Kevin Foote: Is timing of Maggard’s return to Missouri good for UL?
UL athletic director Dr. Bryan Maggard is returning to Missouri, leaving the Ragin’ Cajuns without a leader heading into the 2026-27 school year. STAFF PHOTO BY BRAD KEMP
There’s no questioning the timing of Bryan Maggard ending his nine-year stint as the UL athletic director to assume the role of deputy athletic director and chief operating officer at Missouri.
As seamlessly as Maggard and his wife Kerry fit into Cajun Country since his hiring on Feb. 1, 2017, this wasn’t home for them.
The Midwest is home. The Kansas State graduate got his doctorate at Missouri and spent over two decades there as a student, professor and athletic administrator before coming to Lafayette.
The couple have children in Missouri, including a newborn granddaughter.
And Maggard has known current Missouri athletic director Laird Veatch going back to Veatch’s playing days at Kansas State in the 1990s.
It doesn’t take a master detective to connect all of those dots.
The pertinent question now is how awful is the timing for the UL athletic department?
The truth is the last two years have been extremely trying times for the athletic department. College athletics is undergoing huge changes across the country. High school and college athletes alike have agents and are going to the highest bidder.
The things needed for success at this level when Maggard arrived in Lafayette nine years ago are very different than they are today.
Much of the new approach has been traversed under Maggard’s leadership over the last few years.
Sports such as baseball have taken some blows and figured out a way to counterpunch. Several of the coaches have created a culture around the programs that makes it about more than money for many athletes.
But there’s plenty of uncomfortable steps to take to keep the athletic department at the level the Ragin’ Cajuns have enjoyed during Maggard’s tenure.
UL teams have won 20 Sun Belt league championships and made 23 NCAA appearances under Maggard.
From football’s ascension to the Top 25 and a league championship in 2021, to softball’s return to the super regionals under Gerry Glasco, to baseball’s outright league crown, to league championships for both men’s and women’s basketball, there’s been a lot of winning.
The Maggards were exactly what this athletic department needed when they arrived.
The connection was real. The couple appreciated family and therefore truly understood the strong family ties in Cajun Country.
Unlike some athletic directors, Maggard rarely hid away in a box.
He had big football dreams and achieved many of them during the Billy Napier era, but he and his wife supported all the sports.
It wasn’t unusual for them to be among the crowd cheering on the Cajuns. It was the norm, actually.
In South Louisiana, you can’t fake being genuine and it never seemed like the Maggards had to that.
Consider the many obstacles Maggard steered the athletic program around.
Right away, there was the ugly dismissal of Michael Lotief as softball coach and then the subsequent hiring of Glasco, who suffered the tragic loss of his daughter and assistant coach Geri Ann.
Not long after that, the Maggards helped the school endure the sudden death of baseball coach Tony Robichaux. Maggard quickly brought in the perfect coach to replace a legend in Matt Deggs, and his program has remained an NCAA regional regular.
Perhaps his biggest strength was hiring coaching replacements. He even helped rejuvenate programs such as track and field by bringing another local culture creator back in Tommy Badon.
Maggard also kept the UL programs afloat during the difficult period around the Covid pandemic.
Once that died down, the transfer portal and NIL era made life extremely complicated for everyone, but especially mid-majors with lower athletic budgets.
Through it all, Maggard worked behind the scenes to secure the funding for the $45 million renovation of Cajun Field.
During his nine-year stay, I’ve written multiple columns about certain years potentially being one of the best in school history and most recently one suggesting it could be the worst.
It’s hard to imagine an athletic director experiencing as many huge twists and turns as Maggard maneuvered during his tenure.
When he received a contract extension through June 2027 during the summer of 2022, Maggard said there were two primary reasons he wanted to stay in Lafayette.
One was the job wasn’t done, and it wasn’t.
With Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium now here, though, that was a huge check mark on Maggard’s list. The clock began ticking after the opening kickoff last season.
Obviously, there’s still plenty more to do. The softball program is currently in flux, hoping to get back to its conference championship days real soon.
The next athletic director will need to find a way to get both basketball programs back to being consistent contenders.
And all the sports have plenty more revenue sharing and NIL issues to conquer to better compete in the Sun Belt.
Perhaps a new voice and leader can help in those areas moving forward.
New UL president Ramesh Kolluru doesn’t have an athletic background at all. Plus, his primary focus is ending the university-wide deficit crisis before attacking the athletic department’s concerns.
Again, perhaps some new ideas could help in that area.
Needless to say, Maggard’s replacement will have his or her hands full.
During the forced 25% staff cutbacks this past school year, Maggard said he learned some old procedures perhaps don’t need to return. Such discernment will be tricky in the coming year.
Maggard isn’t leaving angry or bitter. Perhaps his wisdom can aid his replacement moving forward.
In sports, a new athletic director is often followed by new head coaches. So perhaps it’s fitting a new president is followed by a new athletic director.
UL fans hope Maggard’s replacement fits as smoothly as he did nine years ago.