Chris Scelfo

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greenphantom
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DfromCT wrote:
greenphantom wrote:A couple years ago I spoke to one of the key players from the 98 and 99 teams and he said the change from Bowden to Scelfo was night and day. Felt the ‘99 team should have competed for CUSA title.

I think people tend to overrate the team in ‘02. CUSA was weak and we laid down against any of the good teams on our schedule. The review was BS and impacted recruiting but I don’t think that had anything to do with the 5-7 record. In fact, it energized the team and fan base. We had a huge crowd in the 1st game vs TCU.
Is
I don't disagree that Scelfo wasn't in the same class as a coach as Bowden. I just don't understand the need to attack the man over a decade after he's gone. #2 in Tulane history for coaching wins deserves a little respect. Otherwise, IMHO, your sh!tting on the program.
He may be #2 in wins but he is also #1 in Losses as his record was 37-57. I don’t have any issues with him personally but he was a poor HC. Better than CJ though for what it’s worth.


winwave
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Box never disparaged him as a person. As for his coaching just like phantom said the 2003 season shouldn't have been affected by the review. It was over in June. He followed '98 with a 3 win season so no guarantee that he would have followed 2002 with another Bowl season. His other winning season was a 6-5 team that was awful. That was a matter of one bad team beating other really bad teams. Made our opponents in 2013 look good. Him being the 2nd winningest coach in Tulane history says much more about Tulane history than him.

As for his NFL career he was Tony Gonzales coach for that whole time.

He never got a HC job again. He tried to get the job at his alma mater,ULM, and didn't get it. Apparently they weren't influenced by the "he'll stay mantra".

That's not disparaging him. It's just the facts.
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winwave wrote:Box never disparaged him as a person. As for his coaching just like phantom said the 2003 season shouldn't have been affected by the review. It was over in June. He followed '98 with a 3 win season so no guarantee that he would have followed 2002 with another Bowl season. His other winning season was a 6-5 team that was awful. That was a matter of one bad team beating other really bad teams. Made our opponents in 2013 look good. Him being the 2nd winningest coach in Tulane history says much more about Tulane history than him.

As for his NFL career he was Tony Gonzales coach for that whole time.

He never got a HC job again. He tried to get the job at his alma mater,ULM, and didn't get it. Apparently they weren't influenced by the "he'll stay mantra".

That's not disparaging him. It's just the facts.
regarding the ULM job, Monroe is not that big on King Cakes...that said, I have nothing against Chris or anyone in the Scelfo Family.. I am sure Chris did not come to Tulane with thoughts of losing...Cowen and RD never freed up any money for decent salaries, and of course the Katrina season, which should have been cancelled, and the players given an extra year really makes the L's look worse then it should... that katrina team was a Bowl Team
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The Katrina season shouldn't have been canceled. He wanted that but the players didn't and it upset the players. Dickson really screwed it up by turning down the offer to play all of our games for free in Independence Stadium. Instead he made them play every game in a different stadium.
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golfnut69
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winwave wrote:The Katrina season shouldn't have been canceled. He wanted that but the players didn't and it upset the players. Dickson really screwed it up by turning down the offer to play all of our games for free in Independence Stadium. Instead he made them play every game in a different stadium.

I agree with the Stadium issue...but I am under the impression, and I could be wrong, the Staff and Players thought the season should be cancelled..but it makes zero difference now
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DfromCT
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golfnut69 wrote:
winwave wrote:The Katrina season shouldn't have been canceled. He wanted that but the players didn't and it upset the players. Dickson really screwed it up by turning down the offer to play all of our games for free in Independence Stadium. Instead he made them play every game in a different stadium.

I agree with the Stadium issue...but I am under the impression, and I could be wrong, the Staff and Players thought the season should be cancelled..but it makes zero difference now
They lived in a building that should have been torn down before they moved into it. Shared it with homeless folks. The conditions for the team preparations were less than most D3 programs have. It was a season doomed to be horrible, and Cowen/Dickson put them out there for reasons that are beyond me.

Yes, the Katrina season should have been canceled. The players should have had the same opportunity to help their families or go to another school for that semester, the same way the general student body population did. It was a travesty and, quite frankly, an abuse of 85 18 to 22 year old kids. It was NCAA athletics at its worst, and Cow/Dick made as bad a decision to play the games as they did to review the program 2 years prior. Disgusting.
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It was two years after the review. I wonder if Dickson thinking was if they cancelled the season it would have been the end of the football program. Most of the players would have transferred and been immediately eligible. Remember, Ole Miss was ready to take some guys.
winwave
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golfnut69 wrote:
winwave wrote:The Katrina season shouldn't have been canceled. He wanted that but the players didn't and it upset the players. Dickson really screwed it up by turning down the offer to play all of our games for free in Independence Stadium. Instead he made them play every game in a different stadium.

I agree with the Stadium issue...but I am under the impression, and I could be wrong, the Staff and Players thought the season should be cancelled..but it makes zero difference now
The players wanted to play. Like us they were expecting a good season. They had done all their off season training and been through camp. They were raring to go. They knew Scelfo didn't want to play and they weren't happy about it. That discord and RD's decision to make them a traveling team screwed everything up.
Last edited by winwave on Tue Jan 09, 2018 7:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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tpstulane
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Great read on the subject. Players were getting into constant fights with La Tech students noise 24/7 etc. It’s all in the book if you can afford a copy lol.
Fourth and New Orleans: How Tulane Football Survived the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina https://www.amazon.com/dp/1596702370/re ... vAbA6JQ6J4
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I wouldn't give him another penny of my money to read his self serving version of the book. He played a major role in screwing that season up. It's why he got fired after the very next season. The players were done with him.
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tpstulane
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Quotes from the players:
Pure Hell.
Also not long after Katrina, Brandon Spincer was shot and killed in New Orleans.
Cannon: Us being displaced singlehandedly tore us apart. Football is a mental game. You got to be in tune mentally. Every play, every game, every snap, you've got to be focused. To sit here and tell a kid that's not even 21 years old yet to focus on a game when your family and loved ones, you can't even talk to, you don't know where they are.

Traina: We were taking buses to the games, and then getting on the bus and driving back on the same day, or sleeping on air mattresses at a golf club down the road from where we were playing. Again, you don't complain because you're grateful for a dry place to sleep and you know that there are a lot of people a lot worse off. But you also know that it affects the way you play. We didn't have a weight room. We didn't have a real training table. The guys weren't able to get the rest they needed to recover. The recovery wasn't there. And so, as grueling as the season is under normal situations, it was more so there.

Life at Louisiana Tech

Cannon: It was a condemned dorm. Actually, the dorm was going to be torn down prior to Katrina. When it happened, they decided to keep it up. They knew people would probably need housing.


Ricard: Louisiana Tech is a great place. I love Louisiana Tech. But we get to the Caruthers Dorm. Scelfo says, 'Hey, you're going to have your own room. It's going to have two twin-sized beds. You're going to have everything you want.' And when someone turns on the water and it's brown? Hey, wait a minute. This isn't actually what we signed up for.

Cannon: It was very bad. You first get there, I ran my water in my sink. The water's brown for like two minutes. There were wasps. Wasps and roaches all over the place. It was filthy, disgusting.

Traina: The living situation was difficult. You're trying to get sleep, get rest. It's hard to rest your legs after practice when the elevator is broken 50 percent of the time and you're having to climb stairs to get to your room.

Ricard: If you didn't get stuck in the elevator, you weren't in that dorm. It was weird. It was scary. I remember sitting in the elevator one day praying, 'Lord. Is this it? I'm dying because I was in this dorm?' Finally after I don't know what it was, 30 minutes, someone going to check on you. Gosh, you couldn't put any offensive linemen on there. It was a scare show.

Traina: We were on the top floors and the bottom floors with New Orleans evacuees and family members of enrollees in school.

Cannon: I don't want to call them refugees, but evacuees in the city, people that had left the Ninth Ward and the lower part of the city.

Traina: It turned into like a subsidized housing building in New Orleans. Anything that would happen in those buildings happened in our dorm. ... It was a very [pause] different dorm experience.

Ricard: We came back from practice one day, and so many of the players had some of their belongings stolen from them.

Cannon: As a student, the Ninth Ward, people from the projects, that's just not what you do in New Orleans. We were thrown into this whole demographic, whole other world, and a lot of people are in culture shock.

Ricard: It wasn't the coaches' fault. They weren't in their comfort zone. Neither were we. A lot of guys felt, 'How much do these coaches really care what's going on?' Maybe it was fictional and maybe it was fact. It was tough.

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DfromCT
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I read the book when it first came out. It's one of the reasons I respect Scelfo and feel like it was ludicrous to play that season, at least play it the way it was played. Someone suggested that Dickson feared if they cancelled the season that Cowen would cancel the football program. I could see that line of logic. It's just mind boggling to think of how much damage Cowen did to our University.
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Anyone can ask me questions about that season. Send me a message if you want. Seniors were very involved in most of the meetings with the coaches and decision making on the decisions we could make. I was part of that group and helped with the book. I chose to not be quoted though as I did not see a need for it. As a Tulane fan, regardless of opinions of Scelfo, Dickson, Cowen, etc., it is worth the read. But it is only a book and lots of events and decisions are not included. Hard to capture that the large emotional impact of every decision, event or heck every day during those months.
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TXWave88 wrote:Anyone can ask me questions about that season. Send me a message if you want. Seniors were very involved in most of the meetings with the coaches and decision making on the decisions we could make. I was part of that group and helped with the book. I chose to not be quoted though as I did not see a need for it. As a Tulane fan, regardless of opinions of Scelfo, Dickson, Cowen, etc., it is worth the read. But it is only a book and lots of events and decisions are not included. Hard to capture that the large emotional impact of every decision, event or heck every day during those months.
I was surprised the team was housed at La Tech.. I thank them for what they did, but I thought Texas A&M and few other schools offered,...any truth to that ?
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DfromCT
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TXWave88 wrote:Anyone can ask me questions about that season. Send me a message if you want. Seniors were very involved in most of the meetings with the coaches and decision making on the decisions we could make. I was part of that group and helped with the book. I chose to not be quoted though as I did not see a need for it. As a Tulane fan, regardless of opinions of Scelfo, Dickson, Cowen, etc., it is worth the read. But it is only a book and lots of events and decisions are not included. Hard to capture that the large emotional impact of every decision, event or heck every day during those months.
TXWave, were you a Senior on that team? That's how I read your post. If so, I'm curious how the team felt about playing the season out? As a fan, I thought that team was about to have a great year. But once the hurricane hit, I felt like the players needed to be able to be with their families, which didn't really happen. The book is a very good read, but like you say, a whole lot went on that didn't make it into the book. How did the players feel about Scelfo?
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TXWave88 wrote:Anyone can ask me questions about that season. Send me a message if you want. Seniors were very involved in most of the meetings with the coaches and decision making on the decisions we could make. I was part of that group and helped with the book. I chose to not be quoted though as I did not see a need for it. As a Tulane fan, regardless of opinions of Scelfo, Dickson, Cowen, etc., it is worth the read. But it is only a book and lots of events and decisions are not included. Hard to capture that the large emotional impact of every decision, event or heck every day during those months.
I too heard the repeated rumor that if we did not play the 2005 season, and in light of the financial loss suffered Tulane from Katrina, Cowen would make a second attempt to end football. Tex, is the Cowen issue for perhaps his using Katrina as a reason for ending the program addressed in the book as a consideration for playing the 2005 season? Remember, Cowen ended the engineering program post-Katrina and rumor also had it he was "gunning all along" pre-Katrina for ending engineering and simply used the hurricane to this end.

After Katrina I lived with relatives for a while in Clinton, Louisiana, about 30 miles outside of Baton Rouge. I went to the Tulane - Southeastern game at Tiger stadium and will never forget how rudely the LSU personnel treated us. Much like many New Orleans and Tulane haters the LSU personnel working the game seemed to enjoy the devastation and plight Katrina brought to our City and University. I hope the interaction of other representatives of LSU with the team was more positive.
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Scelfo deserves a pass on the Katrina season but I think people exaggerate how good that team was going to be. The team was coming off 5-7 and 5-6 seasons in CUSA. He had already coached for 7 years at Tulane and our best finish in CUSA was 5th place (2002). I'll buy that maybe we could have won 6-7 games. More with better coaching.

Thinking of Chris Scelfo still irritates me more than Toledo and CJ. His hiring and then staying on for so long is everything with what is/was wrong with Tulane athletics. It takes me back to the days before GoTulanet when YOGWF was the only fan forum. Every season it was the same. Pre-season reports from the "insiders" over there how we were good enough to challenge for the CUSA title and maybe a player or 2 away from busting the BCS. Then an ill prepared team would get stomped in game 1 and the mods would ban anyone who said anything remotely negative about Scelfo. Then toward the latter part of his regime, he didn't seem to care to try and develop relationships with local high school coaches. It was just a nightmare and there always excuses - Bowden didn't recruit, LA students can't stay eligible, the review, etc.
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Wave755 wrote:
TXWave88 wrote:Anyone can ask me questions about that season. Send me a message if you want. Seniors were very involved in most of the meetings with the coaches and decision making on the decisions we could make. I was part of that group and helped with the book. I chose to not be quoted though as I did not see a need for it. As a Tulane fan, regardless of opinions of Scelfo, Dickson, Cowen, etc., it is worth the read. But it is only a book and lots of events and decisions are not included. Hard to capture that the large emotional impact of every decision, event or heck every day during those months.
I too heard the repeated rumor that if we did not play the 2005 season, and in light of the financial loss suffered Tulane from Katrina, Cowen would make a second attempt to end football. Tex, is the Cowen issue for perhaps his using Katrina as a reason for ending the program addressed in the book as a consideration for playing the 2005 season? Remember, Cowen ended the engineering program post-Katrina and rumor also had it he was "gunning all along" pre-Katrina for ending engineering and simply used the hurricane to this end.

After Katrina I lived with relatives for a while in Clinton, Louisiana, about 30 miles outside of Baton Rouge. I went to the Tulane - Southeastern game at Tiger stadium and will never forget how rudely the LSU personnel treated us. Much like many New Orleans and Tulane haters the LSU personnel working the game seemed to enjoy the devastation and plight Katrina brought to our City and University. I hope the interaction of other representatives of LSU with the team was more positive.
I will always have a soft spot for the Mississippi State Prez, AD and Sylvester Groom...they refused to take the "guarantee" from playing Tulane that year, and if I remember correctly donated other funds to the Athletic Dept ...
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golfnut69 wrote:
TXWave88 wrote:Anyone can ask me questions about that season. Send me a message if you want. Seniors were very involved in most of the meetings with the coaches and decision making on the decisions we could make. I was part of that group and helped with the book. I chose to not be quoted though as I did not see a need for it. As a Tulane fan, regardless of opinions of Scelfo, Dickson, Cowen, etc., it is worth the read. But it is only a book and lots of events and decisions are not included. Hard to capture that the large emotional impact of every decision, event or heck every day during those months.
I was surprised the team was housed at La Tech.. I thank them for what they did, but I thought Texas A&M and few other schools offered,...any truth to that ?
So TAMU and Texas Tech housed all the other sports. There were lots of scenarios of where we would end up for that semester. Heard SMU, UH, TAMU, etc. but La Tech was the school chosen because they had the Caruthers dorm available because it was planned to be torn down. Also, La Tech was on Trimesters or 4 semesters I believe so their fall semester actually started later in the year. I think it started late September or early October and ended mid November I think. It was weird as full time was only taking about 9 hours. Those are the reasons we were told for ending up at La Tech. I appreciate what the school did for us there even though they did not have much to offer. The dorm seemed third world and our football "facilities" were less than HS.
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DfromCT wrote:
TXWave88 wrote:Anyone can ask me questions about that season. Send me a message if you want. Seniors were very involved in most of the meetings with the coaches and decision making on the decisions we could make. I was part of that group and helped with the book. I chose to not be quoted though as I did not see a need for it. As a Tulane fan, regardless of opinions of Scelfo, Dickson, Cowen, etc., it is worth the read. But it is only a book and lots of events and decisions are not included. Hard to capture that the large emotional impact of every decision, event or heck every day during those months.
TXWave, were you a Senior on that team? That's how I read your post. If so, I'm curious how the team felt about playing the season out? As a fan, I thought that team was about to have a great year. But once the hurricane hit, I felt like the players needed to be able to be with their families, which didn't really happen. The book is a very good read, but like you say, a whole lot went on that didn't make it into the book. How did the players feel about Scelfo?
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So the team was torn on that decision. The upperclassmen were in strong support of playing. As seniors, we were not being told anything positive about us getting an extra year or any accommodation. I remember the feeling of "if we do not play this year, our college careers are done". That was tough on us knowing how well we were performing in camp. We were part of a the Hawaii bowl team with plenty us being starters or contributors on that team. We had a better idea of what a team hitting stride felt like and we felt we had a special team that year. Some of the freshmen and sophomores, there were a handful that just wanted to be with family or just did not want to be going through a football season. Most of those guys were probably homesick for being a freshman even if a storm did not hit. Scelfo came to us and said we need to meet and decided what we wanted to do as a team. We had a players meeting only held by us seniors with no coaches, staff, etc. As seniors, we told them what we thought. Told the team that we thought this was our last chance to play the game. I will not get into the details, but there were some very emotional personal speeches by several players. Gives me chills thinking about some while I type this. Overall, it was decided to play as we still did not know what the next week held for us. I am not sure how much that weighed in the deciding factor for us to play the season, but we had a voice.

As for Scelfo, players were mixed about him as a coach. I only lpayed for one head coach so I only have one experience. Scelfo had his boys. I was fortunately in that group (or I like to believe). Have to remember, we were the 2001 signing class. We were still one of his first full recruiting classes he could claim his own. Throughout the decision process on how to proceed with the season, I truly believe he put my senior class as a top priority on the decisions then. I think he could have handled things better at times, but I think he was really wanting to make sure we did not get hurt or denied. He was very emotional during our stay in Dallas and that is why I believe he was stressed past his max limits. Because of this, I truly will always respect and appreciate Chris Scelfo. He 100% was for the team during that time and went to bat for us.
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Thanks for your take on things. Much appreciated.
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Wave755 wrote:
TXWave88 wrote:Anyone can ask me questions about that season. Send me a message if you want. Seniors were very involved in most of the meetings with the coaches and decision making on the decisions we could make. I was part of that group and helped with the book. I chose to not be quoted though as I did not see a need for it. As a Tulane fan, regardless of opinions of Scelfo, Dickson, Cowen, etc., it is worth the read. But it is only a book and lots of events and decisions are not included. Hard to capture that the large emotional impact of every decision, event or heck every day during those months.
I too heard the repeated rumor that if we did not play the 2005 season, and in light of the financial loss suffered Tulane from Katrina, Cowen would make a second attempt to end football. Tex, is the Cowen issue for perhaps his using Katrina as a reason for ending the program addressed in the book as a consideration for playing the 2005 season? Remember, Cowen ended the engineering program post-Katrina and rumor also had it he was "gunning all along" pre-Katrina for ending engineering and simply used the hurricane to this end.

After Katrina I lived with relatives for a while in Clinton, Louisiana, about 30 miles outside of Baton Rouge. I went to the Tulane - Southeastern game at Tiger stadium and will never forget how rudely the LSU personnel treated us. Much like many New Orleans and Tulane haters the LSU personnel working the game seemed to enjoy the devastation and plight Katrina brought to our City and University. I hope the interaction of other representatives of LSU with the team was more positive.
Scelfo had several meetings with just the Seniors during our stay in Dallas. He opened up to us. Did he tell us everything? I do not know, but he told us to keep it to ourselves at the time and his emotions earned our respect to keep it in that room. When we were in Dallas near SMU campus, we were in a lockdown at the hotel. The players did not understand why it was so strict so we had to have that conversation with Coach. Scelfo told us that he talked to the Cowen and Cowen said he would continue the season, but if there was a minor blip, any negative event that would occur, he would have to shut it down. The reasoning we were told he made this comment is because Cowen was responsible for the entire University. He had to tell almost every employee of the University that they were not going to receive a penny for a paycheck while he was going to spend a lot of money on a football team to play a season. This is still at the time where we did not know where we would live, practice, play, etc. When it was explained that way, it is quite a different perspective. Some parent is now displaced, will not have income coming in, will struggle to feed their families, but we get to play some game. It was a lot for everyone to hear. Knowing this, Scelfo did not want to let anyone down. He has to control 100 kids from doing anything a kid may do during a tragic stressful time because if not, he let's down his seniors, his players, the entire Tulane world. So he put us on lock down which really caused internal turmoil with the team, but we got past it. He let us out one weekend when plenty of parents made it to Dallas to see us. Also, Scelfo struggled to juggle all of this and his personal life. He put his family second to us. I know that for a fact.

I have no idea if Cowen saw the opportunity to try and take us down. He did give the green light to have the season from what we were told. It does not make sense to move forward with the season if that was his intention. We were grateful for that decision. That is how we became the "Torch". We were told to go out and carry the Tulane name.
DfromCT
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Thank you so much for sharing your inside knowledge. I have a pretty good idea of who you are, but will respect your privacy and not post it, nor share my guess as to who you are with others. Very interesting to read your posts. Thanks again, TXWave.
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TXWave88 wrote:
Wave755 wrote:
TXWave88 wrote:Anyone can ask me questions about that season. Send me a message if you want. Seniors were very involved in most of the meetings with the coaches and decision making on the decisions we could make. I was part of that group and helped with the book. I chose to not be quoted though as I did not see a need for it. As a Tulane fan, regardless of opinions of Scelfo, Dickson, Cowen, etc., it is worth the read. But it is only a book and lots of events and decisions are not included. Hard to capture that the large emotional impact of every decision, event or heck every day during those months.
I too heard the repeated rumor that if we did not play the 2005 season, and in light of the financial loss suffered Tulane from Katrina, Cowen would make a second attempt to end football. Tex, is the Cowen issue for perhaps his using Katrina as a reason for ending the program addressed in the book as a consideration for playing the 2005 season? Remember, Cowen ended the engineering program post-Katrina and rumor also had it he was "gunning all along" pre-Katrina for ending engineering and simply used the hurricane to this end.

After Katrina I lived with relatives for a while in Clinton, Louisiana, about 30 miles outside of Baton Rouge. I went to the Tulane - Southeastern game at Tiger stadium and will never forget how rudely the LSU personnel treated us. Much like many New Orleans and Tulane haters the LSU personnel working the game seemed to enjoy the devastation and plight Katrina brought to our City and University. I hope the interaction of other representatives of LSU with the team was more positive.
Scelfo had several meetings with just the Seniors during our stay in Dallas. He opened up to us. Did he tell us everything? I do not know, but he told us to keep it to ourselves at the time and his emotions earned our respect to keep it in that room. When we were in Dallas near SMU campus, we were in a lockdown at the hotel. The players did not understand why it was so strict so we had to have that conversation with Coach. Scelfo told us that he talked to the Cowen and Cowen said he would continue the season, but if there was a minor blip, any negative event that would occur, he would have to shut it down. The reasoning we were told he made this comment is because Cowen was responsible for the entire University. He had to tell almost every employee of the University that they were not going to receive a penny for a paycheck while he was going to spend a lot of money on a football team to play a season. This is still at the time where we did not know where we would live, practice, play, etc. When it was explained that way, it is quite a different perspective. Some parent is now displaced, will not have income coming in, will struggle to feed their families, but we get to play some game. It was a lot for everyone to hear. Knowing this, Scelfo did not want to let anyone down. He has to control 100 kids from doing anything a kid may do during a tragic stressful time because if not, he let's down his seniors, his players, the entire Tulane world. So he put us on lock down which really caused internal turmoil with the team, but we got past it. He let us out one weekend when plenty of parents made it to Dallas to see us. Also, Scelfo struggled to juggle all of this and his personal life. He put his family second to us. I know that for a fact.

I have no idea if Cowen saw the opportunity to try and take us down. He did give the green light to have the season from what we were told. It does not make sense to move forward with the season if that was his intention. We were grateful for that decision. That is how we became the "Torch". We were told to go out and carry the Tulane name.
Thank you for the tremendous insight. And thank you for carrying the torch!
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