Tell me who is in charge here

AMAYA

DEREK J. AMAYA
Associate Managing Editor

This text conversation between Derek J. Amaya and John Tabor, a former sports reporter, was held at 2 p.m. Dec. 10.

DEREK: I’m disappointed with fans, especially alumni, at Louisiana Tech. They acted like a school 30 minutes east of Ruston, who shall remain unnamed. They acted like a bunch of punks. The ones who they really should be tending to are the seniors. This was a great group of guys, and they did not deserve missing out on a bowl game.

JOHN: I absolutely agree. In all honesty, arrogance finally caught up with Tech. When you lose your last two games to finish third place in the WAC, you’ve got to be satisfied with whatever you are offered.

DEREK: It is a shame, too. Bulldog fans were going on Twitter and Facebook putting statuses about how they weren’t renewing their tickets and how ashamed they are to be Bulldog fans. It was pure ignorance. I’m sure a lot of the seniors read the statuses, too.

JOHN: I’m sure the players read all the Internet chatter as well. I personally stayed away from going on rants on FB, message boards, etc., as much as possible. I definitely have a strong dislike for how the administration completely fumbled the bowl situation. Maybe this was the incident that will finally awaken the alumni base. I will say I don’t think coach Dykes would have stayed at Tech regardless of how the last month has played out.

DEREK: Hopefully. The alumni got a wakeup call to begin with anyway. We had the nation’s best offense. We deserved a bowl game. Thanks to whomever didn’t make that happen. Not pointing any fingers though. There were multiple players. Dykes is a great coach. I don’t blame him for leaving. Now I pose a question for you. Do you think he had something to do with us not making a bowl game?

JOHN: No, I don’t. Granted, neither you nor I were in that locker room, but I’m willing to bet that the conversation between administration and the coaching staff was a one-way street. And it breaks my heart for all the seniors. Those guys were fun to watch.

DEREK: They were probably the best senior class ever at Tech.

JOHN: Most definitely. Time to move on with the program. We need to have a coach in place by the end of the week.

DEREK: Maybe Karl Malone will coach. Hahaha!

JOHN: Or be AD. I do think some changes need to be made in the office. Unfortunately, when the man with the checkbook has his puppet in place, what’s going to change?

Derek Amaya is a junior journalism and marketing major from Metairie. Email comments to dja...@latech.edu.