Conference Sun Belt Conference Location Lafayette, Louisiana | NCAA Division I FBS Varsity teams 16 | |
University University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletic director Jessica Leger (interim) | ||
Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (branded as the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns) are the athletic teams of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The school has been competing athletically since 1901. The Ragin' Cajuns compete in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, was once known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana, this was just prior to the adoption of the nickname "Ragin' Cajuns," using it initially in the 1960s to refer to its football team. Prior to the 1960s, the team nickname was the "Bulldogs". In 1963 then–football coach Russ Faulkinberry changed the nickname of the football team from "Bulldogs" to "Ragin' Cajuns," a nod to the school's location in Acadiana. By the 1970s, the athletic department, sports information director Bob Henderson, and the student body picked up on the nickname. As published in the 1974 football guide, the nickname became official that year.
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Baseball
Men's basketball
Came to prominence under the leadership of head coach Beryl Shipley, who was responsible for breaking the color barrier in the South and won just under 70% of all games from 1957 to 1973.
Conference Regular Season Championships
Conference Division Regular Season Championships
Conference Tournament Championships
National Tournament Appearances
Notable Players include NCAA 2nd All time leading scorer Dwight "Bo" Lamar, Dean Church, Andrew Toney, Marv Winkler, Dwayne Mitchell, and Elfrid Payton.
In 1973, the university became one of only five schools to ever receive the NCAA's Death Penalty, when their basketball program was barred from competing in the NCAA for the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons.
The current head coach is Bob Marlin.
Football
Louisiana–Lafayette vacated 22 wins from 2011 to 2014 including the 2011 and 2013 New Orleans Bowls and also vacated the 2013 Sun Belt Conference co-championship as the result of NCAA violations of ACT exam fraud, payments to recruits, and not cooperating with the NCAA investigation.
The current head coach is Mark Hudspeth.
Men's tennis
1992, 1998, 2006, and 2014 Sun Belt Conference Champions, highest national ranking #15 (1988).
The current head coach is Mark Jeffrey.
Softball
The Softball team is among the most successful of all Ragin' Cajun teams, having won nine regular season championships, nine conference tournament championships, and six appearances in the Women's College World Series (1993, 1995, 1996, 2003, 2008, and 2014). During the 2008 WCWS appearance the Ragin' Cajuns defeated #1 ranked Florida and eventually finished fifth. The Ragin' Cajun softball team has seen post-season play in 24 of the past 25 seasons. The Ragin' Cajuns have been Sun Belt Conference champions in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2014 along with 15 NCAA Regionals, 33 All-Americans, 24 consecutive winning seasons.
The team is led by Michael Lotief. Until 2012, he was co-head coach with his wife Stefni, who stepped down to devote time to their family.
Other sports
Club sports
Men's Lacrosse as part of the MCLA, Badminton, Bowling, Cheerleading, Cricket, Ice Hockey as part of the ACHA, Inline Hockey as part of the NCRHA, Judo, Powerlifting, Rugby, Men's Soccer, Sport Shooting, Tae Kwon Do, Water Skiing
History
Founded in 1901 as Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (SLII), the school is believed to have been then known as the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs nickname persisted when the school was renamed as Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI) in 1921. In 1960, the school became University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) and in 1962 the nickname was changed to the Raging Cajuns, then shortened to Ragin' Cajuns. Briefly in 1984, USL's name became the University of Louisiana, but was reverted to University of Southwestern Louisiana via court challenge. In 1999, it became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL).
The university states that "Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns® is the nickname of the University’s athletic teams."
Mascots
Former
Current
Ragin Cajun Network
Louisiana–Lafayette launched the Ragin' Cajun Network in August 2011. The Network is a series of radio and television networks that provide access to sporting events throughout the state of Louisiana. Two Lafayette radio stations, KPEL-AM and KHXT-FM, provide play by play radio commentary called by broadcasters Jay Walker, and Steve Peloquin. The full list of participating stations are:
Television coverage is provided by Cox Communications as part of their Cox 4 and Cox Sports Television networks. Cox Sports Television now has over 2 million subscriptions in the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Virginia. Additionally, all games aired by the channels will also be available online at ESPN3.com provided nationwide coverage to the Ragin' Cajuns.