Without so much as a stadium, Poggi managed to get the Cajuns to a competitive level. He used his contacts nationally and internationally to attract quality players who otherwise would never have considered UL. His last two recruiting classes were ranked nationally, and his players maintained an excellent academic record.
Athletic Director Nelson Schexnayder said the issues were considered over two days. And if that wasn't enough, the reasons for the discharge were complaints from parents over daughters' playing time. What are they running there, a U-9 recreational team? But before anyone thinks Schexnayder is at it again, consider this: the decision to fire Poggi ' as are all decisions at UL, large or small ' was made by UL President Ray Authement.
So why am I not shocked? Because as a former member of the UL soccer booster club I saw Schexnayder, at Authement's direction, place restrictions on our fund raising plans that rendered the effort meaningless. Because Lafayette is a small town, and if you get crossways with the wrong person, you pay. And because UL has an atrocious record supporting women's sports. Softball was nurtured from the beginning by Yvette Girouard, who left because she wasn't adequately compensated for all she had done. Stefni Lotief has carried on, but her income is supplemented by her husband's salary as co-coach, along with his legal practice. Are we going to see Mrs. Bustle on the sidelines this year? Of course not. Football is not a woman's sport.
I am not worried about Poggi. He will do fine. I do worry about UL, though, and all the women who pursue athletic careers there. They had better hope Title IX remains law; otherwise they're all out of here.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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