| Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns | |
| Athletics founded | 1901 |
|---|---|
| Conference | Sun Belt |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletics director | Scott Farmer |
| University | University of Louisiana at Lafayette |
| Location | Lafayette, LA USA |
| Stadium | Cajun Field, The Swamp |
| Tennis Center | Cajun Courts at Culotta Tennis Center |
| Arena | Cajundome |
| Mascot | Cayenne |
| Colors | Vermilion and White |
| Homepage | www.ragincajuns.com |
The Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (or Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns) are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, at that time known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana, was the first to adopt 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 "Bulldogs" to "Ragin' Cajuns". By the 1970s, the athletic department, the 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.[1] Until the 2006-07 academic year, women's teams were referred to as the Lady Cajuns, but they now use the same "Ragin' Cajuns" nickname as the men's teams.
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Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns compete in the following NCAA sports
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| Men's sports | Women's sports | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Division | Conference | Sport | Division | Conference |
| Baseball | I | Sun Belt | Softball | I | Sun Belt |
| Basketball | I | Sun Belt | Basketball | I | Sun Belt |
| Cross country | I | Sun Belt | Cross country | I | Sun Belt |
| Football | I FBS | Sun Belt | Soccer | I | Sun Belt |
| Golf | I | Sun Belt | Volleyball | I | Sun Belt |
| Tennis | I | Sun Belt | Tennis | I | Sun Belt |
| Track & field (indoor) | I | Sun Belt | Track & field (indoor) | I | Sun Belt |
| Track & field (outdoor) | I | Sun Belt | Track & field (outdoor) | I | Sun Belt |
First Year of Baseball: 1903.
First Year of Division I: 1972.
Years of Baseball: 91st season.
All-Time Division I Record (since 1972): 1,301-885-4 (.595).
All-Time Sun Belt Record: 315-181 (.635).
NCAA Appearances/Last: Twelve/2010.
All-Time NCAA Tournament Record: 20-25.
Regular Season Conference. Championships: 13; Gulf States Conference (1950); Southland Conference (1972, 1973, 1982); American South Conference (1989–91); Sun Belt Conference (1992, 1994, 1997, 2005, 2007, 2010).
Conference Tournament championships: 1 Sun Belt Conference (1998).
Last time in postseason: 2010 Austin Regional (1-2).
Finished tied for 3rd at 2000 College World Series after knocking off overall #1 South Carolina in Super Regional. Defeated Clemson and San Jose State, lost to Stanford twice.
The Softball team is among the most successful of all Ragin Cajun teams, having won nine regular season championships, nine conference tournament championships, and five appearances in the Women's College World Series (1993, 1995, 1996, 2003, and 2008). 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 19 of the past 20 seasons. The Ragin Cajuns have been Sun Belt Conference champions in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010 along with 14 NCAA Regionals, 33 All-Americans, 24 consecutive winning seasons.
The team is led by an unusual co-head coaching arrangement; even more unusual is that the head coaches are married – Stefni Lotief (452-110 record through ten seasons as either head or co-head coach) and husband Michael (assistant coach for two seasons, co-head coach for the last eight with a 351-87 record).
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.[2] 1971-72 Southland Conference Champions, #8 national ranking; 1972-73 Southland Conference Champions, #7 national ranking; 1991-92 Sun Belt Champions, 1992 Sun Belt Tournament Champions, 1994 Sun Belt Tournament Champions, 1999-2000 Sun Belt Champions, 2000 Sun Belt Tournament Champions, 2001-02 Sun Belt Western Division Champions, 2002-03 Sun Belt Western Division Champions, 2003-04 Sun Belt Western Division Champions, 2004 Sun Belt Tournament champions, 2005 Sun Belt Tournament Champions, 2007-08 Sun Belt Western Division Champions, 2010-11 Sun Belt Western Division Champions. NIT Participant 2002 and 2003. NCAA Tournament participant 1972*, 1973*, 2000, 2004**, and 2005**. Notable Players include NCAA 2nd All time leading scorer Dwight "Bo" Lamar, Dean Church, Andrew Toney, Marv Winkler, Dwayne Mitchell, and Orien Greene.
*Vacated by NCAA[3]
**Vacated by NCAA[4]
The current head coach is Bob Marlin.
Participate in NCAA Division I FBS in the Sun Belt Conference. First played in 1901 under the school's previous name SLII.[5] Charter member of NCAA Division I-A football.[6] 2005 Sun Belt Conference co-champions. 1993 and 1994 Big West Conference co-champions.
The current head coach is Mark Hudspeth.
1992, 1998, and 2006 Sun Belt Conference Champions, highest national ranking #15 (1988).
The current head coach is Mark Jeffrey.
Louisiana-Lafayette launched the Ragin Cajun Network in August 2011. The Network is a series of radio and television networks that provided access to sporting events throughout the state of Louisiana. Two Lafayette radio stations, KPEL - AM and KHKT - FM, provide play by play radio commentary called by broadcasters Jay Walker, and Steve Peloquin. The full list of participating stations are:
* KHXT 1420 AM in Lafayette * KHXT 107.9 FM in Lafayette * KANE 1240 AM in New Iberia * WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans * KTUX 98.9 FM in Shreveport * KLCL 1470 AM FM in Lake Charles * KJEF 1290 AM FM in Rayne
Television coverage is provided by Cox Communications as part of their Cox4 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.
Football was the first team organized at the then Institute (SLII) in 1901, although an advertisement promoting women's gymnastics was placed in 1900.
Ron Gomez did the radio play-by-play for Cajuns football and basketball from 1961–1979, when he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives. In that capacity, he worked with the David C. Treen administration to construct the Cajundome. Gomez had begun advocacy of the stadium while he served as president of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce in 1978.[7]
Former
Current
Alma Mater
Ragin' Cajuns Fight Song
Cajuns' Cheers
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