(06-13-2017 10:39 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 10:28 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  My Wife will tell you quickly that her school does not exist anymore. She graduated as the first class with ULM on her diploma yet the Alumni sticker they gave her says NLU. She won't have anything to do with the school and neither will an entire generation of middle aged alumni. They feel like they got screwed by ULL and the NCAA over the Name and Mascot Change. Why would they go to a ball game of a team that they know nothing about. At least FCS would create a competitive environment, with long lost rivals. ULM has a good looking campus and has a niche. It could go from being an also ran in FBS to a league leader like Mcneese St. easliy. Heck North Dakota State is proof that FBS is not the end all be all.

Funny thing about the mascot change. We had plenty of bellyaching at AState. First time we take the field as Red Wolves, beat Texas A&M and just like that it was over. There are a few grumps out there but those are mostly the SOB's who didn't buy a ticket before the change, rarely buy a ticket now.

I understand that completely, but you are still Arkansas State. ULM lost every single part of its identity with in a few short years. They lost their name and their mascot. You can live a good life as a blind man or a deaf man, being both is a tough row to hoe.

(06-14-2017 03:07 PM)pilot172000 Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 10:39 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 10:28 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  My Wife will tell you quickly that her school does not exist anymore. She graduated as the first class with ULM on her diploma yet the Alumni sticker they gave her says NLU. She won't have anything to do with the school and neither will an entire generation of middle aged alumni. They feel like they got screwed by ULL and the NCAA over the Name and Mascot Change. Why would they go to a ball game of a team that they know nothing about. At least FCS would create a competitive environment, with long lost rivals. ULM has a good looking campus and has a niche. It could go from being an also ran in FBS to a league leader like Mcneese St. easliy. Heck North Dakota State is proof that FBS is not the end all be all.

Funny thing about the mascot change. We had plenty of bellyaching at AState. First time we take the field as Red Wolves, beat Texas A&M and just like that it was over. There are a few grumps out there but those are mostly the SOB's who didn't buy a ticket before the change, rarely buy a ticket now.

I understand that completely, but you are still Arkansas State. ULM lost every single part of its identity with in a few short years. They lost their name and their mascot. You can live a good life as a blind man or a deaf man, being both is a tough row to hoe.

You make a great point. NLU/ULM never had a lot of money, and was always a bottom feeder in Div 1A. But losing their name and their mascot in such a short period of time only succeeded in separating them from their alumni.

(06-14-2017 06:34 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 03:07 PM)pilot172000 Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 10:39 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-13-2017 10:28 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  My Wife will tell you quickly that her school does not exist anymore. She graduated as the first class with ULM on her diploma yet the Alumni sticker they gave her says NLU. She won't have anything to do with the school and neither will an entire generation of middle aged alumni. They feel like they got screwed by ULL and the NCAA over the Name and Mascot Change. Why would they go to a ball game of a team that they know nothing about. At least FCS would create a competitive environment, with long lost rivals. ULM has a good looking campus and has a niche. It could go from being an also ran in FBS to a league leader like Mcneese St. easliy. Heck North Dakota State is proof that FBS is not the end all be all.

Funny thing about the mascot change. We had plenty of bellyaching at AState. First time we take the field as Red Wolves, beat Texas A&M and just like that it was over. There are a few grumps out there but those are mostly the SOB's who didn't buy a ticket before the change, rarely buy a ticket now.

I understand that completely, but you are still Arkansas State. ULM lost every single part of its identity with in a few short years. They lost their name and their mascot. You can live a good life as a blind man or a deaf man, being both is a tough row to hoe.

You make a great point. NLU/ULM never had a lot of money, and was always a bottom feeder in Div 1A. But losing their name and their mascot in such a short period of time only succeeded in separating them from their alumni.

Going on 18 years since their name change and ULM had a increase of Contributions every year since 2006, other than 2015 when they had a drop of almost 300k

From 2006 $834,546 to 2014 $1,853,993 in that same period Rights / Licensing went from $732,488 (2006) to $2,509,531 (2015) Total Revenues has doubled...$6,652,372 to $12,953,419. Out of that School Funds only increased a little over 1 million.

Why did they change from NLU again?

(06-14-2017 09:00 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Why did they change from NLU again?

I'm not sure but I think they took the UL before ULL tried to. When other LA schools complained they went with the ULM instead of directional Monroe.

I think but not sure that's the way it went.

Southwestern wanted to become UL. The state said no. The state finally said "you can be UL Lafayette if you can get another ULS schools to make a similar change." They got NLU to agree to become ULM.

So NLU became ULM as essentially a favor to ULL. Since then, ULL has stabbed ULM in the back by demanding to be called Louisiana, which goes completely against the entire point of the dang compromise in the first place. This is one of the more messed up parts of this immature move by ULL.

(06-14-2017 09:13 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:00 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Why did they change from NLU again?

I'm not sure but I think they took the UL before ULL tried to. When other LA schools complained they went with the ULM instead of directional Monroe.

I think but not sure that's the way it went.

USL (University of Southwest Louisiana) wanted a name change to just University Louisiana but the state wouldn't allow it by citing a part of the Louisiana Higher Education Charter that reads no University can change their official name to represent the whole state of Louisiana. Also it was interpreted that if a school wanted a name change there had to be at least two institutions change their name to represent the system.

I was living right outside of Lafayette when all this started to really heat up in 1996-97. If I remember correctly they courted McNeese State, Southeast Louisiana and Nicholls State to change their name before NLU agreed. Both NLU and USL name change took place in 1999. If they couldn't convince a school to change their name also they would still be the USL Ragin' Cajun's.

(06-14-2017 10:21 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:13 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:00 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Why did they change from NLU again?

I'm not sure but I think they took the UL before ULL tried to. When other LA schools complained they went with the ULM instead of directional Monroe.

I think but not sure that's the way it went.

USL (University of Southwest Louisiana) wanted a name change to just University Louisiana but the state wouldn't allow it by citing a part of the Louisiana Higher Education Charter that reads no University can change their official name to represent the whole state of Louisiana. Also it was interpreted that if a school wanted a name change there had to be at least two institutions change their name to represent the system.

I was living right outside of Lafayette when all this started to really heat up in 1996-97. If I remember correctly they courted McNeese State, Southeast Louisiana and Nicholls State to change their name before NLU agreed. Both NLU and USL name change took place in 1999. If they couldn't convince a school to change their name also they would still be the USL Ragin' Cajun's.

NLU agreed to become ULM only after USL agreed to support ULM's getting into the Sun Belt Conference.

Ok. I finally understand what is meant by the phrase "name gamers".

They made a deal with the devil and lost. I agree that ULM's giving has increased over the last ten years but at what rate? Is it enough to cover inflation? NLU is a decent place to get an education, and being a bottom feeding FBS only diminishes what they used to be or can be.

(06-15-2017 03:20 AM)BRtransplant Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 10:21 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:13 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:00 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Why did they change from NLU again?

I'm not sure but I think they took the UL before ULL tried to. When other LA schools complained they went with the ULM instead of directional Monroe.

I think but not sure that's the way it went.

USL (University of Southwest Louisiana) wanted a name change to just University Louisiana but the state wouldn't allow it by citing a part of the Louisiana Higher Education Charter that reads no University can change their official name to represent the whole state of Louisiana. Also it was interpreted that if a school wanted a name change there had to be at least two institutions change their name to represent the system.

I was living right outside of Lafayette when all this started to really heat up in 1996-97. If I remember correctly they courted McNeese State, Southeast Louisiana and Nicholls State to change their name before NLU agreed. Both NLU and USL name change took place in 1999. If they couldn't convince a school to change their name also they would still be the USL Ragin' Cajun's.

NLU agreed to become ULM only after USL agreed to support ULM's getting into the Sun Belt Conference.

Remember that in 1984, USL (University of Southwestern Louisiana) became the University of Louisiana with unanimous support from the System Board and all universities within that system, including LA Tech. UL, at that time, had a graduating class with that University of Louisiana name. It achieved that name the same way Louisiana Polytechnic Institute became Louisiana Tech and LSU New Orleans became UNO. However, LSU raised the claim that only the state legislature could change the name of a university, even though that was not a precedent and it was not even under the LSU System. It went all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court and in a split vote lead by an LSU judge ruled in its favor. During that multi-year legal battle, an injunction was issued prohibiting use of the UL name, so the university continued as USL. So, USL went back to the legislature for name approval and the only thing it was able to get was the University of Louisiana name with a city tag, but only if another university in the state also changed its name similarly. Northeast Louisiana University (NLU) agreed to change to the University of Louisiana at Monroe in exchange for USL's endorsing it for membership in the Sun Belt Conference. That was in 1999.

The university uses its official name on all university academic matters. The law only states that the city tag is to be used when "University of" or "UL" are used. There is no mention of using ONLY Louisiana. There is nothing prohibiting its use of a nickname or an abbreviation of that name, Louisiana, without "University" attached to it. Use of "Louisiana" is not prohibited by the law and is approved by the UL System. And, use of its official name academically is required of the university academically, not of anyone outside of the university.

ULM tried using Louisiana as its name in the early 2000's, but it did not work, so any challenge by them is disingenuous. They decided to brand themselves as ULM, although they could have used Monroe, like other universities have done in shortening their branded name to just the city, e.g. Little Rock (Arkansas- Little Rock), Milwaukee (Wisconsin - Milwaukee), Charlotte ( North Carolina - Charlotte). There is a Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, so use of Lafayette is not doable and is problematic for both schools.

The Sun Belt Conference asked all members to use the name they want to be marketed by. We chose Louisiana and they chose ULM. The ULM president no longer protests our use of Louisiana, although some of their alumni do. LSU has indicated they no longer care what we call ourselves.

We are doing what other schools that do not use their official name for athletic reference have done, e.g. Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), Fresno State (California State University - Fresno), LSU (Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College), McNeese (McNeese State University). A better example is Nevada Reno and Nevada Las Vegas. One goes by Nevada and the other UNLV, similar to Louisiana and ULM. So do Cal and UCLA. Many of the universities around the country do not use their official name for athletics but do so academically, e.g. Wisconsin (Wisconsin - Madison), Nebraska (Nebraska - Lincoln), Texas (Texas at Austin), California (Cal Berkeley).

The Louisiana brand is now official. The Sun Belt Conference has a directive on what to call each of its members and ours is Louisiana. Publications and networks are picking up on that and ESPN has finally indicated that it will and has now started to refer to us as Louisiana.

This is the official university statement regarding proper name usage:

Proper Use of the University's Name

University of Louisiana at Lafayette has been the formal and official name of the University since 1999. Please use it in first reference to the University in text. UL Lafayette may be used as an abbreviation to refer to the academic institution when clarification is necessary.

Name: University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Academic Abbreviation: UL Lafayette
Athletics Nickname: Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Athletics Shortened Names: Louisiana, Ragin' Cajuns, and Cajuns
Athletics Abbreviation: LA (for score/stats listings only)

Some people talk about use of Louisiana as being illegal and state they will never call us Louisiana. It is time to end this name issue.
Use of Louisiana athletically has no impact on any other university inside or outside of Louisiana. Any objection to its use is for petty reasons, as it is legal and it is approved by the UL System and by the Sun Belt Conference. If schools in Texas can coexist like Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Texas State and UTEP, surely schools like Louisiana State, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech and ULM can coexist as well.

All of this interest in ULM is really something. Well, we are not dropping down. I am an alum of ULM and came up in the university during the name change time period. Those who have backed away from the school really do not have a legit reason why to not support the school. They weren't bought in to begin with. As time progressed NLU as it was then called became a real **** hole facilities wise. The name change and new leadership transformed the campus into what it is today. Although there is a night and day difference from when I went there to now, none of my memories of when I went there have changed. So, to back away from the school due to a name change makes no sense whatsoever. Anyways, the cause of ULMs failings in sports is tied to a series of poor hires and not fully funding athletics. Currently, the president of ULM has increased the amount of university funding for sports (we must remember Louisiana schools don't heavily fund sports with student fees like schools in other states). Additionally, effort is being made to hire the best candidates for jobs and not those with relationships or ties to ULM (this high schoolish practice doomed us for years). Lastly, personal contributions are going up and we are getting more alums back into the fold who stopped participating due to the name change. So, we actually are turning things around. Many feel that we don't have support for our programs, this isn't true. Our fans have shown that they will support our programs, we just need to give them a better product to support. We may have been down and out for a few years, but again the reasons were poor management and funding. These two issues are being cured. Once cured, we will realize our potential. And for those advocating a move down to FCS, please understand that such a move would economically devastate ULM. The numbers have been rum on that, and it is not happening. We will be fine and in a bowl before you know it. Thanks for your interest. Let's not forget, we were just in a bowl in 2012, and made it to the finals of the men's CBI basketball tournament in 2015, so let's not play us like we've never seen success.

(06-15-2017 09:46 AM)HoustonCajun Wrote:  

(06-15-2017 03:20 AM)BRtransplant Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 10:21 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:13 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:00 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Why did they change from NLU again?

I'm not sure but I think they took the UL before ULL tried to. When other LA schools complained they went with the ULM instead of directional Monroe.

I think but not sure that's the way it went.

USL (University of Southwest Louisiana) wanted a name change to just University Louisiana but the state wouldn't allow it by citing a part of the Louisiana Higher Education Charter that reads no University can change their official name to represent the whole state of Louisiana. Also it was interpreted that if a school wanted a name change there had to be at least two institutions change their name to represent the system.

I was living right outside of Lafayette when all this started to really heat up in 1996-97. If I remember correctly they courted McNeese State, Southeast Louisiana and Nicholls State to change their name before NLU agreed. Both NLU and USL name change took place in 1999. If they couldn't convince a school to change their name also they would still be the USL Ragin' Cajun's.

NLU agreed to become ULM only after USL agreed to support ULM's getting into the Sun Belt Conference.

Remember that in 1984, USL (University of Southwestern Louisiana) became the University of Louisiana with unanimous support from the System Board and all universities within that system, including LA Tech. UL, at that time, had a graduating class with that University of Louisiana name. It achieved that name the same way Louisiana Polytechnic Institute became Louisiana Tech and LSU New Orleans became UNO. However, LSU raised the claim that only the state legislature could change the name of a university, even though that was not a precedent and it was not even under the LSU System. It went all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court and in a split vote lead by an LSU judge ruled in its favor. During that multi-year legal battle, an injunction was issued prohibiting use of the UL name, so the university continued as USL. So, USL went back to the legislature for name approval and the only thing it was able to get was the University of Louisiana name with a city tag, but only if another university in the state also changed its name similarly. Northeast Louisiana University (NLU) agreed to change to the University of Louisiana at Monroe in exchange for USL's endorsing it for membership in the Sun Belt Conference. That was in 1999.

The university uses its official name on all university academic matters. The law only states that the city tag is to be used when "University of" or "UL" are used. There is no mention of using ONLY Louisiana. There is nothing prohibiting its use of a nickname or an abbreviation of that name, Louisiana, without "University" attached to it. Use of "Louisiana" is not prohibited by the law and is approved by the UL System. And, use of its official name academically is required of the university academically, not of anyone outside of the university.

ULM tried using Louisiana as its name in the early 2000's, but it did not work, so any challenge by them is disingenuous. They decided to brand themselves as ULM, although they could have used Monroe, like other universities have done in shortening their branded name to just the city, e.g. Little Rock (Arkansas- Little Rock), Milwaukee (Wisconsin - Milwaukee), Charlotte ( North Carolina - Charlotte). There is a Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, so use of Lafayette is not doable and is problematic for both schools.

The Sun Belt Conference asked all members to use the name they want to be marketed by. We chose Louisiana and they chose ULM. The ULM president no longer protests our use of Louisiana, although some of their alumni do. LSU has indicated they no longer care what we call ourselves.

We are doing what other schools that do not use their official name for athletic reference have done, e.g. Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), Fresno State (California State University - Fresno), LSU (Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College), McNeese (McNeese State University). A better example is Nevada Reno and Nevada Las Vegas. One goes by Nevada and the other UNLV, similar to Louisiana and ULM. So do Cal and UCLA. Many of the universities around the country do not use their official name for athletics but do so academically, e.g. Wisconsin (Wisconsin - Madison), Nebraska (Nebraska - Lincoln), Texas (Texas at Austin), California (Cal Berkeley).

The Louisiana brand is now official. The Sun Belt Conference has a directive on what to call each of its members and ours is Louisiana. Publications and networks are picking up on that and ESPN has finally indicated that it will and has now started to refer to us as Louisiana.

This is the official university statement regarding proper name usage:

Proper Use of the University's Name

University of Louisiana at Lafayette has been the formal and official name of the University since 1999. Please use it in first reference to the University in text. UL Lafayette may be used as an abbreviation to refer to the academic institution when clarification is necessary.

Name: University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Academic Abbreviation: UL Lafayette
Athletics Nickname: Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Athletics Shortened Names: Louisiana, Ragin' Cajuns, and Cajuns
Athletics Abbreviation: LA (for score/stats listings only)

Some people talk about use of Louisiana as being illegal and state they will never call us Louisiana. It is time to end this name issue.
Use of Louisiana athletically has no impact on any other university inside or outside of Louisiana. Any objection to its use is for petty reasons, as it is legal and it is approved by the UL System and by the Sun Belt Conference. If schools in Texas can coexist like Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Texas State and UTEP, surely schools like Louisiana State, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech and ULM can coexist as well.

Was disappointed when I came to Lafayette when we were in the Belt, and you guys had "MTSU" up on the scoreboard, while we complied with your wishes of "UL" when you played in Murfreesboro.

We had similarly asked the conference for just "MT" or "Middle Tennessee"

(06-15-2017 08:57 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  They made a deal with the devil and lost. I agree that ULM's giving has increased over the last ten years but at what rate? Is it enough to cover inflation? NLU is a decent place to get an education, and being a bottom feeding FBS only diminishes what they used to be or can be.

ULM's self-generated income isn't AWFUL, there are 12 G5's who bring in less in conference, ticket, sponsorship, and donation income.

That's not great but the core is there to do OK. The critical difference is that every other G5 spends at least $4 million more from the school budget or student fees.

On top of that funding gap they are $4 million back of Tech in self-generated income and around $7 million back of the Cajuns.

Being the absolute bottom in subsidy coupled with bottom quarter in self-generated is simply toxic.

(06-15-2017 09:53 AM)bluephi1914 Wrote:  All of this interest in ULM is really something. Well, we are not dropping down. I am an alum of ULM and came up in the university during the name change time period. Those who have backed away from the school really do not have a legit reason why to not support the school. They weren't bought in to begin with. As time progressed NLU as it was then called became a real **** hole facilities wise. The name change and new leadership transformed the campus into what it is today. Although there is a night and day difference from when I went there to now, none of my memories of when I went there have changed. So, to back away from the school due to a name change makes no sense whatsoever. Anyways, the cause of ULMs failings in sports is tied to a series of poor hires and not fully funding athletics. Currently, the president of ULM has increased the amount of university funding for sports (we must remember Louisiana schools don't heavily fund sports with student fees like schools in other states). Additionally, effort is being made to hire the best candidates for jobs and not those with relationships or ties to ULM (this high schoolish practice doomed us for years). Lastly, personal contributions are going up and we are getting more alums back into the fold who stopped participating due to the name change. So, we actually are turning things around. Many feel that we don't have support for our programs, this isn't true. Our fans have shown that they will support our programs, we just need to give them a better product to support. We may have been down and out for a few years, but again the reasons were poor management and funding. These two issues are being cured. Once cured, we will realize our potential. And for those advocating a move down to FCS, please understand that such a move would economically devastate ULM. The numbers have been rum on that, and it is not happening. We will be fine and in a bowl before you know it. Thanks for your interest. Let's not forget, we were just in a bowl in 2012, and made it to the finals of the men's CBI basketball tournament in 2015, so let's not play us like we've never seen success.

You don't have support for your athletics where it matters. As I note above, ULM does OK in self-generating income. Not good, tad below average but it's credible support but the next lowest in G5 the school provides double the institutional support of ULM and the results show.

ULM's Sun Belt conference all-time records:
Women's hoops 72-128 .360
Softball 84-162 .341
Volleyball 18-172 (four winless seasons) .095
Soccer 17-92-5 .171
Football 52-63 .441
Men's basketball 70-112 .385
Baseball 118-180 .396

It's not a ULM FAN problem it is an ADMINISTRATION problem.

I agree 100%! It's an admin issue. With that, changes have been are continually being made. We are being punished for years of poor management and inadequate funding. That all is changing.

Wasn't NLU quite successful in 1-aa ?

I know their women's hoops teams were good back then too.

When I lived there they had a good baseball team. Saw them beat LSU in Monroe.

Maybe they need to give 'ole Tim "McGraw" Smith a call.

(06-15-2017 09:46 AM)HoustonCajun Wrote:  Remember that in 1984, USL (University of Southwestern Louisiana) became the University of Louisiana with unanimous support from the System Board and all universities within that system, including LA Tech. UL, at that time, had a graduating class with that University of Louisiana name. It achieved that name the same way Louisiana Polytechnic Institute became Louisiana Tech and LSU New Orleans became UNO. However, LSU raised the claim that only the state legislature could change the name of a university, even though that was not a precedent and it was not even under the LSU System. It went all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court and in a split vote lead by an LSU judge ruled in its favor. During that multi-year legal battle, an injunction was issued prohibiting use of the UL name, so the university continued as USL. So, USL went back to the legislature for name approval and the only thing it was able to get was the University of Louisiana name with a city tag, but only if another university in the state also changed its name similarly. Northeast Louisiana University (NLU) agreed to change to the University of Louisiana at Monroe in exchange for USL's endorsing it for membership in the Sun Belt Conference. That was in 1999.

The university uses its official name on all university academic matters. The law only states that the city tag is to be used when "University of" or "UL" are used. There is no mention of using ONLY Louisiana. There is nothing prohibiting its use of a nickname or an abbreviation of that name, Louisiana, without "University" attached to it. Use of "Louisiana" is not prohibited by the law and is approved by the UL System. And, use of its official name academically is required of the university academically, not of anyone outside of the university.

ULM tried using Louisiana as its name in the early 2000's, but it did not work, so any challenge by them is disingenuous. They decided to brand themselves as ULM, although they could have used Monroe, like other universities have done in shortening their branded name to just the city, e.g. Little Rock (Arkansas- Little Rock), Milwaukee (Wisconsin - Milwaukee), Charlotte ( North Carolina - Charlotte). There is a Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, so use of Lafayette is not doable and is problematic for both schools.

The Sun Belt Conference asked all members to use the name they want to be marketed by. We chose Louisiana and they chose ULM. The ULM president no longer protests our use of Louisiana, although some of their alumni do. LSU has indicated they no longer care what we call ourselves.

We are doing what other schools that do not use their official name for athletic reference have done, e.g. Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), Fresno State (California State University - Fresno), LSU (Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College), McNeese (McNeese State University). A better example is Nevada Reno and Nevada Las Vegas. One goes by Nevada and the other UNLV, similar to Louisiana and ULM. So do Cal and UCLA. Many of the universities around the country do not use their official name for athletics but do so academically, e.g. Wisconsin (Wisconsin - Madison), Nebraska (Nebraska - Lincoln), Texas (Texas at Austin), California (Cal Berkeley).

The Louisiana brand is now official. The Sun Belt Conference has a directive on what to call each of its members and ours is Louisiana. Publications and networks are picking up on that and ESPN has finally indicated that it will and has now started to refer to us as Louisiana.

This is the official university statement regarding proper name usage:

Proper Use of the University's Name

University of Louisiana at Lafayette has been the formal and official name of the University since 1999. Please use it in first reference to the University in text. UL Lafayette may be used as an abbreviation to refer to the academic institution when clarification is necessary.

Name: University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Academic Abbreviation: UL Lafayette
Athletics Nickname: Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Athletics Shortened Names: Louisiana, Ragin' Cajuns, and Cajuns
Athletics Abbreviation: LA (for score/stats listings only)

Some people talk about use of Louisiana as being illegal and state they will never call us Louisiana. It is time to end this name issue.
Use of Louisiana athletically has no impact on any other university inside or outside of Louisiana. Any objection to its use is for petty reasons, as it is legal and it is approved by the UL System and by the Sun Belt Conference. If schools in Texas can coexist like Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Texas State and UTEP, surely schools like Louisiana State, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech and ULM can coexist as well.

The bolded statement is absolutely incorrect.

First, had you been granted permission from the start to become UL, no one would have a problem with "Louisiana." However, you were told no, but your immature administration refused to take no for an answer.

The state finally agreed to a compromise and you got another school to change their name for you. You have since stabbed ULM in the back with this ridiculous name game. They gave up fighting it because they have no backbone and their admin is a joke.

Calling yourself Louisiana is just an attempt to circumvent the intent of the bylaws and brand yourself as UL. People will assume "Louisiana" is UL, which you all know full well. Furthermore, calling yourself Louisiana impies you are the flagship of the UL System, which you absolutely are not. Before you deny this, I have seen ULL fans refer to themselves as "the flagship." This implies you are superior to the other schools in the UL System, but all schools are equal. There is no flagship.

You mentioned some examples. Texas was known only as UT for most of it's history. Austin was added much much later, after it had already been Texas for decades. Nevada has also been known as Nevada for most of it's history (although UNLV fans resist it). ULL has never been known as "Louisiana." If you want to envoke these examples you might as well go by your traditional Southwestern name.

Btw, you are not allowed to use "UL," but you put it on your ball caps.

Finally, as said before, the Louisiana name claim is just a way to make people think you are UL, and for the life of me I can't figure out why you should be. What was wrong with Southwestern, anyway? Southeastern is fine being Southeastern, Northwestern State is fine with their name, and if it wasn't for you Northeast would still be Northeast. What if Tech tried to become UL? We don't, because we understand our role in the system. What makes you special that out of nine UL System schools you get to be Louisiana?

The only petty ones here are ULL. You were told no and you've been throwing a temper tantrum every since. And quite frankly, I don't want your childish administration representing my state.

#NotMyLouisiana

(06-15-2017 10:30 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-15-2017 08:57 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  They made a deal with the devil and lost. I agree that ULM's giving has increased over the last ten years but at what rate? Is it enough to cover inflation? NLU is a decent place to get an education, and being a bottom feeding FBS only diminishes what they used to be or can be.

ULM's self-generated income isn't AWFUL, there are 12 G5's who bring in less in conference, ticket, sponsorship, and donation income.

That's not great but the core is there to do OK. The critical difference is that every other G5 spends at least $4 million more from the school budget or student fees.

On top of that funding gap they are $4 million back of Tech in self-generated income and around $7 million back of the Cajuns.

Being the absolute bottom in subsidy coupled with bottom quarter in self-generated is simply toxic.

That's why I asked the question. It seems that in Louisiana is a huge part of the problem. They are weird about student fees here in LA.

(06-15-2017 12:09 PM)techdawg28 Wrote:  

(06-15-2017 09:46 AM)HoustonCajun Wrote:  Remember that in 1984, USL (University of Southwestern Louisiana) became the University of Louisiana with unanimous support from the System Board and all universities within that system, including LA Tech. UL, at that time, had a graduating class with that University of Louisiana name. It achieved that name the same way Louisiana Polytechnic Institute became Louisiana Tech and LSU New Orleans became UNO. However, LSU raised the claim that only the state legislature could change the name of a university, even though that was not a precedent and it was not even under the LSU System. It went all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court and in a split vote lead by an LSU judge ruled in its favor. During that multi-year legal battle, an injunction was issued prohibiting use of the UL name, so the university continued as USL. So, USL went back to the legislature for name approval and the only thing it was able to get was the University of Louisiana name with a city tag, but only if another university in the state also changed its name similarly. Northeast Louisiana University (NLU) agreed to change to the University of Louisiana at Monroe in exchange for USL's endorsing it for membership in the Sun Belt Conference. That was in 1999.

The university uses its official name on all university academic matters. The law only states that the city tag is to be used when "University of" or "UL" are used. There is no mention of using ONLY Louisiana. There is nothing prohibiting its use of a nickname or an abbreviation of that name, Louisiana, without "University" attached to it. Use of "Louisiana" is not prohibited by the law and is approved by the UL System. And, use of its official name academically is required of the university academically, not of anyone outside of the university.

ULM tried using Louisiana as its name in the early 2000's, but it did not work, so any challenge by them is disingenuous. They decided to brand themselves as ULM, although they could have used Monroe, like other universities have done in shortening their branded name to just the city, e.g. Little Rock (Arkansas- Little Rock), Milwaukee (Wisconsin - Milwaukee), Charlotte ( North Carolina - Charlotte). There is a Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, so use of Lafayette is not doable and is problematic for both schools.

The Sun Belt Conference asked all members to use the name they want to be marketed by. We chose Louisiana and they chose ULM. The ULM president no longer protests our use of Louisiana, although some of their alumni do. LSU has indicated they no longer care what we call ourselves.

We are doing what other schools that do not use their official name for athletic reference have done, e.g. Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), Fresno State (California State University - Fresno), LSU (Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College), McNeese (McNeese State University). A better example is Nevada Reno and Nevada Las Vegas. One goes by Nevada and the other UNLV, similar to Louisiana and ULM. So do Cal and UCLA. Many of the universities around the country do not use their official name for athletics but do so academically, e.g. Wisconsin (Wisconsin - Madison), Nebraska (Nebraska - Lincoln), Texas (Texas at Austin), California (Cal Berkeley).

The Louisiana brand is now official. The Sun Belt Conference has a directive on what to call each of its members and ours is Louisiana. Publications and networks are picking up on that and ESPN has finally indicated that it will and has now started to refer to us as Louisiana.

This is the official university statement regarding proper name usage:

Proper Use of the University's Name

University of Louisiana at Lafayette has been the formal and official name of the University since 1999. Please use it in first reference to the University in text. UL Lafayette may be used as an abbreviation to refer to the academic institution when clarification is necessary.

Name: University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Academic Abbreviation: UL Lafayette
Athletics Nickname: Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Athletics Shortened Names: Louisiana, Ragin' Cajuns, and Cajuns
Athletics Abbreviation: LA (for score/stats listings only)

Some people talk about use of Louisiana as being illegal and state they will never call us Louisiana. It is time to end this name issue.
Use of Louisiana athletically has no impact on any other university inside or outside of Louisiana. Any objection to its use is for petty reasons, as it is legal and it is approved by the UL System and by the Sun Belt Conference. If schools in Texas can coexist like Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Texas State and UTEP, surely schools like Louisiana State, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech and ULM can coexist as well.

The bolded statement is absolutely incorrect.

First, had you been granted permission from the start to become UL, no one would have a problem with "Louisiana." However, you were told no, but your immature administration refused to take no for an answer.

The state finally agreed to a compromise and you got another school to change their name for you. You have since stabbed ULM in the back with this ridiculous name game. They gave up fighting it because they have no backbone and their admin is a joke.

Calling yourself Louisiana is just an attempt to circumvent the intent of the bylaws and brand yourself as UL. People will assume "Louisiana" is UL, which you all know full well. Furthermore, calling yourself Louisiana impies you are the flagship of the UL System, which you absolutely are not. Before you deny this, I have seen ULL fans refer to themselves as "the flagship." This implies you are superior to the other schools in the UL System, but all schools are equal. There is no flagship.

You mentioned some examples. Texas was known only as UT for most of it's history. Austin was added much much later, after it had already been Texas for decades. Nevada has also been known as Nevada for most of it's history (although UNLV fans resist it). ULL has never been known as "Louisiana." If you want to envoke these examples you might as well go by your traditional Southwestern name.

Btw, you are not allowed to use "UL," but you put it on your ball caps.

Finally, as said before, the Louisiana name claim is just a way to make people think you are UL, and for the life of me I can't figure out why you should be. What was wrong with Southwestern, anyway? Southeastern is fine being Southeastern, Northwestern State is fine with their name, and if it wasn't for you Northeast would still be Northeast. What if Tech tried to become UL? We don't, because we understand our role in the system. What makes you special that out of nine UL System schools you get to be Louisiana?

The only petty ones here are ULL. You were told no and you've been throwing a temper tantrum every since. And quite frankly, I don't want your childish administration representing my state.

#NotMyLouisiana

I really pray this doesn't turn into another Name thread. I am so sick of that dead horse.