Football: Bustle earns deal – one year extension through 2011 campaign

Football: Bustle earns deal – one year extension through 2011 campaign

Football: Bustle earns deal – one year extension through 2011 campaign

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • December 18, 2009

Two weeks after UL announced that head football coach Rickey Bustle would return next season for the final year of his contract, word came out Thursday afternoon that he had agreed to a one-year extension through the 2011 campaign.

News of the move was first reported by The Daily Advertiser at theadvertiser.com and came after Bustle and the university met for the past two weeks to negotiate a possible extension.

"We are comfortable that we have tentatively reached an agreement that will provide Rickey with an extension through the 2011 season, but it will be done in a fiscally responsible manner," Walker said. "We were able to renegotiate the terms of the buyout, and now it’s just the manner of putting it into all of the proper language."Once we finalize the extension and (university president) Dr. (Joseph) Savoie signs off on it, it will have to go off to the (UL System) Board of Supervisors for final approval in January."

Walker said he and Bustle met Thursday morning to work out some of the final language of the deal. He did not want to talk specifically about the new buyout terms until after the final negotiated agreement was approved by the state board.That said, Walker wanted to publicly make prospective student-athletes aware of UL’s commitment to Bustle right now.

"It’s very important for our coaching staff to be able to ensure to student-athletes that there is stability in the program and that we are committed to helping them succeed," Walker said. "Rickey and his coaches have been getting questions from recruits about their future here, and we wanted to get this word out that we’ve reached an agreement."

UL is 38-56 overall and 28-28 in Sun Belt Conference action in eight years under Bustle, a former Clemson receiver and long-time Virginia Tech assistant who took over the program prior to the 2002 season.

This past season, the Cajuns went 6-6 overall and 4-4 in league play, marking their fourth six-win season in five years.For the second consecutive season, UL was one of the last bowl-eligible teams left out of the postseason. The Cajuns haven’t played in a bowl game since 1970.

The high point of Bustle’s tenure came in 2005 when UL shared the Sun Belt title with Arkansas State and UL Monroe after going 6-5 — its first winning record since 1995.

"We’ve just got to keep striving to do better," Bustle said. "When we first got here, being bowl-eligible wasn’t even on the radar. Now we feel like we’ve built a strong base and want to take it further."We have expectations just like our fans, and we want to continue to raise the bar and keep building this program."