Athletics: UL benefits from bright national spotlight

The Advertiser, May 27, 2014

The national attention just keeps pouring in for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajun athletic program.

On Monday, the UL baseball team found out that it will enter NCAA postseason play as the No. 1 ranked team in the nation in the three major collegiate polls — Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and USA Today coaches poll.

That big finish by baseball just wraps up arguably the finest athletic school year in the department’s history

UL is now the nation’s only school this year to win a football bowl game (the New Orleans Bowl, for the third straight time), send its men’s basketball team to the NCAA Tournament and host both baseball and softball NCAA Regionals.

“That’s remarkable,” UL athletic director Scott Farmer said Monday. “It’s remarkable for everyone involved, be it our coaches and our student-athletes to our fans and our full community. … It’s a testament to a lot of hard work.”

The Cajuns also sent their men’s tennis team to this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Of course, with all of the national attention UL and the City of Lafayette have been getting due to the success of the athletic department during this school year, not 100 percent of it has been positive, at least it all hasn’t been delivered that way.

During a long rain delay in another NCAA Softball Super Regional game on Saturday, national ESPN anchor Jonathan Coachman was reviewing the Cajuns’ 7-1 win over Arizona to advance to the Women’s College World Series and, in commenting on the local fan base’s rabid support of the program, said “…in this town — and I’ve been to this town… — there’s not very much there.”

Naturally, the reaction from Lafayette viewers wasn’t favorable. Coachman spent much of the Saturday and Sunday in Twitter discussions over his comments.

Coachman tried to explain his statement with a Twitter response, “All I said was there isn’t a lot to do in Lafayette. Never insulted the town. There’s not a lot to do in MY hometown.”

Coachman also explained that he’s been to Lafayette on more than one occasion.

“Been there at least 15 times,” he said in another tweet over the weekend. “One thing that drives me nuts is when people hear what they want. You jumped on and didn’t watch.”

The anchor eventually conceded, tweeting, “Things I’ve learned on Twitter — never say there isn’t much to do in Lafayette, Louisiana. I know that’s right.”

Of course, not all of the national analysis about Lafayette was said in a negative manner. ESPN baseball analyst Ben McDonald, a former LSU All-American pitcher from Denham Springs, said the support for baseball is “just as huge” as LSU’s “but totally different from LSU hospitality toward visitors.”

McDonald said the atmosphere at Tigue Moore Field this weekend will have “gumbo flying everywhere” — “You won’t even know what you’re eating, but it will be good.”

With the school in the early stages of a three-tiered, $115 athletic facilities masterplan that includes an already underway Cajun Field football expansion and future M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field baseball renovation, the wealth of national success comes at the best of times, UL baseball coach Tony Robichaux suggested Monday.

“We’re heading into some capital campaigns and some big projects for our university,” Robichaux said, “and I think the momentum we’ve created starting in football, on into basketball, tennis, softball — it’s just huge that we keep the ball rolling for momentum.

“That’s what I like about it,” he added. “And it’s also great for our fan base. … That fan base needs to be rewarded, so they get part of this success just as much as we do.”

And in Monday’s nationally-televised NCAA Baseball Selection Show on ESPNU, the Cajuns baseball team was the only one shown live as a group. The program even opened with the Cajuns team grouped together at Tigue Moore Field with hundreds of fans in the stands watching.

“I think it’s just a sign that people are starting to recognize us,” UL junior second baseman Jace Conrad said. “I think we deserve the success and recognition. But at the end of the day, that’s not what we’re playing for. That’s not our goal. Our goal is to get to Omaha, and that’s what we’re going to set out to do.”