(12-31-2014 12:19 PM)stodgdog Wrote:  

(12-31-2014 12:08 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  UL

Great baseball and support
Solid football with better support than 90% of CUSA
Basketball has great history but been avg of late and fan support is declined but a move in conference would change that
East team most want
A pair of CUSA school in Louisiana could pull some interest away from lsu because of rivalry


Overall not a bad option , just say no to anymore texas teams .....three is enough already

You realize that ULL is NOT UL or Louisiana. I would hope that if ULL is selected to join CUSA, fans of conference members would refrain from calling them UL or Louisiana. It is a big deal to many of us from Louisiana Tech and other Louisiana schools as ULL is trying to portray themselves as superior in status to other system schools, especially their current conference brother ULM. No matter what ULL folks may tell you, any reference to their school without the Lafayette designation is illegal and unethical. The law that they (ULL) wanted passed in Louisiana granting them their name change from USL to ULL specifically includes athletics and requires that they are called University of Louisiana at Lafayette. They wanted the deal, they got it, and they should be held to it.

My only bias in this discussion is that I kind of see where ULL is coming from in my own alma mater's branding/identity issues.

1. I don't see how a "University of Louisiana" portrays any superiority to a "Louisiana Tech". I don't consider the University of Georgia to be superior to Georgia Tech, nor the University of Virginia to be superior to Virginia Tech. I don't think anybody but UGA or UVA fans do. The thought that ULL calling themselves "UL" subjugates you to a lesser status stems more from your own insecurity than any reality.

2. My first point being said, it does subjugate ULM. That's ULM's problem. We're not considering ULM for membership. We're not even talking about them. There is talk about UL. Where there is smoke, there is likely fire.

This brings me to:

3. If, in fact, we do invite the Cajuns, then it is in the best interest of everybody in the conference to give them as much leeway as possible in what they want to be called and branded. We've all heard folks dump on the G5 conferences for being full of directional and/or state @ city schools. Illinois is better than Northern Illinois. Kentucky is better than Western Kentucky. It doesn't have to be true to be said. There is a perception of hierarchy surrounding the names of Universities. This is why our AD has branded itself as "Charlotte" since 2000. This is why a growing number of students and alumni are in favor of changing the university's official name. Letting ULL refer to themselves as UL elevates their perception in that hierarchy. That benefits the entire conference, not just them.

I'd rather share a conference with a "University of Louisiana" than a "University of Louisiana at Lafayette". I'm sure folks would rather share a conference with a "University of Charlotte" than a "University of North Carolina at Charlotte" as well.