JULY 16 SUNDAY

McNeese head baseball coach Justin Hill is looking for a new pitching coach. Corey Barton will be leaving the Pokes for the same position at Louisiana Tech. I have been observing the musical chairs that have been going on between ULM, Louisiana Tech, and Southern Miss with their coaching positions.

It started when ULM went over to USM and hired their pitching coach. I wrote that I was concerned that Corey Barton would get that job. However, USM hired Louisiana Tech’s pitching coach Christian Ostrader. It did not cross my mind that Tech would then be searching for a pitching coach.  In fact, Tech lost two assistant coaches recently. ULM has hired two new assistant coaches including former MSU and SFA assistant Matt Collins. Of course, Matt is Mike Collin’s son who also works at ULM.

Corey has done a great job as lead recruiter for Justin Hill and will be tough to replace, but there are tons of coaches reaching to be in D1 baseball. Thanks and best of luck in your new gig, Corey (except when playing the Pokes).

A recent survey by the Baton Rouge Advocate revealed some interesting numbers for the football programs of the SEC. This is not athletic programs, but just football. The figures indicate that not all football programs are on equal footing. I do not have to remind McNeese fans that the Southland Conference mirrors the SEC in this fact as well. I am not complaining because I am not a Socialist and believe that if you make the money, you should be able to spend the money. Some programs choose to limit their spending, while others just have built-in advantages that not even the government can try to even out.

For example, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State trail Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama, and Tennessee by between 40,000 to 60,000 in seating capacity. Multiple $60-$100 per ticket times the seats, and it is easy to see the revenue gap.

Vanderbilt is the smallest at 40,000 with Ole Miss(58,000), Mississippi State(60,000), and Kentucky (61,000) follow. Kentucky actually reduced 4000 seats so the fans could have more room and better eye sight. The top four programs all seat between 101,000 and 103,000.

As far as football revenue, it might surprise you that Tennessee is clearly the leader at $109 million, while Alabama($104 million), and Texas A&M ($100 million) try to make ends meet. Auburn(92.5), Georgia (87.6), and LSU (85.1) may not be Boardwalk in MONOPOLY, but they are certainly parked in Park Place. Kentucky(39.7), Mississippi State (35.5), and Missouri (34.6) bring up the low rent district. It is pretty telling that a state university like Missouri is receiving $.30 on the dollar that the Big Four are receiving. Missouri maybe taking a hit in university revenue due to the campus protest in 2015. Enrollment is way down after all the violence and threats by some students and outside trouble makers.

As far as expenses, no one spends as much money as Nick Saban. Alabama spent $56.1 million on football last year, while Auburn spent $42 million. Don’t ever accuse the state of Alabama for not knowing their priorities. LSU spent $29.8 million a year ago. Of course, student enrollment plays a part in student fees. Most SEC programs are in the bracket of 25,000 to 30,000 enrollment. Vanderbilt has only 6,700 students, while Texas A&M is at 62,000 and Florida at 53,000.

Southland Conference fans will be treated to a new beautiful stadium at Abilene Christian this fall. The new stadium will be fan friendly with good sight lines and ten suites for the “fat-cats” to buy. The stadium will seat around 10,000, but will have seating in the end zone berm for up to 3,000 fans. I look forward to visiting this new campus stadium. I have been to every stadium in the Southland Conference with the exception of Houston Baptist. Shotwell Stadium will remain as the Abilene ISD football stadium.

For all of you conspiracy theorists, I have a good one for you. Safeway Corporation sponsored a Touchdown to Win Contest in Canada this season for the Canadian Football League. The prize was $1 million dollars if a team returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game. Karen Kuldys of Canada was selected in a raffle to be the contestant in the game between Winnipeg and Toronto.

The opening kickoff was returned for a touchdown so Karen was one TD away from a million dollars. In the second quarter, a kickoff was returned 99 yards for an apparent touchdown. I have seen the film, and I can tell you that there was no penalty for clipping on this TD. An official threw his flag twenty yards behind the runner as he crossed the goal line because an offensive player put his hand on the shoulder of a defender at the 20 yard line. Both players were losing their balance at this point and both stumbled. It had no bearing on the touchdown. Were the officials notified by Safeway to make sure this money was not given away? It is a little fishy since we have had no winner.

To the credit of Safeway Foods, they have given Karen a year’s worth of groceries for her “bad luck.” Yeah, right!