(07-26-2020 01:44 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

LA-Tech is going to try and hit up an FCS-HBCU for a CV19 cancellation fee? When it was a SWAC decision to cancel OOC games?

That's embarrassing.

(07-26-2020 04:49 AM)Todor Wrote:  Why has La Tech historically gone there own way? Like being in the WAC for so long... Is it their history, location, base? They definitely seem to view themselves differently than other seemingly similar institutions. Any insights?

They really haven't, it just seems that way because they're in a different conference from ULL and ULM.

But truth is, as minor FBS programs, all three have muddled through various conferences, with bouts of independence. I mean, compare LT to ULL and ULM since the early 1990s:

1993 - 1995: LT and ULL in the Big West, ULM Independent.

1996 - 2000: All three were independent

2001 to present: ULM and ULL in Sun Belt, LT in WAC, then CUSA.

So really, it was only in 2001 that LT diverged paths with ULL and ULM, and that was the Sun Belt/WAC split.

But those (like me) who think LT joining the WAC in 2001 was crazy often forget (like me) that both they and Louisiana-Lafayette spent three years in the Big West before then, so it wasn't an unprecedented kind of thing. These kinds of programs have to catch-as-catch-can, they don't necessarily have their pick of what conferences to be in.

(07-26-2020 04:49 AM)Todor Wrote:  Why has La Tech historically gone there own way? Like being in the WAC for so long... Is it their history, location, base? They definitely seem to view themselves differently than other seemingly similar institutions. Any insights?

At the time Louisiana Tech left the Sun Belt, the WAC was still more prestigious, even if the travel was much worse. Their departure created an opening in the Sun Belt for Louisiana-Monroe, so I would imagine that Tech's pride prevented them from rejoining the Sun Belt. They just got lucky that CUSA needed members. Otherwise, I think they're an FBS independent today.

LA Tech Joined a WAC that had Tulsa, SMU, Rice, and UTEP in it. 4 years later they were too proud to go back to the 1 bowl tie in SBC.

(07-26-2020 08:13 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  LA Tech Joined a WAC that had Tulsa, SMU, Rice, and UTEP in it. 4 years later they were too proud to go back to the 1 bowl tie in SBC.

To me it seems a bit strange that CUSA took UTEP over Louisiana Tech. Not sure if Tulane had anything to do with that.

(07-26-2020 10:18 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 08:13 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  LA Tech Joined a WAC that had Tulsa, SMU, Rice, and UTEP in it. 4 years later they were too proud to go back to the 1 bowl tie in SBC.

To me it seems a bit strange that CUSA took UTEP over Louisiana Tech. Not sure if Tulane had anything to do with that.

UTEP has historically been a strong basketball program, and both FB and MBB were well supported at the time. LT is known for what? A few big seasons with Tim Rattay & Troy Edwards and (at the time) strong WBB?

(07-26-2020 07:24 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:44 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

LA-Tech is going to try and hit up an FCS-HBCU for a CV19 cancellation fee? When it was a SWAC decision to cancel OOC games?

That's embarrassing.

Wow. Agree. Their AD is going to build quite a bad reputation.

(07-26-2020 10:48 AM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 10:18 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 08:13 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  LA Tech Joined a WAC that had Tulsa, SMU, Rice, and UTEP in it. 4 years later they were too proud to go back to the 1 bowl tie in SBC.

To me it seems a bit strange that CUSA took UTEP over Louisiana Tech. Not sure if Tulane had anything to do with that.

UTEP has historically been a strong basketball program, and both FB and MBB were well supported at the time. LT is known for what? A few big seasons with Tim Rattay & Troy Edwards and (at the time) strong WBB?

Right, but given how far UTEP was outside CUSA's already quite large geographic footprint at the time, it does seem somewhat impractical.

Good info guys! Thanks. I'm not From anywhere Louisiana so I don't know about Monroe etc, but growing up I did know LA Tech. It seems like they were semi big time in the 70's and 80's. They'd had some pretty high profile athletes there at various times while (at least as far as I can remember) that a lot of the other LA regionals haven't. Seems like Tech didn't really make the jump up in profile their history/ momentum might have allowed them to and they still seem to think themselves as being a step above their state peers. Not faulting them at all, I like the punchy pride some schools have and think it's great --just trying to understand them a little more.

La. Tech and its fans act like they're the G5's version of Alabama when they have, at best, an Ole Miss-level of accomplishments. They have won ten games one time in 25 years at the FBS level.

And now they're suing a SWAC school. First class.

(07-26-2020 10:56 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 10:48 AM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 10:18 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 08:13 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  LA Tech Joined a WAC that had Tulsa, SMU, Rice, and UTEP in it. 4 years later they were too proud to go back to the 1 bowl tie in SBC.

To me it seems a bit strange that CUSA took UTEP over Louisiana Tech. Not sure if Tulane had anything to do with that.

UTEP has historically been a strong basketball program, and both FB and MBB were well supported at the time. LT is known for what? A few big seasons with Tim Rattay & Troy Edwards and (at the time) strong WBB?

Right, but given how far UTEP was outside CUSA's already quite large geographic footprint at the time, it does seem somewhat impractical.

There were three other Texas schools, and El Paso has pretty decent air service including Southwest. Arguably harder for most CUSA teams to get to Ruston, which requires flying to Shreveport (a considerably smaller airport than El Paso with fewer options) and then driving 75 miles (or flying to Monroe, which barely has any commercial service and then driving 40 miles).

UTEP football wasn't great when they were added, but they had just hired Mike Price and things were looking up. In fact, they finished tied for 1st with Tulsa in CUSA West in 2005. And UTEP basketball was coming off a tourney run when they were voted into CUSA run, and they had a strong history if you overlook the last few years of Don Haskins' reign when he was aging.

On the other hand, LT had very brief MBB success in the early 90s and nothing else, though Keith Richard had a few decent seasons sprinkled here and there in the late 90s, early 00s. While LT had a few good years in FB, they weren't head and shoulders better than UTEP...neither were exactly dominating their conference. Put that together with a small market (LT hold on Shreveport is tenuous in the view of many) and the difficulty for travel, and UTEP makes sense.

It's not UTEP by a mile for sure, but I can see where CUSA thought UTEP offered more at the time and had more potential for the conference. They also fit the urban university mold that CUSA was following (Marshall was the only new member that didn't fit this mold, and their FB success at the time explains why that was ok).

(07-26-2020 12:47 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 10:56 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 10:48 AM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 10:18 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 08:13 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  LA Tech Joined a WAC that had Tulsa, SMU, Rice, and UTEP in it. 4 years later they were too proud to go back to the 1 bowl tie in SBC.

To me it seems a bit strange that CUSA took UTEP over Louisiana Tech. Not sure if Tulane had anything to do with that.

UTEP has historically been a strong basketball program, and both FB and MBB were well supported at the time. LT is known for what? A few big seasons with Tim Rattay & Troy Edwards and (at the time) strong WBB?

Right, but given how far UTEP was outside CUSA's already quite large geographic footprint at the time, it does seem somewhat impractical.

There were three other Texas schools, and El Paso has pretty decent air service including Southwest. Arguably harder for most CUSA teams to get to Ruston, which requires flying to Shreveport (a considerably smaller airport than El Paso with fewer options) and then driving 75 miles (or flying to Monroe, which barely has any commercial service and then driving 40 miles).

UTEP football wasn't great when they were added, but they had just hired Mike Price and things were looking up. In fact, they finished tied for 1st with Tulsa in CUSA West in 2005. And UTEP basketball was coming off a tourney run when they were voted into CUSA run, and they had a strong history if you overlook the last few years of Don Haskins' reign when he was aging.

On the other hand, LT had very brief MBB success in the early 90s and nothing else, though Keith Richard had a few decent seasons sprinkled here and there in the late 90s, early 00s. While LT had a few good years in FB, they weren't head and shoulders better than UTEP...neither were exactly dominating their conference. Put that together with a small market (LT hold on Shreveport is tenuous in the view of many) and the difficulty for travel, and UTEP makes sense.

It's not UTEP by a mile for sure, but I can see where CUSA thought UTEP offered more at the time and had more potential for the conference. They also fit the urban university mold that CUSA was following (Marshall was the only new member that didn't fit this mold, and their FB success at the time explains why that was ok).

Good analysis!

(07-26-2020 01:44 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

Honestly, this seems like a dick move by La Tech.

First of all the conference is making them cancel this game, and more importantly is La Tech even going to be making any real money off of this game? Were they going to have limited or any crowds for September 19th?

(07-26-2020 01:55 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:44 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

Honestly, this seems like a dick move by La Tech.

First of all the conference is making them cancel this game, and more importantly is La Tech even going to be making any real money off of this game? Were they going to have limited or any crowds for September 19th?

I can't remember the last time anyone pulled this kind of shameless low class move. Ridonculous.

(07-26-2020 02:00 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:55 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:44 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

Honestly, this seems like a dick move by La Tech.

First of all the conference is making them cancel this game, and more importantly is La Tech even going to be making any real money off of this game? Were they going to have limited or any crowds for September 19th?

I can't remember the last time anyone pulled this kind of shameless low class move. Ridonculous.

Oh, I don't know. A deals a deal, and business is business. Not everyone can shrug off half a mil and say "oh well" And I'm sure we will see some more schools looking to collect from others in the coming months.

(07-26-2020 06:00 PM)Todor Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 02:00 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:55 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:44 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

Honestly, this seems like a dick move by La Tech.

First of all the conference is making them cancel this game, and more importantly is La Tech even going to be making any real money off of this game? Were they going to have limited or any crowds for September 19th?

I can't remember the last time anyone pulled this kind of shameless low class move. Ridonculous.

Oh, I don't know. A deals a deal, and business is business. Not everyone can shrug off half a mil and say "oh well" And I'm sure we will see some more schools looking to collect from others in the coming months.

La Tech's AD has no idea right now if LT's own football team is even going to be playing games by September 19th.

Anyone with class would have kept their mouth shut until after the season has been played, if it is played, and then evaluate whether anyone should owe money.

And even at that point, either this AD, or someone at La Tech who is more mature than he is, should seriously question whether any school that aspires to be taken seriously as an FBS program should be demanding $500,000 from Prairie View for a game that La Tech quickly replaced for the same game date with another FCS opponent.

(07-26-2020 06:00 PM)Todor Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 02:00 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:55 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:44 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

Honestly, this seems like a dick move by La Tech.

First of all the conference is making them cancel this game, and more importantly is La Tech even going to be making any real money off of this game? Were they going to have limited or any crowds for September 19th?

I can't remember the last time anyone pulled this kind of shameless low class move. Ridonculous.

Oh, I don't know. A deals a deal, and business is business. Not everyone can shrug off half a mil and say "oh well" And I'm sure we will see some more schools looking to collect from others in the coming months.

Suing an HBCU for canceling a game in the middle of a pandemic, as if that doesn't qualify as an "Act of God", is patently ridiculous and shameful.

(07-26-2020 06:39 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 06:00 PM)Todor Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 02:00 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:55 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  

(07-26-2020 01:44 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

Honestly, this seems like a dick move by La Tech.

First of all the conference is making them cancel this game, and more importantly is La Tech even going to be making any real money off of this game? Were they going to have limited or any crowds for September 19th?

I can't remember the last time anyone pulled this kind of shameless low class move. Ridonculous.

Oh, I don't know. A deals a deal, and business is business. Not everyone can shrug off half a mil and say "oh well" And I'm sure we will see some more schools looking to collect from others in the coming months.

Suing an HBCU for canceling a game in the middle of a pandemic, as if that doesn't qualify as an "Act of God", is patently ridiculous and shameful.

This is the world we live in.

In not sure they are suing them. Requesting payment is stated. Perhaps Prairie View has turned down a requested reschedule? We don't know.

And I'm not sure what them being an HBCU has to do with anything.

(07-26-2020 11:41 PM)Todor Wrote:  In not sure they are using them. Requesting payment is stated. Perhaps Prairie View has turned down a requested reschedule? We don't know.

And I'm not sure what them being an HBCU has to do with anything.

Wait, you’re actually serious about this? I just assumed your first post was joking because no way someone thought that unironically.