It has taken two decades, maybe even longer, but McNeese State is on the verge of joining the party.

Its invite awaits acceptance.

Maybe in the past it got lost in the mail, or more likely thrown out in the trash. The school’s brass didn’t seen interested in moving up from the comforts of the Southland Conference.

Sometimes it’s hard to get the kids to move out of the basement.

As the athletic program struggled to stay afloat financially, the current group of McNeese administrators were paying for the sins of their fathers. They were finding out how hard it is to play catch-up when they could have been playing in front.

But now, as the school thumps its chest proudly and there is a buzz on campus and around town, McNeese finds itself a player on a larger field.

However, before we celebrate and head to the party, there might still be a surprise or two left. Doesn’t matter really, a win is a win. Where the Cowboys end up matters little compared to where they have been.

McNeese finally finding, and more importantly following, a path to the biggest college football division there is makes the school a winner. Like sports, hate sports, care nothing of sports, doesn’t matter. Just being in the game is what does.

The Cowboys will celebrate soon enough, likely with a big news conference. There will be balloons, cheerleaders, kickers and maybe a few band members.

If it is big enough Rowdy will even show up. The horse, not so much. Let’s hope nobody gets the bright idea of shooting off the cannon.

But this is not something that started recently, but rather long in the making. Years of watching others reap the benefits of their moves while the Cowboys sat in the Southland, watching the life bleed out of the Football Championship Subdivision one season at a time.

McNeese had seen all its neighbors, the guys they beat up on for years, leave the neighborhood.

Louisiana-Lafayette moved up despite being 0-8-1 in its last nine games against the Cowboys before the Ragin’ Cajuns’ exit in 1978. It was a classic case of, if you can’t beat them, leave them.

While ULL, Louisiana Tech and even Louisiana-Monroe moved up, McNeese stayed stuck in the bayou muck.

Even Lamar, which dropped football in 1989 only to bring it back in 2010, left the Cowboys for what it believed were greener pastures.

Still, the McNeese brass stood its ground, committed to the idea that bigger, faster, stronger wasn’t better.

Finally, a change atop the school’s leadership figured it out.

Dr. Daryl Burckel, Athletic Director Heath Schroyer and Dr. Wade Rousse brought the school’s resources together. They figured out it was not about football but rather money, exposure and branding.

Calling them the three wise men might be a little much, but they sure were wiser than those before them, or at least more willing to take a chance.

They believe what could be good on the grid iron can be great for the classroom.

So they formed a connection that got all sides of the school pulling in one direction. No longer was it academics vs. athletics. All for one truly became one for all.

They did it by figuring out sports was what Burckel called “the front porch to the university.”

They also did it by no longer treating college athletics like it was an extension of some high school intramural program. They treated it like a business, big business if you prefer.

Some of the old guard will go into the future kicking and screaming, like the old guard always does, but this is about the future.

Schroyer, especially, worked to make new friends, form alliances and show the rest of the college athletic world that this was a new McNeese, one willing to change.

There are no guarantees as to how this will end. It could prove to be the worst decision ever, but the university had no choice. The only other option was to continue dying a slow, painful death with the rest of the Southland.

It wasn’t that McNeese changed but rather the business of college athletics did. It was just nice to see for the first time the Cowboys willing to change with it.

Yes, it may be late to the party but for McNeese the fun might just be starting.

—

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese State athletics for the American Press. Email him at jimgazzolo@yahoo.com