Sources: Louisiana Tech is expected to hire Ryan Ivey as the school’s next athletic director. Ivey is in his sixth year at Stephen F. Austin as the athletic director. He also spent three years as the AD at Austin Peay and two-and-a-half years at Texas A&M Commerce.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 23, 2024

Looks like we'll be needing a new leader for the athletic department.

Not surprised about this move. Seems like LaTech takes our best. The new President looks to be a guy that supports athletics. Maybe we can take a leap forward.

Does this mean Ivey's off the FCS/1AAA working group?

MasterAxe said:

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I think we may start to see the beginnings of a "cleaning house" withing the athletics program

Carthel probably gets one more year.
Kyle probably gets one more year.
Johnny (WHO I ABSOLUTELY LOVE) probably is done after this year.


I know it's only three sports, but those are probably the one's on the proverbial "cut line" first.

New president coming in and a new AD have no ties to these coaches, or any of them.

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I think Carthel pulls off a solid year 6-5 7-4. Stays.

Keller, who I really believe is a good coach, needs to get back to 20 win territory.

Cardenas…. Until we get some facilities I don't know how you can have high expectations for baseball.

nacluth said:

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Does this mean Ivey's off the FCS/1AAA working group?

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I'd guess so.

Ya I think we truly see improvements with Carthel.

Keller is a decent coach and a good recruiter, but something ain't clicking. And for someone who makes as much as the new Uni president probably will, you need results. That said, don't think we could afford the buyout.

With baseball I like Cardenas. And maybe you can hire someone who can more successfully squeeze blood from a stone. But the main question I ask myself is "with the level of support and facilities we can afford to give baseball, why do we sponsor that sport?"

TallTexan said:

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Ya I think we truly see improvements with Carthel.

Keller is a decent coach and a good recruiter, but something ain't clicking. And for someone who makes as much as the new Uni president probably will, you need results. That said, don't think we could afford the buyout.

With baseball I like Cardenas. And maybe you can hire someone who can more successfully squeeze blood from a stone. But the main question I ask myself is "with the level of support and facilities we can afford to give baseball, why do we sponsor that sport?"

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I agree 100%. And made that argument years ago. I had tomatoes thrown at me by the parents of baseball players.

My thought is that we add mens tennis (we have decent facilities for tennis) and drop baseball. Pump the dollars into MBB and Volleyball. Areas that we've had solid results and tradition. I'd like to add men's soccer but I don't think we'd have enough regional competition. HCU and UTRGV sponsor the sport.

I had some friends at SFA who were on the baseball team. Great guys and super smart.

But seems SFA sold them a bill of goods in recruiting about new facilities coming, and they obviously saw that was not going to happen.

I personally would like men's soccer since you can use the same field and the sport is rapidly growing, but that's just me.

TallTexan said:

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I had some friends at SFA who were on the baseball team. Great guys and super smart.

But seems SFA sold them a bill of goods in recruiting about new facilities coming, and they obviously saw that was not going to happen.

I personally would like men's soccer since you can use the same field and the sport is rapidly growing, but that's just me.

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Don't hate this.

Anyone have any early favorites for replacements?

I think Wally will get a look. I like what Chasse Conque is doing at RGV but figure both sides will pass on that.

Guys I know I will draw a hostile reaction from this post but I love a good debate and love to make people think. I have a friend that was a ex administrator at Lamar . The 1 program they wish that the could cut funding on is Basketball. After they had their time at the top they thought they were a basketball school, but it didn't turn out that way. They still couldn't recruit top talent or keep the talent they had . With the way the portal woks now neither will SFA. There is no loyalty anymore. They are in the process of giving Vincent beck a 19 million dollar renovation. Because loyalty in that sport is greater than the rest,

Can we get Jamie Boggs?

Jackdad22 said:

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Guys I know I will draw a hostile reaction from this post but I love a good debate and love to make people think. I have a friend that was a ex administrator at Lamar . The 1 program they wish that the could cut funding on is Basketball. After they had their time at the top they thought they were a basketball school, but it didn't turn out that way. They still couldn't recruit top talent or keep the talent they had . With the way the portal woks now neither will SFA. There is no loyalty anymore. They are in the process of giving Vincent beck a 19 million dollar renovation. Because loyalty in that sport is greater than the rest,

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Yep. You are correct. Hostile response(s) coming.

My opinion, basketball is our best (by far) opportunity to enhance our sports programs. It only takes one or two studs to steer a team to championships (see Walkup, see Comeaux and Harris, Kensmil and Kalcheries). Keller coaches defense pretty well. We just need a point guard that can help control the pace of the game better. When to strike and when to glide.

TallTexan said:

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Anyone have any early favorites for replacements?

I think Wally will get a look. I like what Chasse Conque is doing at RGV but figure both sides will pass on that.

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Yeah. I have a feeling there might be a conflict there…

SFAXE93 said:

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Can we get Jamie Boggs?

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If money was no object, I'd absolutely make that call.

We need to find our Jamie Boggs.

Jackdad, your points about loyalty and the portal are spot on however, I still would see basketball as the sport that an SFA could most likely get conference championships and into National tourneys on a somewhat regular basis.
It is extremely unlikely that SFA MBB will ever become the next Gonzaga that some of us dream of but is the most likely sport to give us National exposure if that is what we seek.
Football will always exist here ( as long as it does in college football) but doubtful to ever be huge beyond perhaps regionally, if we start winning regularly which SFA never has in football history.
Baseball is treated as a stepchild and just not taken seriously here. Woman's softball and soccer seasons are up and down. Golf, tennis, beach volleyball will never bring revenue but likely cost the least to the budget.
Bowling, our 2 Natty sport, is successful but largely unknown. Women's volleyball seems to be picking up steam around the country and we have a great coach and a lot of wins at our level of conference play but would even more money get us in position to truly be equal with the UTs and Nebraskas of volleyball, I don't think so.
Women's BB at SFA has a long history of success and one of the few NCAA schools with over 1,000 wins. The days of the Ladyjacks being ranked in the top 25 are long gone once the Big schools starting putting tons of. money into the sport. That said the Ladyjacks are still successful in what they do, but does WBB raise huge amounts of revenue--unlikely.
I suppose SFA could drop all sports and save that money.
In my view, SFA should just stay the course in funding athletics. Do their best to fund all the sports and try to be as competitive as possible in each sport that they fund. As with most Universities, success will come and go in each sport. Ride the highs and live through the lows, as we do now.

Ivey (@rivey35) leaving SFA (@SFA_Athletics) for Louisiana Tech (@LATechSports) AD job https://t.co/On67fwmY0W

— Nac Sports (@NDSsports) February 24, 2024

I say give Wally a shot!! He is really a smart man.. Very likable and will be able to put a team together because he can't do it by himself.. He already has the relationship with some of the higher donors and can continue to grow them.. Wally is a numbers guy and can think out of the box..

Jacks4460 said:

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I say give Wally a shot!! He is really a smart man.. Very likable and will be able to put a team together because he can't do it by himself.. He already has the relationship with some of the higher donors and can continue to grow them.. Wally is a numbers guy and can think out of the box..

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Jamie Boggs got mentioned earlier, probably worth pointing out she was already on staff at GCU as deputy VP.

So score one for a continuity hire like Wally.

Were you trying to come across as classless, or was that just an accident?

SFAJack_76 said:

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Loree McCary Named SFA Interim Director of Athletics

📰 : https://t.co/iOeWvcV5Rd#AxeEm x #RaiseTheAxe

— SFA Athletics (@SFA_Athletics) February 26, 2024

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That was quick.

Loree is a great decision for an interim!

Ljacks&Longnecks said:

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I believe that with 34 years at SFA, she has a good handle on the goings on around the AD job.
Pretty sure the actual hire will come from outside but in the Interim.......She's got this.

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Good for her. I believe you are correct. The ultimate hire will come from outside.