out the programs goals and a way to achieve them.

Curl and Tidwell are best friends, this could actually benefit the Lamar program in some way down the line. Not sure how serious Coach Curls health problems are, but I know Tidwell is not too proud to seek advice and assistance from his old friend, and it might be the avenue Curl uses to ease his way back into the profession??????? Friends... Don't make the mistake that a great coach will make a great AD, we have a former great great coach doing a pretty average job right now. Being an AD requires a different skill set from being a coach IMHO.

Soccer stadium.

In addition, former Cardinal Rachel Kingsford will be competing in the senior womens race for her native New Zealand.

I think we were all a little surprised with the poor record last year - but overall (in my opinion) the fans were happy with the turn around and the energy surrounding the team. ie, New Stadium, better more competitive games, better players, getting out in amongst the 'soccer community' This next season should hopefully see a much improved record, will be good to see more and more quality players come in rather than the rubbish Dillon had recruited. Good luck CARDINALS!

I was a huge rock fan, HUGE. Know the guy, like the guy, and think he's got a great future in coaching. Unfortunately that future is as an assistant at a major University. I hope that sometime soon Lamar will find itself with a new Men's Basketball head coach. Perhaps looking at the hire of Tidwell on the Ladies side would be a good model to follow??? An experienced assistant at a major program with a hunger to prove himself, and an almost maniacal devotion to his job!

Jimmy Simmons has had a great impact on the University, and I believe he is focused on strengthening the athletics programs. HOWEVER, Billy Tubbs has been an absentee athletic director who appears more interested in his gold handicap than running an athletics program. The best you could say about him is that he's Laisse fare.... There's very few people in the current athletics administration who are leaders in there field, and there is certainly no clear and realistic goal for the Cardinals as they try to improve the program. The main problem here is a lack of leadership. Pure, Plain, and Simple.

Molli for President But seriously, she would make a great assistant coach, I'm sure she would love to stay around the campus!!

I would love to see LSC-PA expand it's athletics, I hear they are going back to the higher level of NJCAA ball next year, hopefully they have the funding and housing in place to do it.Would also LOVE LOVE LOVE to see the addition of more sports there. Men's and Womens cross country is low cost and requires no facilities. if they could get some help with recruiting from the lamar coaches I'm sure they could fill out a pretty decent roster! Anyone have any info on weather there are any plans afoot for extra sports? And how about a LSC-PA thread on this forum!! ;D ;D

I would say that there was more to it than playing time. Hopefully we can get a top notch coach to come in and help us out, but really, the job cannot be very attractive to anyone with any sort of a reputation or head coaching experience. I also think alot of the girls on this years squad were way out of there depth playing at this level. the key in all collegiate sports is great recruiting, and many of these local girls are just not D1 material. (of course there a few notable exceptions).