Below question comes from The Athletic and in a question lobbed at the New Orleans lead writer Jeff Duncan.

For those who do not know the backstory, New Orleans and Nicholls both had club teams but only one elevated them to NCAA status in the 60s, 70s. Nicholls is now Div I FCS in Southland.

There's been various looks at football which included eye-balling the Pioneer League in the 1990s (probably their last real study).

There was that whole D1 to D3 to D2 and just remain at D1 situation about a decade ago which at times included the notion of elevating the then-club team to D3 and then discussion of potentially adding football when D2 Gulf South was direction. None of those gained traction and the program at end of day, they ended up staying D1 as a non-football school and joining Southland at same time as Houston Baptist, Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word.

UNO MB Thread: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/privatee...t1156.html
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I'd like to switch gears and toss a UNO Privateers question at you. Anything interesting brewing on the horizon at my alma mater? What are your thoughts on AD Tim Duncan and President John Nicklow as far as commitment to athletics? Is it just survival mode for the foreseeable future?

@Jim T. I think there's a lot of reason for optimism at UNO. I really like the way Tim Duncan has come in and attacked the job despite the difficulties presented by the pandemic. He has recently rolled out an ambitious game plan for the future of the athletic department that Privateers fans should be excited about. I like the idea of adding e-sports to the athletic department and there's even a plan to conduct a feasibility study for football there. Lots of promising ideas. Now the school, its donors and sponsors need to step up and fulfill the potential. Obviously, it's not a one- or two-year mission. This is going to take some time. But I like what I'm seeing and hearing from UNO.

Feasibility studies can serve any number of purposes, though. And soooo many were done between 2005-2015 alone across the three NCAA divisions, I don’t know if this should excite people or simply satisfy them that they’re finally doing something so many of their peers have already done? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s cool news...but also seems overdue perhaps?

And I bet that if they explore Pioneer, I would suspect the outlook as looking grim. It’s a shame they couldn’t go D2 or D3.

(10-21-2020 01:39 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  And I bet that if they explore Pioneer, I would suspect the outlook as looking grim. It’s a shame they couldn’t go D2 or D3.

What PFL fans (and there are some) don't understand is that the geography doesn't work for anyone. UNO fans have no interest in Drake or Dayton or Presbyterian. They want Nicholls, SELA, etc.

Tad Gormley Stadium sits in City Park tailor-made for SLC football.

(10-21-2020 02:59 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  Tad Gormley Stadium sits in City Park tailor-made for SLC football.

I have lived within an hour of New Orleans for 25 years. I've been in Tad Gormley Stadium exactly once - to see Pearl Jam and the Ramones in September, 1995.

Just thought you'd like to know, LOL.

BTW, TGS is a grand old stadium, built during the great depression. It is one of those solid-stone edifices, not a modern erector set. That's how it survived being submerged in about 10 feet of water by Hurricane Katrina. The only things that required repair was the electrical stuff, the edifice itself was fine.

Beyond that, you are exactly right about UNO - their fans value games versus local colleges, in New Orleans, the rest of southern Louisiana, and southern Mississippi. That's about it.

So Tad Gormley is a 26k historic-looking stadium from the 1930s. What exactly was it built and used for over the years?

(10-21-2020 03:05 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-21-2020 02:59 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  Tad Gormley Stadium sits in City Park tailor-made for SLC football.

I have lived within an hour of New Orleans for 25 years. I've been in Tad Gormley Stadium exactly once - to see Pearl Jam and the Ramones in September, 1995.

Just thought you'd like to know, LOL.

BTW, TGS is a grand old stadium, built during the great depression. It is one of those solid-stone edifices, not a modern erector set. That's how it survived being submerged in about 10 feet of water by Hurricane Katrina. The only things that required repair was the electrical stuff, the edifice itself was fine.

Beyond that, you are exactly right about UNO - their fans value games versus local colleges, in New Orleans, the rest of southern Louisiana, and southern Mississippi. That's about it.

The next time a poster accuses you of being an antagonistic you-know-what (which likely will be sooner rather than later), I will come to your defense by noting, "Well, at least the man has strong tastes in music."

Van Halen, The Ramones, Pearl Jam ... keep ’em coming, QV.

(10-21-2020 03:09 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  So Tad Gormley is a 26k historic-looking stadium from the 1930s. What exactly was it built and used for over the years?

Apparently all types of sporting events, including baseball, football, soccer, and track and field.

The city of Memphis had a similar facility (Crump Stadium) back in the day. The then-Memphis State College Tigers played there until moving into the Liberty Bowl Stadium in 1965. Crump Stadium was built in 1934 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. Gormley was too in 1937.

Per Wikipedia: Tad Gormley stadium has hosted concerts by Alice Cooper, The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Journey, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Ramones, The Rolling Stones and ZZ Top, among others.

New Orleans approved to add football by turning their club team to varsity. The first year was supposed to be 2015, but it got delayed in a holding pattern since.

(10-21-2020 03:09 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  So Tad Gormley is a 26k historic-looking stadium from the 1930s. What exactly was it built and used for over the years?

High school sports, some track and field. It hosted a game or two for Tulane in the early 2000's.

(10-21-2020 04:04 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  New Orleans approved to add football by turning their club team to varsity. The first year was supposed to be 2015, but it got delayed in a holding pattern since.

I know you throw things around left and right - but that's not true; the club to varsity thing was only happening when they were on a path to Division III football which got sidelined when they decided to shift to Division II (when it then became a long-term vision).

Believe it or not, the school actually had an eight-game football schedule set for their first D3 year in what would've been 2011 with a mix of Division III, NAIA and USCAA teams with plans, to play at Tad Gormley Stadium.

Tad Gormley Stadium the day after Hurricane Katrina: