Head Coach: Bryant Vincent will be entering his first year with UL-Monroe this year. You can check out his coach profile and my grade of the hire here: https://updogsportstalk.com/2024/05/28/college-football-coach-hire-grades-ul-monroe/
Program Outlook: This is one of the toughest jobs out there, and fans are pessimistic despite a new beginning. They’ve seen new coaches come and go. Promising hires haven’t worked in the past. Vincent and Co will need to find ways to overachieve this season to get fans and casuals excited.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: This is as close to a tear down and restart as you get. Of non-service academy schools (service academies often have lots of turnover) UL-Monroe is dead last in returning production. There’s not many guys coming in via the transfer portal, but…they have a lot of freshman coming in (anywhere between 38-41 depending on the site.) There’s also a late portal add that has everyone excited and that is the addition of QB General Booty! In general the offense seems to have more pieces to be excited about compared to the defense, overall this is going to take some time.
1Screenshot from fbschedules.com
2024 Schedule Thoughts: This schedule is pretty tough. Jackson State in the opener is no joke, the Tigers have a solid team. UAB is coming off a 4-8 season, so this game is winnable but the Blazers will likely be favored. ULM also has to take their lumps in “buy games” at Texas and Auburn. They’re fortunate to be in the weaker West division of the Sun Belt but their draw from the East isn’t favorable with them getting JMU and Marshall.
Vegas Projection: UL-Monroe’s win total is set at 1.5 with the odds leaning toward the over. Still, they clearly don’t paint an optimistic picture.
2024 Best Case: UL-Monroe desperately needs some positive momentum and something to develop an identity with more casual fans. They need General Booty to be the hero, he wins the starting job and his hot start gets the Warhawks to 2-0 after beating Jackson State and UAB. ULM loses to Texas but upsets Troy and battles hard before succumbing to JMU. The Warhawks then beat Southern Miss to get to a very hopeful 4-2. The bowl hopes are squashed by the tough stretch at the end of the schedule but that’s ok because the Warhawks take down hated rival Louisiana to end the season on a high note, keep their rival out of a bowl and force a change in Lafayette.
2024 Worst Case: There’s no hope or momentum in Vincent’s first year. The Warhawks lose to Jackson State on opening night and it just doesn’t get better from there. They’re uncompetitive in most games as they struggle their way to an 0-12 season. Making matters worse is Louisiana finds a breakthrough season to win the Sun Belt and even La Tech reaches a bowl game.
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