Only 2 of 9 smaller state universities had winning records, more evidence they should forget about big-time football

I’ve said it before and I’ll state my conviction again that Louisiana Tech University will never swim with the big fish in college football.

My alma mater, which gave the world such notables as country singers Kix Brooks and Trace Adkins and athletes like Karl Malone, Terry Bradshaw, Fred Dean and Phil Robertson, has deluded itself into believing it can compete in bog-time football.

It can’t.

I love the Bulldogs and I still bleed red and blue more than 50 years after graduating Magna Cum Barely. And I yelled myself hoarse at the exploits of Bradshaw and company. I can still remember that hail Mary to Ken Liberto that beat Northwestern State in the closing seconds of the annual State Fair game in 1967.

But here’s the thing. Since Tech has insisted on going “big time,” the State Fair game that sold out State Fair Stadium each year now is but a memory because a great intrastate rivalry has been terminated. Oh, Tech played Northwestern in 2022, I believe it was, but that was just a blip on the radar screen and not a regular event like before.

The annual battle between Tech and NLU filled the schools’ respective stadiums. Now, they don’t play, choosing to ignore each other’s very existence even though they’re only 30 miles apart. Another great in-state rivalry is dead and attendance is flat.

Meanwhile, Tech, NLU, Grambling, ULL and every other school in the state lines up to get their brains beaten out by the likes of LSU, Nebraska, Texas, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn and Florida who are more than happy to pay the smaller schools $250,000 or so for a “rent-a-win,” which in reality is little more than an intrasquad scrimmage.

 Do the math. The stadiums of the bigger schools are sold out no matter who the opponent is. It’s a win-win for the bigger schools in that it awards what for the bigger school is a token payout for a guaranteed win. It’s a win-lose for Tech, et al. A big payout (relative to its far more modest home attendance figures) but at the expense of getting its team to serve as blocking dummies for the big boys. (And no, I’m not calling anyone’s players “dummies,” so don’t even go there.)

Tech (3-9) ULM (2-10), McNeese (1-10), ULL (6-6), Nicholls State (6-5), Grambling (5-6), Southeastern (3-8, Northwestern State (0-6) and Southern (6-5) combined for a lackluster 32-65 won-loss posting, an anemic winning record of 33 percent. Only two of the teams, Southern and Nicholls had winning records (barely) while ULL broke even. Northwestern cancelled its season midway through its schedule and head coach Brad Laird resigned following the tragic death of safety Ronnie Caldwell.

NLU and Southern jettisoned their coaches and it would surprise no one to see similar terminations at Tech, McNeese or Grambling. Since the retirement of legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson after 56 years at the helm, there’s been a coaching carousel at the school.

Tech pays head coach Sonny Cumble something in the neighborhood of $900,000 a year, which is a pretty good neighborhood for a place like Ruston where the average household income is considerably less. That computes to $300,000 for each of Tech’s three wins this past season. Again, do the math. Tech’s paltry attendance figures simply don’t justify that kind of expenditure.

But the obvious question is why do I so firmly believe that Tech (and other state schools) should forget about any aspirations of big-time football despite the occasional wins over the bigger schools (NLU and Tech can each lay claim to having beaten Alabama and Tech has thumped Mississippi State a couple of times)?

I offer the transfer portal as Exhibit A.

For Exhibit B, I offer NIL (Name, Image and Likeness).

The two are intertwined to lure top players away from the smaller schools. And as they gravitate to the larger, powerhouse schools, the smaller schools will continue to suffer.

I don’t like the transfer portal because its very name guts the concept of commitment. The image of a kid out of high school donning the cap of the school he chooses for the benefit of television press conferences is rendered meaningless by the transfer portal.

He enrolls at Tech or McNeese or ULL and immediately makes an impact with outstanding play. Then, LSU, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma and other major schools will cast covetous eyes on the player who might help them win a national championship. And that lustful gaze will be returned by a kid who suddenly has visions of the riches and fame of playing on a bigger stage.

It’s just too easy to jimp ship these days. It was bad enough that players could become draft eligible before their senior years but the transfer portal doesn’t give fans a chance to even learn the player’s name before he’s gone.

And why not. NIL gives players a chance to profit on the use of their names, images or likenesses but what is the potential of capitalizing on NIL in Ruston, Monroe, Natchitoches, or Thibodaux? Or Hammond or Grambling or even Lake Charles or Lafayette?

Well, perhaps there’s some potential in Lafayette – when the oil patch is prospering. But the grass (or the money) is a lot greener in the bigger markets so a stellar player, say, a reincarnation of Terry Bradshaw, is going to see that and as soon as he can cram his clothing into his backpack, he’s gone.

There’s nothing wrong with ambition. The late F. Jay Taylor had visions of greatness for Tech and he accomplished so much as president of the school. He once told me that when it came time to hire a football coach, he had only one candidate in mind and he was damn well going to get him. And get him he did and Maxie Lambright built an outstanding small college program at Tech.

But after the Lambright era, Tech began to dream too big too fast and the results have been less than rewarding. I may be in the minority, but I would far rather see Tech as a swaggering, snarling bulldog in a small yard than to be a toothless chihuahua in a big yard.

Even Slippery Rock, another of my favorite teams, knows the wisdom of staying within itself. The Rockets are 10-1 this year and in the NCAA Division II playoffs by knowing they are small and staying small.