Cajuns get new look

8/08/04

Remodeling changes locker room, training areas.
Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

LAFAYETTE ï¿½ When UL Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns report back to the athletic complex this afternoon to begin drills for the 2004 football season, they’ll see a different scene.

Those Cajuns who have been in summer school and have been working out regularly already know what’s in store, while those who have maintained their conditioning back home will be in for a surprise.

Remodeling work that began earlier this year is now all but complete, and the results are striking.

Coach Rickey Bustle’s squad has a new, expanded locker room to go with a bigger, better-equipped weight room.

The sports medicine staff has training room facilities and equipment representing almost a tripling of previous accomodations.

UL Lafayette boasts an improved new locker room for football, as well as a remodeled equipment area, in which cranks on the ends move the shelves and allow access to gear while maintaining just one open row at a time.And the equipment staff is blessed with a newly-efficient storage area that makes the most of the space available for helmets, pads, jerseys and other gear the Cajuns will need.

The athletic complex was built over 30 years ago, and had not seen an appreciable updating since that time despite the mushrooming of women’s sports and the increased needs of staff during that time.

But a recent fund-raising campaign has enabled Athletic Director Nelson Schexnayder to attack some of those glaring shortcomings at long last.

Combined with work under way on the track and field-soccer facility, and future plans for an expanded complex and an all-purpose indoor practice facility that will accommodate several sports, the Cajuns are marching into a new era.

Also, the sports medicine taping and training area, is nearly triple the size of previous accommodations. UL football players return for practice today.It’s the kind of progress that can provide a huge boost to the Cajuns’ self image as they approach the 2004 season, not to mention help Bustle’s staff attract new talent in the future.

The Cajuns report today and have meetings and physicals, then will begin fall drills on Monday with freshmen at 2:30 p.m. and varsity joining them at 3:30.

Media Day activities are set for Friday, with Fan Day a week from today at 6 p.m. at Cajun Field.

Scrimmages are set for Aug. 18, 21, 25 and 28, with the start of classes sandwiched into the schedule on Monday, Aug. 23.

The Northwestern State Demons are at Cajun Field on Sept. 4 to open the season, one that offers much promise to a team returning to luxurious new surroundings.