(03-14-2024 04:23 PM)FrankyP Wrote: (03-14-2024 04:08 PM)RustonBulldog Wrote: (03-14-2024 01:48 PM)ragin4u Wrote: Any tech fans lurking care to comment on the apparent change on using our preferred name?
Jim Henderson probably has a lot of great connections from his time as UL System President and which opens the door for olive branches at the administration level. He has the relationships to rebuild bridges that have been burnt.
Agree. With Henderson now at the helm there is at least one adult in the room. I guess what we were really curious about is how the fan base is taking these ‘olive branches,’ esp calling us by our correct name?
I think this a much larger issue that I hope you and the rest of the posters see below that I'll be approaching in good faith.
For the last, at least, 20 years both of our schools have been fighting to be seen as the premier school of the UL System. Our schools took two different routes to get there. Louisiana Tech upped its admission stands with a focus on receiving the tier one designations, while you guys focus on expanded enrollment and research dollars for R1 status. We were both succesful in those ventures. Did it ultimately make a difference for either? I'm not really sure. I do believe Louisiana Tech took the wrong path as with a declining state population, we can no longer hold those admission standards without losing enrollment.
This matters in the context of athletics, because prior to this new era that we'll say started around 2021, there would be a massive athletic reward for receiving that premier designation in the UL System. I think if either of our schools had been able to separate themselves from the other it could have been rocket fuel for growth (Maybe even enough for one or the other to eventually knock on the door of a weakened Big 12). Louisiana Tech fans always saw the "Louisiana" branding as an attempt to grab that flagship status of the UL System. If Tech gave up ground on that and the branding campaign was successful during that era it could have been detrimental to Louisiana Tech's resources and future growth. So we fought it and took it personally.
That fear doesn't exist in 2024. The big boys are leaving (Have left) the station and we've both been left behind. Any dreams either school had of making that leap to the bottom of the P5 are officially dead. People will laugh but I think at one point there was an opportunity for one of us to do that if the chips fell right. College athletics is changing rapidly and our resources are limited. Most Tech fans are tapping out. The fun rivalry between our schools will still exist, but the brawl for that UL Flagship status is done.
What is funny is that the nastiness between our schools fans has always surprised outsiders. I think both of our schools have an extremely passionate core fan base. There is something that makes our schools different and that is our state is and will always be owned by LSU. So your true Cajun and Bulldog fans said no to the most powerful cultural influence in our state and chose to support their school instead. Only the true diehards do that.
Older Louisiana Tech fans will never go along with the Louisiana branding as it will always be seen as a part of that power struggle, but newer graduates and certainly current and future graduates won't care at all.
I'm sure you will disagree with some, maybe all, of what I posted but thats my take on where we are today.
/
[split] Baseball Rivalry Discussion
![[Image: 5d011e87250000a013dc5766.jpeg?ops=scalef..._noupscale]](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5d011e87250000a013dc5766.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
