I always enjoy seeing people from Alabama or Mississippi or Kansas, etc. get bent out of shape about alleged violations of obscure Louisiana college naming rules and conventions. Or see them take principled stands to insist on respect for ULM, a school that many of them have probably suggested should go to FCS at some point.

People enjoy goading the Cajuns. Goading Nevada-Reno is not nearly as entertaining.

But it gets old and not that funny after a few years.





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(02-06-2018 09:56 AM)ark30inf Wrote:  I always enjoy seeing people from Alabama or Mississippi or Kansas, etc. get bent out of shape about alleged violations of obscure Louisiana college naming rules and conventions. Or see them take principled stands to insist on respect for ULM, a school that many of them have probably suggested should go to FCS at some point.

People enjoy goading the Cajuns. Goading Nevada-Reno is not nearly as entertaining.

But it gets old and not that funny after a few years.

I call them Louisiana just because it sounds better when I tell my UGA friends that we're playing Louisiana at home.

But to their face, I'll call them Oo La-La or Laffy just to keep them in their place.

UCF. Not sure they're really sleeping, but they're a very big school and have done a lot in football.

(02-03-2018 11:51 PM)sctvman Wrote:  Going through the last few years there are programs in many sports that have become major forces around the country.

Gonzaga was a little known WCC school until they started making their NCAA runs, now everybody knows them. Wichita State had made 1 NCAA tournament in 24 years prior to Gregg Marshall becoming coach there. In football we all know UCF and Houston have awoken in the past few years.

There are other programs though which could be huge if they have success at the right times.

Charlotte- Basically a dead program now with no football success to speak of and the basketball team having won 5 games all year and firing their coach in early December this year. Get the right basketball or football coach though and Charlotte could gain a lot more popular. Top 25 metro area, dedicated fan base, decent conference to do well in.

Georgia State- They are definitely gaining a lot of popularity, especially over the past few years. The new football stadium at Turner Field will give them an edge in recruiting, but they also need a new basketball arena to cash in on the success they’ve had recently (especially the upset over Baylor). Can recruit anybody from metro Atlanta.

Seattle- Most people think Grand Canyon is the sleeping giant in the west, but Seattle is another. Formerly made it all the way to the NCAA finals in 1958 (lost to UK), but dropped to NAIA in 1980, then moved back to D1 a few years back. Western Washington version of Gonzaga, but has more resources than Gonzaga had prior to 1999. A couple NCAA years and that program could grow quick.

What are your thoughts of programs that are sleeping giants?

To be a "sleeping giant", you must first be a giant. From your post, I don't think that's what you mean. You are identifying programs that are not yet, but which have the potential to become relevant in one or more of the major sports. Probably not P5 relevant, but at least FBS relevant.

(02-06-2018 09:36 AM)HoustonCajun Wrote:  

(02-06-2018 01:00 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Not in the case of Louisiana-Lafayette. They're interchangeable with Monroe.

Even if we didn't know about the hyphen, they'd look like Ohio compared to Ohio State.

Like Nevada-Reno and Nevada-Las Vegas. One now goes by Nevada and the other UNLV. Louisiana Monroe has branded itself ULM. Louisiana Lafayette is branded Louisiana. Every school has a right to brand itself. Most schools do not use their official names anyway. Virginia Tech is the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Georgia Tech is the Georgia Institute of Technology. Fresno State is Cal State - Fresno. LSU is the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (LSU A&M). Nebraska is Nebraska - Lincoln. Wisconsin is Wisconsin - Madison. North Carolina is North Carolina - Chapel Hill. Texas is Texas at Austin. Charlotte is UNC-Charlotte. Milwaukee is UW-Milwaukee.

And, yes, we are like Ohio and Ohio State. Louisiana and Louisiana State. We are not trying to surpass LSU, just carve our own niche. Like Ohio and Ohio State, there is no problem in our coexisting. As someone else pointed out, Texas State' has no impact on Texas or Texas A&M. Why is so much made with our branding ourselves as Louisiana? The Sun Belt Conference recognizes us as Louisiana and ULM. ESPN and the other networks are now on board with Louisiana. Louisiana is now here to stay. May as well get on board with it.

You can brand yourself as whatever you want, you can only change perception so much because of it. But I do think it's totally screwed up LSU won't let you take advantage of there being no Louisiana being used as an official school name.

(02-06-2018 12:46 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(02-06-2018 09:36 AM)HoustonCajun Wrote:  

(02-06-2018 01:00 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Not in the case of Louisiana-Lafayette. They're interchangeable with Monroe.

Even if we didn't know about the hyphen, they'd look like Ohio compared to Ohio State.

Like Nevada-Reno and Nevada-Las Vegas. One now goes by Nevada and the other UNLV. Louisiana Monroe has branded itself ULM. Louisiana Lafayette is branded Louisiana. Every school has a right to brand itself. Most schools do not use their official names anyway. Virginia Tech is the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Georgia Tech is the Georgia Institute of Technology. Fresno State is Cal State - Fresno. LSU is the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (LSU A&M). Nebraska is Nebraska - Lincoln. Wisconsin is Wisconsin - Madison. North Carolina is North Carolina - Chapel Hill. Texas is Texas at Austin. Charlotte is UNC-Charlotte. Milwaukee is UW-Milwaukee.

And, yes, we are like Ohio and Ohio State. Louisiana and Louisiana State. We are not trying to surpass LSU, just carve our own niche. Like Ohio and Ohio State, there is no problem in our coexisting. As someone else pointed out, Texas State' has no impact on Texas or Texas A&M. Why is so much made with our branding ourselves as Louisiana? The Sun Belt Conference recognizes us as Louisiana and ULM. ESPN and the other networks are now on board with Louisiana. Louisiana is now here to stay. May as well get on board with it.

You can brand yourself as whatever you want, you can only change perception so much because of it. But I do think it's totally screwed up LSU won't let you take advantage of there being no Louisiana being used as an official school name.

I think the real opposition is coming from Ruston, Monroe and other places besides Baton Rouge.

ULL is a peer in the University of Louisiana system, along side and with SE Louisiana, McNeese State, UNO, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Nicholls State, Northeastern State, etc. No more....no less.

Them too...

I'm still waiting on ITT Tech to awake from their slumber.......

(02-06-2018 02:46 PM)utpotts Wrote:  I'm still waiting on ITT Tech to awake from their slumber.......

The University of Phoenix has a campus in every major city in the country, hundreds of thousands of Alums, and a 65k football stadium. All they need is the right coach!

I found an interesting article on ULL's branding situation.
http://www.angelfire.com/la3/ulragincajuns/battle.html

It reminded me of the athletics branding issues we've had at the University of Massachusetts. UMass vs. Massachusetts or Mass. And the mistakes poor branding has caused such as Umass, UMAss, UMASS, UMass Amherst, etc. I've even seen multiple recruits tweet about their offers from the "University of Umass". (◔_◔)

Even though "UMass" is the official shorthand term for the institution as a whole, I've heard locals/alumni refer to it as Univ. of Mass, U of M, UM, and on rare occasion, Amherst.

(02-06-2018 03:08 PM)McKinney Wrote:  Even though "UMass" is the official shorthand term for the institution as a whole, I've heard locals/alumni refer to it as Univ. of Mass, U of M, UM, and on rare occasion, Amherst.

What, never U_Ass?

(02-06-2018 03:16 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(02-06-2018 03:08 PM)McKinney Wrote:  Even though "UMass" is the official shorthand term for the institution as a whole, I've heard locals/alumni refer to it as Univ. of Mass, U of M, UM, and on rare occasion, Amherst.

What, never U_Ass?

Yeah I've heard that too, also "UGrass"

(02-06-2018 03:16 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(02-06-2018 03:08 PM)McKinney Wrote:  Even though "UMass" is the official shorthand term for the institution as a whole, I've heard locals/alumni refer to it as Univ. of Mass, U of M, UM, and on rare occasion, Amherst.

What, never U_Ass?

Or UM ass.

Also URI-NE, to ease confusion for geography-challenged folks who don't know the part of the country where Rhode Island is located.

What about UMess? UStash?

(02-06-2018 03:31 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  What about UMess? UStash?

Haven't heard those, but always good to add to the arsenal.

For football...

I would say to look at states with high populations, high numbers of top recruits for football, and low numbers of power schools to pull the top talent. Using these criteria, the states best situated for a sleeping giant are:

1. Ohio
2. Florida
3. New York
4. California
5. Texas
6. Georgia
7. North Carolina
8. Louisiana

(02-06-2018 04:01 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  For football...

I would say to look at states with high populations, high numbers of top recruits for football, and low numbers of power schools to pull the top talent. Using these criteria, the states best situated for a sleeping giant are:

1. Ohio
2. Florida
3. New York
4. California
5. Texas
6. Georgia
7. North Carolina
8. Louisiana

I get that it's an amalgamation, but what do you mean by "low numbers of power schools"? Other than Indiana you listed every state with more than 2 P5 schools. Florida has 3 P5s, California has 4, Texas has 5, North Carolina has 4.

(02-06-2018 04:23 PM)McKinney Wrote:  

(02-06-2018 04:01 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  For football...

I would say to look at states with high populations, high numbers of top recruits for football, and low numbers of power schools to pull the top talent. Using these criteria, the states best situated for a sleeping giant are:

1. Ohio
2. Florida
3. New York
4. California
5. Texas
6. Georgia
7. North Carolina
8. Louisiana

I get that it's an amalgamation, but what do you mean by "low numbers of power schools"? Other than Indiana you listed every state with more than 2 P5 schools. Florida has 3 P5s, California has 4, Texas has 5, North Carolina has 4.

Technically Ohio only has one P5 in Ohio State and seven G5 schools. Even though Cincinnati is G5 in football and a P5 in basketball.

The naming problem with UL is a heated topic.

As a Lafayette native, I find what happened to them to be wrong.

I’ve heard ZooMass, specifically from UConn fans during the time period Calhoun avoided Calipari.