TexGator

Given the culture change and better results on the field, is it time for O'Malley to start talking to Rossomando about an extension- one that will keep him from wanting to interview for other jobs? I'm not saying another school will pluck him up after going 13-10 the first 2 years, the trajectory of the program makes it where an opening somewhere next year might get some tougher calls for his agent to return with "Coach Rossomando is grateful you appreciated his work enough to extend an offer to interview, but he's very happy at Lamar." Don't worry- I think Rice is going to first look at Clint Killough or K. C. Keeler, but Rosso has definitely earned, in my opinion, a little additional job security (But I'm not writing the whole check for the additional money- I'm not that well off).

I mean that, after he had that performance, more offers than we've seen probably rolled in. While I think he'd be great in the Cardinals' offense, it's hard to not "reopen your recruitment" when the FBS coaches start calling. I doubt we'd lose him to another FCS offer with the relationship they look like they forged, but it's hard to not listen even some G5 schools start calling, let alone P4.

Well, that was definitely a great way to win a game. Now, let's build off that and push for the 2025 playoffs.

And that performance led to him decommitting. Hopefully, the coaches can reel him back in. He's special and could be a special player at Lamar.

It's not attached. This upgrade is all about the team itself. With that, moving some of the stadium facilities over to the new building will likely allow them to renovate the stadium and upgrade the fan experience next. Regardless of any "next steps," this is an important project for the team. Secures our place has having the best facilities in the Southland, makes the program more attractive for recruits, and a sought-after place for events. Maybe it'll give us a chance to even be the long-term home of the SLC Tournament. Now that the conference seems to be going away from using minor league parks (I'd guess because of the cost), having the superior ballpark and a central location gives us a built-in advantage that we might as well literally capitalize on.

I'll be part of that crowd. Saw that there's a deal to get tickets to the last 2 home games... wish I could put what I paid for Saturday's tickets toward the deal- $48 for a pair of chairback seats for the other game!

The fact LSUA has shot more FTs than the Cardinals is my worry- it'd be one thing if the Cards weren't playing much defense, but 19 FTs by a team we should have put away is worrisome for me.

Looking at the numbers, so far, in conference. There are 4 tiers: Tier 1: SFA Incarnate Word, Lamar, Southeastern (all in the top 4 in offense and defense) Tier 2: TAMU-Commerce (5th in both) Tier 3: McNeese, Nicholls, Houston Christian (all 6th, 7th, or 8th in offense and defense) Tier 4: Northwestern State Call me crazy, but I care about SCORING offense and defense a lot more than yards. If you put up 500 yards of offense, but never put it in the end zone, you mean nothing to me... same for giving up 1000 yards, but you get a turnover or make a stand, when it counts.

I 100% agree. To push the team toward the 4-0 side, it starts this week.

We're hitting the home stretch of conference. We're at 2-1 while Southeastern is at 3-1. After a pair of bounce-back wins, it's time for the Cards to assert themselves as a top-tier team in the Southland and games like this are the start of it. So important that even I'm coming into town for it!!!

I think, with our performance, 8-4 should be the minimum goal. We have toughness and "step-up" for big plays. We need to sweep October. That's the only focus right now. And, dude, it's been "Texas State" for 25 years in trying to brand themselves as the flagship of the system.

Love this. We lost some talent to the portal but I know that all the guys we lost had the mind set of that there were two "no can do" stipulations: 1) No transferring within the Southland 2) No transferring to Baylor to follow Coach Snedeker ... both because they weren't going to do that to Coach Davis. To me, that tells me that they believed in Coach Davis and what that family in the locker room meant.

I don't disagree. The Power 4 Conferences are going to split off; we'll see who is sitting in chairs when the music stops.

1) There are sports other than football. Yes, football drives a lot but adding the Bulldogs is like adding a P4 school for the other sports. 2) Hawaii is a football-only member. 3) The original MWC was jettisoning the "New WAC"- now, they're poaching from elsewhere. Just saw they're looking at Toledo, Northern Illinois, and Texas State. This is geting weird.

Well, the Mountain West is at the point where it's either: - Add schools like Gonzaga, UTEP, Hawaii, Montana & Montana State, Texas State, Idaho, the teams in the Dakotas - Dissolve We shall see how it plays out.

Glad we've moved up in the rankings. More interested in the "Just win" mindset. If we go 8-4, we're probably not making the playoff. Just keep choppin' wood and rankings become irrelevant. Big test this week!

The WAC Conference WOULD HAVE BEEN a great idea, if the promises of turning it into an FBS conference hadn't been hollow (doubling those non-conference football game paychecks would have been helpful). Born and the other ADs should have done more work on getting assurances that plan was legitimate before joining- then again, that might have been how they got out so easily... that the membership agreement had some "out" clauses that O'Malley was able to exploit the moment he arrived on campus. I am a fan of blooming where we're planted but also paying attention to the way the trade winds are blowing. Joining a conference like the Sun Belt (where we still have relationships and there's no empty promises) is something we should listen to... but not something we'd go into "all willy nilly"- the biggest difference a move to the Sun Belt, as an example, is that it automatically brings more revenue through being a multiple-bid league in several sports, conference money for bowls, and bigger paychecks (suddenly, the 12 FBS schools in Texas and those in Louisiana are all having to make bigger financial promises. A paycheck game even going from $300K to $500K is enough to fund all the scholarships for an entire Olympic sport (other than baseball/softball)... from 1 game. Doesn't take the success that JMU is having in their reclassification to make it lucrative... but it isn't something we should do just to do... or even just for the money because we know the financials of CFB are going to change soon (even if we've been saying that for a decade and it hasn't happened yet)

I'm sure they're having those sorts of talks already. We can't be reactive; we don't pay him as much as he could make as a coordinator on the P4 level and it's not isolated to Lamar. After UIW's run 2 years ago, Kinne was deciding his 2023 fate between: - Bigger salary to be TAMU Offensive Coordinator - Smaller salary to be the Texas State Head Coach He bet on himself and now has the bigger salary and the Head Coach job but it was about 50% more money to take the Texas A&M OC job under Jimbo than it was to be a HC... and that's on the FBS level. There are even position coaches who make what Rossomando makes so, if we want him to stay, we need to start getting compensation, financial and benefits, locked up.

It's a win. It's not the way you want to have to win, but a pair of wins where they had to grind it out in the 4th Quarter are still a pair of wins... one in an upset, one staving off an upset. Now, to head up to Conway.

The biggest issue is that O'Malley is the first AD who has the alumni feeling like he has vision for 10+ years down the road, even if he's plucked up by another school before then (related to that- I'm really glad UH didn't steal him). Every other AD of the last 30 years always felt like they weren't a "the buck stops here" person- every success was for their resume and every misstep was someone else's fault. The move FROM the Sun Belt a quarter-century ago was the right move as they were struggling in a lot of ways. The influx of money from their online M.Ed. program (if you saw those 2009-2012 School of Education graduations, you know just how lucrative those were, and well-timed for the return of football) brought the campus back to life. The WAC Conference move would have worked if O'Malley had been shepherding the department when it happened. Instead, it was a lot of hollow promises of making the WAC an FBS conference, which never happened and resulted in NMSU and SHSU moving into C-USA and a world of uncertainty for those schools. Related to coach's post- 25K by bowling and adding seats on the East side of the stadium would make the stadium a destination for a lot of events. Having someone connect like JOM could actually benefit LU by potentially making it the location for the D2 or D3 Championship Game for a decade. Neither has a long-term home right now (and D2 is literally playing in a HS stadium- a nice HS stadium in McKinney ISD Stadium, but a HS stadium none the less). Having some events that get eyeballs on the stadium would help with sponsorships that would defray the cost of a renovation.

That would be the more cost-efficient alternative... to build a new arena elsewhere (maybe down next to The Beck) and then push the seating around. Definitely would be interesting to have some crazy students each end zone making life hell for teams when there's that key goal-to-go situation. But the first thing is to build the momentum that is starting. I remember how exciting it was back in '91 when the WBB team was hot and got to host a tournament game ("Thank you, Sesame Street Live!"). If basketball or football had postseason play in front of them, the community would show up.

Related to your points: 1) While Lamar is seen as "take anyone," they actually are decently selective, and the dropouts are people who couldn't hack it, or life got in the way. 2) If the university is buying frat/sorority houses, what's the guarantee the chapters are going to buy them off the university? Colleges usually don't own Greek Organization housing- the chapter does and they decide who can live here. Also, what Greek societies don't have a house and want one? Housing is pretty affordable around the LU campus. 3) So, where are you wanting the school to build a new stadium? I'll tell you that I am closer to "tree hugger" than "drill baby, drill" and I think it makes a nice and unique backdrop for the university, given how Lamar grew up with the evolution of the petrochem industry. 4) I'd be all for having freshmen live on campus, but they'd need to fundraise to have more money for students to be able to afford it. Lamar doesn't have a glut of housing for those additional students to live on campus so you're talking about housing for hundreds more students to make it logistically feasible. 5) Scholarship money, in general, is needed. Too many schools are creating programs to help lower-income students for Lamar to not step up and do the same. If providing more opportunities for current students is the roadblock in the way of becoming, for example, a Sun Belt school again, the focus needs to be on building up what already there before expanding the offerings on the field, so to speak.

Doesn't look like it's ANY extra seating. $60M for a press box, concession stands, and some awnings is a BIG price tag. ... and Bowers, according to TexasBob's Stadium List, has a smaller seating capacity. They have a LOT more space to expand it- wonder why they're not even expanding seating to the goal lines. And, no, I don't have $100M.

I don't have a true feel on President Taylor, but I do have a feel for O'Malley- he's a builder. I feel like he's a conference commissioner or university president in 5 years. You are spot-on right that bigwigs love bragging rights. There are some big checks that people will need to write, and Lamar has corporations and people who can write those checks. A move to FBS would definitely require a tiered approach where you don't shake every tree for $1M but does require a few trees that can bear that fruit. Just saw the plan to upgrade Bowers Stadium. I haven't been there in a while, but it's not an utter dump so, if their price tag is $60M, ours is probably close to that. The biggest issue is the logistical space with how tight the quarters are being bounded on 3 sides by a refinery, a highway, and an arena. But, the real impetus for SHSU moving up was a pair of coaches (Fritz and Keeler) that have gone a combined 120-39 before making the announcement of the move. Lamar has had 2 winning seasons since 1979.

Great win! Build it in the trenches and you 100% get games where you run the ball >40 times for >200 yards.