A new hope

Believe it or not, my wife was upset at me yesterday because I didn't write a blog. Guess I'm lazy.

Today I'm hopeful. It's wasn't much fun being a Tech football fan this year. In fact, it was downright miserable. We struggled to a 3-10 season -- the worst in our school's history. Heck, downright miserable is an understatement. I can't think of a word to describe it, actually.

Well, that dreadful season ended on Saturday, with a 50-23 debacle at New Mexico State. But that score isn't as bad as the game really was. The Bulldogs scored two late touchdowns to make up for the 50-9 deficit they faced.

And on Monday, Tech football coach Jack Bicknell lost his job. Personally, it's sad. Jack was well-liked around campus and around Ruston. He genuinely was a good guy. We had a few spats while I was working in Ruston, but I always felt we had a good working relationship. So I always rooted for him. I wanted him to be the best coach he could be. I wanted him to succeed. I would have loved for him to take my football program to new heights of success and use that to springboard to a bigger job, perhaps at his alma mater, Boston College.

But it wasn't meant to be. Perhaps Jack was in over his head from the start. He'd never served as a coordinator, making the leap straight to head coach when Gary Crowton left for the NFL in 1999. Jack had success early, going 8-3 that first year and getting Tech its first ever top 25 ranking. The next year was a miserable 3-9, but the team rebounded in 2001 to win the WAC title in its first year in the new conference.

Unfortunately, that was about as good as it got. Tech's only other winning season during Bicknell's 8-year tenure came last year, when the team finished 7-4 but missed out on a chance to go to a bowl game by finishing 3rd in conference play. Then came this year's disaster.

In a sense, this team was set up for disaster. 13-game schedule for the first time ever. Three of first four games on the road against BCS schools, followed by a road game at Boise State, who's undefeated, ranked in the top 25 and going to play in the Fiesta Bowl. A new QB. 9 new starters on defense. The defensive coordinator left two days before fall practice began for a new job at Northwestern in Illinois. The new coordinator had never held that position in 40+ years of coaching.

But it wasn't the embarrassing showings against the BCS teams or even Boise that caused fans to lose faith in Bicknell and call for his job. No, it was the 24-14 loss to Idaho at homecoming, following a 55-14 blowout against Boise. It was the 44-10 loss to San Jose State. The 61-17 loss to Hawaii, 42-0 loss to Nevada and 50-23 loss to New Mexico State. It was the fact Jack's teams continually were unprepared to play. It was the fact we were embarrassed by conference teams -- some of the same teams we embarrassed just last year.

I wish Jack Bicknell the best of luck. He wasn't all bad in Ruston. He and his staff did a good job of recruiting and he leaves behind some very talented young players. Hopefully, that foundation will begin to develop under a new coaching staff, one that's better-suited to take Tech to the level it needs to be at.

Tech fans have a new hope today. There have been some big names thrown about as Bicknell's potential replacement. A couple that I'm most keen about seeing are Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, who coached under Nick Saban at LSU and has many Louisiana recruiting ties, and Arkansas offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who did wonder for the Razorbacks' offense in his first year after being a high school coach. There's no doubt in my mind that Malzahn has a big future, and I'd love to swipe him up early.

But as hopeful as Tech fans are today, we know the battle has just begun. Jack Bicknell was not the root of the problem facing Louisiana Tech athletics. There is a growing movement trying to oust Jim Oakes as Tech's athletic director. Jim has been on the job 12 years, and we've been regressing for the past half of that tenure. Jim never fully supported Bicknell and his scheduling tactics, lack of vision and unwillingness to work with others have resulted in our athletic department facing an important crossroads.

I'm very glad Tech president Dan Reneau appears ready to make a commitment to bringing in the right football coach. But Reneau also needs to make a commitment to the entire athletic department. Right now, Jim Oakes is running our department likes it's a Division 2 program, instead of a premier Division 1-A outfit. Both of our basketball programs, including our storied Lady Techsters, are off to horrible starts. There is a complete malaise over the department at this moment.

While I'm excited about the potential coaching change, I'm also tempering that excitement and trying to steady the course. Even a new football coach can't solve all of the problems facing our athletic department. Only when Dr. Reneau makes the necessary decision to cut Jim Oakes loose and brings in a business-oriented athletic director with vision will Tech being to fulfill it's potential.