The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns are the athletic teams of the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a Public university, public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus Universi ...

. The college has been competing athletically since 1901. The Ragin' Cajuns compete in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

, fielding 16 varsity teams.

Nickname

The university states that "Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns" is the nickname of the school's athletic teams. Founded in 1898 as Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (SLII), the school adopted Bulldogs as a team nickname in 1921. The nickname persisted when the school was renamed Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI) in 1921 and the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) in 1960. The university's 1963 football team was unusually strong in homegrown talent; 35 of its 39 players were from Louisiana, with 30 from within 100 miles of Lafayette. As a result, coach Russ Faulkinberry changed the team's nickname to the Raging

Cajuns The Cajuns (; Louisiana French language, French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French people, Louisiana French ethnic group, ethnicity mainly found in t ...

, a nod to the ethnic group based in south Louisiana. (The team went 4–5.) The name change also ended a longstanding nickname overlap with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. The term Raging (or Ragin') Cajuns had been used in a number of contexts before 1963, including as the nickname of the Louisiana-based U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Squadron VMF-143. The team changed the nickname from "Raging" to "Ragin'" in 1967 and formally adopted it for all athletic teams in 1974. Briefly in 1984, USL's name became the University of Louisiana, but was reverted to University of Southwestern Louisiana via court challenge. In 1999, it became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) and maintained the Ragin' Cajuns nickname.

Facilities

The area where the majority of the school's athletic facilities are located is formally known as the "Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr. Sports and Entertainment Plaza." It is located apart from the main campus, and is bounded by West Congress Street to the north, Bertrand Drive to the west, Reinhardt Drive and Souvenir Gate to the south, and the coulee feeding into Coulee Mine to the east. It is more informally known as the Athletic Complex. Located in this area are: *

Cajundome The Cajundome is a 13,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in Lafayette, Louisiana on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus. It is home to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's and women's basketball programs in addition to hosting v ...

:The Cajundome is a 13,500-seat multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

. It is home to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Men's and Women's basketball programs in addition to hosting various university events and commencement ceremonies including high school graduations. It also hosts many regional

concerts A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

(seating for concerts 8,481 to 13,500) and special events *

Cajun Field Cajun Field at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium is a football stadium located on the South Campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the city of Lafayette, Louisiana. Nicknamed The Swamp, it is the home field of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns at ...

: Nicknamed The Swamp, Cajun Field is the home field of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team. Cajun Field has an official capacity of 41,426 with 2,577 chairback seats. *Cajun Courts :The facility is the home of Ragin' Cajuns men's and women's tennis teams. The facility built in 1975 has a seating capacity of 1,200. *Home Bank Soccer/Track Facility :The facility is the home of Ragin' Cajuns women's soccer and men's and women's track and field teams. The facility built in 1976 has a seating capacity of 5,000. *

M. L. Tigue Moore Field at Russo Park M. L. Tigue Moore Field at Russo Park is a ballpark located on the South Campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana. It was built in 1979 and currently has a capacity of 6,033, following the renovations/additions ...

:More commonly known as "the Tigue," is the home stadium of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team. Built in 1979 it currently has a capacity of 6,033. * Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park :The park is the home of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns softball program. Built in 1985 it currently has a capacity of 2,790. *Donald and Janice Mosing Student-Athlete Performance Center :The SAPC is a 100,000-square foot facility that houses the Ragin' Cajuns football offices, strength and conditioning, athletic training and the equipment room. Opened in September 2015, is the largest in the Sun Belt Conference and is one of the largest among Division I schools across the South. It includes a 12,000-square foot weight room, the state-of-the-art athletic training room and hydrotherapy area, nutrition station and the 150-seat auditorium. *Leon Moncla Indoor Practice Facility :Completed in August, 2007, at a cost of approximately $4.5 million, the facility houses a full 120-yard football field covered by a turf surface. It also contains a basketball practice facility which includes a full court with six goals, locker room, video room, players lounge and meeting room. The facility also contains drop-down batting cages which are utilized by the basketball, softball and golf teams. The baseball and softball teams also use the facility as needed. Additionally, while just outside the sports complex, Bourgeois Hall (Health & PE) is located immediately next to Lamson Park. Also, Earl K. Long Gym (Women's basketball and volleyball) is located on the main campus

Sports sponsored

Baseball

* First Year of Baseball: 1903 * First Year of Division I: 1972 * Years of Baseball: 101st season * All-Time Division I Record (since 1972): 1,301–885–4 (.595) * All-Time Sun Belt Record: 315–181 (.635) * NCAA Appearances/Last: Fifteen/2016 * All-Time NCAA Tournament Record: 20–25 * Regular Season Conference Championships: 16 ** Gulf States Conference (1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953) ** Southland Conference (1972 and 1973) ** American South Conference (1989, 1990, 1991) ** Sun Belt Conference (1997, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2016) * Conference Tournament championships: 7 **American South Conference (1988, 1990, 1991) ** Sun Belt Conference (1998, 2014, 2015, 2016) * Last time in postseason: Lafayette Regional (2016) * Finished tied for 3rd at 2000 College World Series after knocking off overall #1 South Carolina in Super Regional. Defeated Clemson and San Jose State, lost to Stanford twice.

Men's basketball

The Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team came to prominence under the leadership of head coach Beryl Shipley, who was responsible for breaking the color barrier in the South and won just under 70% of all games from 1957 to 1973. Notable Players include NCAA 2nd All-time leading scorer Dwight "Bo" Lamar, Dean Church, Andrew Toney, Marv Winkler, Dwayne Mitchell, and Elfrid Payton. In 1973, the university became one of only five schools to ever receive the NCAA's Death Penalty, when their basketball program was barred from competing in the NCAA for the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons. The current head coach is Bob Marlin. * 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969

Gulf States Conference The Gulf States Conference (GSC) was an intercollegiate athletic football conference that existed from 1948 to 1971. The league had members in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Many of the league's members from Louisiana joined after the Loui ...

regular season champions * 1977 and 1982

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

regular season champions * 1992, 2000, and 2018

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

regular season champions * 2002, 2003, 2008, and 2011 Sun Belt Conference West division champions * 1982 Southland Conference tournament champions * 1992, 1994, 2000, 2014, 2023 Sun Belt Conference tournament champions * 1982, 1983, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2014, 2023 NCAA Tournament appearances

Women's basketball

The Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team plays their home games at the

. They are currently coached by Gary Brodhead. *2007 NCAA Tournament appearance *2015 and 2016

Women's Basketball Invitational The Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) is a women's college basketball tournament created in 2009 by Sport Tours. The inaugural tournament occurred at the conclusion of the 2009–10 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. Selections for ...

National champions

Football

Football was the first team organized at the then institute (SLII) in 1901, although an advertisement promoting women's gymnastics was placed in 1900. The team participates in NCAA Division I FBS in the Sun Belt Conference. First played in 1901 under the school's previous name SLII. They are a charter member of NCAA Division I-A football. Louisiana vacated 22 wins from 2011 to 2014 including the 2011 and 2013 New Orleans Bowls and also vacated the 2013 Sun Belt Conference co-championship as the result of NCAA violations of ACT exam fraud, payments to recruits, and not cooperating with the NCAA investigation. On December 15, 2017,

Billy Napier William Hall Napier (born July 21, 1979) is an American football coach currently serving as head coach at the University of Florida. From 2017 until 2021, he was head coach at the University of Louisiana, amassing a 40–12 record in four season ...

was named head football coach of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. Napier led the Cajuns to a period of unprecedented success, including records of 11–3, 10–1, and 12–1 in consecutive seasons before he was hired away to be the head coach of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. His successor is

Michael Desormeaux Michael John Desormeaux (born September 29, 1985) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, a position he has held since the final game of the 2021 season. ...

Softball

The Softball team is among the most successful of all Ragin' Cajun teams, having won 21 regular season championships, 16 conference tournament championships, and six appearances in the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

(1993, 1995, 1996, 2003, 2008, and 2014). During the 2008 WCWS appearance the Ragin' Cajuns defeated #1 ranked Florida and eventually finished fifth. The Ragin' Cajun softball team has seen post-season play in 19 of the past 20 seasons. The Ragin' Cajuns have been Sun Belt Conference regular season champions in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019, Sun Belt tournament champions in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019 along with 27 NCAA Regionals, 33 NFCA All-Americans, and 37 consecutive winning seasons (only having one losing season, 1981, their first year of play in which they would finish 6–14). The current head coach is

Gerry Glasco Gerald Dean Glasco Jr. (born October 29, 1958) is an American college softball coach who is currently head coach at Texas Tech Red Raiders softball, Texas Tech and the Smash It Sports Vipers of the Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). Previousl ...

. He replaced former head coach Michael Lotief, who was fired on November 19, 2017.

Men's tennis

1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1982 Southland Conference Champions; 1992, 1998, 2006, and 2014 Sun Belt Conference Champions, highest national ranking #15 (1988). The current head coach is Mark Jeffrey. They play their home matches at Cajun Courts, an off-campus tennis complex at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette near

, the Athletic Training facility, Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park and

Women's Tennis

1986 and 1987

Champions and 1990 and 1991

American Southwest Conference The American Southwest Conference (ASC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference, founded in 1996, whose member schools compete in the NCAA's Division III. All member schools are located in the state of Texas. The conference competes in baseb ...

Champions, highest national ranking was in 2006 at No. 51. The current head coach is Stephanie Vallejos. They play their home matches at Cajun Courts, an off-campus tennis complex at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette near

, the Athletic Training facility, Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park and

Non–varsity sports

Men's Lacrosse as part of the MCLA,

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

Bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

as part of the ACHA,

Inline Hockey Inline hockey or roller hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport is a v ...

as part of the NCRHA,

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

Powerlifting Powerlifting is a competitive strength athletics, strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: Squat (exercise), squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athle ...

, Rugby, Men's

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

Sport Shooting Shooting sports is a group of competitive sport, competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airg ...

Tae Kwon Do Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In a ...

Water Skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...

. * Water Skiing - First year of competition: 1989. Has finished no worse than third in the annual NCWSA National Collegiate Water Ski Association championships since 1993. National champions: 1995, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019 and 2022

Traditions

Mascots

* Bulldog * Mr. Cajun (animated) * ''RC'' the Bulldog (live) * "Gee" the bulldog (live) prior to being the Ragin' Cajuns * "The Fabulous Cajun Chicken" (animated) 1982–1999 * Cayenne (animated) (2000–2010)

Notable players and coaches

Ragin Cajun Network

Louisiana launched the Ragin' Cajun Radio Network in August 2011. The Network is a series of radio and television networks that provide access to sporting events throughout the state of Louisiana. Two Lafayette radio stations, KPEL-AM and KHXT-FM, provide play by play radio commentary called by broadcasters Jay Walker, and Steve Peloquin. The full list of participating stations are: * KPEL 1420 AM/ KPEL 96.5 FM /

KHXT KHXT (107.9 FM broadcasting, FM, "HOT 107.9") is a Rhythmic contemporary, rhythmic top 40 radio station serving the Lafayette, Louisiana, Lafayette area, as well as parts of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The Townsquare Media outlet broa ...

107.9 FM in Lafayette * WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans *

KTUX KTUX (98.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an American Townsquare Media radio station licensed to Carthage, Texas, and serving the Longview, Texas, Longview-Marshall, Texas, Marshall-Shreveport, Louisiana, Shreveport area. The station airs a classic rock ...

98.9 FM in Shreveport * KLCL 1470 AM in Lake Charles Television coverage is provided by Cox Communications as part of their Cox 4 and

Cox Sports Cox Sports was a regional sports network that served the United States New England region until 2012. Cox Sports New England served as the local programming outlet for Cox Communications, the cable service provider in Rhode Island and parts o ...

Television networks. Cox Sports Television now has over 2 million subscriptions in the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Virginia. Additionally, all games aired by the channels will also be available online at ESPN3.com provided nationwide coverage to the Ragin' Cajuns.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Sports clubs and teams in Lafayette, Louisiana