Photo : Jim Lytle ( AP )

At a post-workout press conference earlier this week, Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns coach Billy Napier announced a rather odd initiative for the members of his football team. Napier said that, starting this year, all scholarship members of the team will be required to donate a minimum of $50 to the Ragin’ Cajun Athletic Foundation.


That seems like a punitive rule to enforce on a group of unpaid college football players, though Napier clarified that, “it’s all about gratitude,” which is a hell of a tack for a coach who was paid $850,000 last year to take with a group of players whose labor is exploited for free. He unfortunately continued:

“That’s probably a little bit unheard of and a little bit unique, but I think this is a place where that would be appreciated,” Napier said of the initiative. “I think it’s part of the type of program that we want to have. We want our players to be educated and understand the benefits that come with being a student-athlete and that is not something that should be taken lightly — the effort and time and investment that the people that support athletes at UL have put in into this program.”


A PR staffer later claimed that participation in the initiative was not mandatory, but merely encouraged so players could “demonstrate their appreciation to the RCAF, including its board of directors, staff and investors” and possibly start a lifelong trend of giving money to bloodsucking administrators. Finally, someone is standing up for the coaches, administrators, and directors who do it for the love of the game!