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Podcast: S8 Ep. 34
Date: November 17, 2025
Title: LU Moment: Carsen Barrett spreads school spirit through The Flock | S8 Ep. 34
Host: John Rollins

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JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to the LU Moment, where we showcase all the great things happening with Â鶹ÊÓƵ faculty, staff, students and alumni. I'm John Rollins, Associate Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs here at LU, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show. If you've been to a Â鶹ÊÓƵ athletics game recently, chances are that you've noticed a more engaged and excited student section. My guest today is a large part of that excitement. Today on the LU Moment, I've got Carsen Barrett, founder of The Flock, joining me on the podcast. Welcome to the show, Carsen.

CARSEN BARRETT: Hey, how are you sir?

JOHN: Doing well. Thanks for agreeing to come on. You know, we see you all over campus at these athletic events and sporting events, but it's nice to see you in a little different capacity today.

CARSEN: Oh, man, it's my pleasure to be here.

JOHN: Have you been up here before to the radio station?

CARSEN: I have not. It was like a little map up here, though. I just kept following the decals.

JOHN: Yeah, quite the little maze, but a little hidden gem on campus, right? You can tell your friends about it now. So let's go ahead and start with The Flock. Explain to everybody what is that particular student group all about?

CARSEN: So, The Flock, it's just about supporting our student athletes and supporting our fellow members on campus. You know, we started The Flock because we weren’t getting the traction at the sporting events across the board that we really wanted, so I just saw something that needed to be done, and I felt the need to slide in and do it. You know, we have so much community engagement within campus organizations like MSA, ASA, Man Up, etc.. You know, everyone's doing their part. So, I just want to be able to support other groups, as well as our athletes, and just really build that community and culture.

JOHN: Well, how many members do y'all have currently? Or do, you know, like a roundabout number?

CARSEN: I must say currently registered is right around 15, so I need to work on that. But I would say every student at Â鶹ÊÓƵ is a member, right? And, you know, the numbers kind of speak for themselves at the game. So people show out, some in large clumps, I would say everyone's a part of The Flock, maybe not registered yet? Yeah, we'll start working on it.

JOHN: I mean, the registration isn't the most important part, right? They're showing up, which is the whole reason you created this, right? So when you started it, did you expect this type of response to what you were doing?

CARSEN: I did. I shoot big, and I plan to hit big. So, you know, I started with a friend, and we just kind of sat down and I talked to my dad. I was like, “Hey, this is what we're gonna do. This is what we're gonna accomplish.” You know, anybody that knows me knows I talk a lot and I run my mouth. I talk a big game, and everyone's like, “Oh, you know, been there, heard that before, and I was like, Oh, you haven't heard it from me.”

JOHN: Well, I’ve got to tell you this. I didn't even tell you this before we started recording, but the first time I ever saw you was whenever we made it to the McNeese basketball game, and I was sitting, do you know Nicole Burton from the Career Center? She’s always with Dr Titus. They're always in the same kind of circles. So I was sitting next to her right behind the student section, I think y'all rode over on the bus. Y'all were all right in front of us, and you stood out because I was like, “This guy's gonna lose his voice.” I mean, you were shouting so much. It was awesome. You brought the Lamar energy. And I was like, “Who is that student?” And then heard about The Flock, and then started seeing you everywhere. But I think it's really cool what you're doing and it’s definitely filling a gap. Like you said, we've got all this audience here on campus -- our students. Why not have them be a part of all the great things that are happening?

CARSEN: Absolutely. The McNeese basketball tournament and the McNeese basketball game at home. That's by far been the highlight of my college experience so far. It's a fantastic time. What a great time to be at Lamar for sure.

JOHN: Tell me this. Have you always been a big sports guy, is this just kind of innate? This is who you are?

CARSEN: I've always grown up a big sports guy. I used to get in trouble a lot at my house. I’ve got younger brothers, and I’ve got older siblings. So just about every single night, after my dad had enough, he would call me into the front of the house and he'd be like, watch whatever sporting game he was watching. And it kind of sparked from there. I'm a huge basketball guy. I'm going to school to be a coach. So sports really have influenced and shaped my entire life. So it was to no surprise of people that know me, yeah, well, that makes a lot of sense. Now, going to school to be a coach too, absolutely.

JOHN: Well, you just answered my next question: what's your favorite sport and why. So, basketball? Okay. Why basketball?

CARSEN: I could never sit still when I was little. I feel like anybody that sees me at Lamar, they see me in 10 different places. You know, I've never been able to sit still. Football, I love football, but it's, you know, the whole reset between plays. Baseball, a lot of standing around, but basketball, it's just that constant, constant momentum. So, and I grew up with the Spurs and the Heat when they were going back and forth in the finals. So, okay, so you're used to that? Yeah, did it caught my attention?

JOHN: Well, you know, it's funny that you bring that up. I'm not a giant sports guy, so we're kind of opposites here, but Lamar athletics has been doing so well that I have become a sports guy. But I will say, I like going to the basketball games, there's this high octane energy about it. And I love what you said, because that's how I explain it. I'm like basketball is my favorite as well, because it's constant. There's never a dull moment. You're never fully out of it, even if you're like 10 points from the other team, you know, there's a chance in the next 30 minutes, you could have more than you know, it's just fun to watch.

CARSEN: And Lamar Men’s Basketball man, the change over the three past three years. It's, been something to watch, you know, it's been a pleasure to watch in person, for sure.

JOHN: And a lot of these athletic teams currently are creating history, in a sense, you know, a couple more wins on some of these teams, and we've made history around here.

CARSEN: Absolutely. It was a great year to start The Flock, for sure. They turned around all the organizations. So, it's been fantastic.

JOHN: Yeah, are you finding that a lot of people are recognizing you on campus now because of The Flock?

CARSEN: I would say I don't really meet a stranger, so even if people don't necessarily want to talk to me, I'm going to talk to them. So yeah, I would say people have started to notice me for sure.

JOHN: Okay, awesome. Well, let's take it back just a little bit, you know, and have you introduce yourself. What brought you here to Lamar, or give us a little bit of background about who Carsen is?

CARSEN: Yeah, absolutely. So, I'm Carsen Barrett. I'm a 21-year-old junior at Â鶹ÊÓƵ Kinesiology major. So my degree is called PETE (Physical Education Teacher Education). I was supposed to be graduating this spring, but I've extended my college one more year to try to grow The Flock and try and make my lasting impact on campus, which is pretty exciting. You know, it didn't take much convincing. Lamar has been nothing but great. I'm from the area. I grew up like 15 minutes down the road, small town called Groves, Texas. Oh yeah, the PNG Indians, that's where I went to high school. So historically, we grew up in a football town. But yeah, you know, Lamar threw a lot of money my way. My two older siblings, they came to Lamar on full ride scholarships. I'm super close to my family. I’ve got a family of six, yeah, seven, including myself. So family definitely played a large part in it. Financially, it made sense and how we came out here, and it was better than what I imagined. For sure.

JOHN: Well, we're glad you made the choice to come, and glad that you're sticking around like you said, a year, honestly, it'll fly by in the grand scheme of things. One extra year’s not going to hurt anything. You know, absolutely, like you said, a little chance to kind of build your legacy and leave build something that can be grown upon for years. So what else are you involved with on campus? I think I saw you were an LU Ambassador?

CARSEN: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm a Â鶹ÊÓƵ Ambassador. My sister, she was an Ambassador. So my older siblings, they were super successful, so I just grew up chasing their coattails. So, you know, she was LU Ambassador. They were both in the Honors College. So I'm the intramural officer in the Honors College, kind of keeping that theme of sports, I guess, you know. And just trying to spread the good word of Lamar, you know, they've given me so much, so I'm just trying to give back to them. And intramurals, man, I'm involved in a lot of intramurals. Keeping the theme of basketball keeps me active, keeps off the “freshman 15” and keeps me in shape, I guess.

JOHN: Hey, staying active never hurts. So, speaking of intramurals, you know, we have the new intramural field right next to the Reaud building. As a student who was here while that was being built, you know, while it was being put together, and now you're getting to utilize the end result. What does that mean to you as a student? Like being here for the whole process?

CARSEN: It's been wonderful, you know, we did the whole intramural football out at the old driving range by the baseball stadium, same with soccer. So I'm a big soccer guy. I've grown up playing soccer, so I'm really excited, really looking forward to that, yeah, but, you know, we did intramural football, and we weren't great, you know, we weren't great, but they kind of had a little community, you know, I'd go out there and sometimes just go to watch an intramural game. There'd be like 50, 60 guys out there, not including the ones playing. So really, something was brewing out there. Our sponsor, our advisor for The Flock, is Mr. Matt Krause, who's the intramural director. So, you know, anything I can do to help him. And he's just been doing wonderful things, and, oh yeah, man, that's awesome getting to witness stuff, you know, even like the library, the new Starbucks, the intramural field, the new baseball facilities. You know, I love Dr Taylor. I love Jeff O’Malley. I believe what they're doing here, for sure, and getting to reap the benefits of all their hard work and what they're trying to do for us, man, it's been special for sure.

JOHN: I'm glad you bring that up and bring up their leadership as well, because a lot has changed, even in the last probably three years or so. Yeah, the renovations, the upgrades. You can see them around campus. You know, we're promoting Cardinal lights right now, and I keep telling people drive in by Subway so you can see the new library. It's not finished yet, but, I mean, the windows are there. On that one side, which it used to just be all brick, you know. So just these little things that, as a student, in maybe a year or two, that this campus is going to transform.

CARSEN: Absolutely, which I talk to Dr Taylor about it all the time, man, someone as involved as, hands on, involved as he is, you know, I don't go to another university, but I can't imagine somebody that cares as much as he does, for sure.

JOHN: For sure. You know, beyond that, I know we already talked about what made you choose Lamar. I do want to ask you if you could give advice to either prospective students thinking about coming to Lamar, or maybe students who just got here, freshmen, what would you tell them?

CARSEN: Man, I would tell anybody that was on the fence about coming to Lamar, I would say, pull the trigger and do it. You know, we aren't a bigger school, which, it has its benefits and it has its downfalls. You know, you come to a Lamar football game. It's not one of those bigger schools, like A&M or LSU, UT, but it has its benefits of being a smaller school, whereas I can walk around campus and talk to our starting quarterback, or talk to the basketball team, or have that front row seat at the games, you know, and you get to really build that identity to where you aren’t just one in 80,000 students in your graduating class. You have your special place at Lamar, with your time with your professors. You know, I keep talking about sports and the fun things, but even on that academic side, you know, you get your individual last time, and you get the best experience possible. As far as you know, incoming students and even freshmen, this year, Lamar is on the uptick. Anybody that is older at Lamar, the seniors, they can see the progression. I'm a junior, I've seen the progression. My parents, my siblings, you know, they've told me, you know, what a blessing it is to be here, because of how much it just has improved since they were here, and where, where I sit. So I would tell them absolutely to come on and come leave their legacy, you know, come make their mark. And, yeah, let's build something together.

JOHN: For sure. You worded that so well. You know, I had Megan Thompson, she's the cheer coach, I had her on maybe a few episodes ago, and she said Lamar is on the rise. And I loved that, because it's so true. I feel like athletics, we've got amazing research taking place. We're getting all these accolades with faculty and staff appreciation. Just so many things are exciting, things, big things are happening right now. And like you said, it's kind of the time to leave your mark. I like how you put that. There's lots of opportunity here if you, if you're willing to take it, put yourself out there like you. I bet a year ago you didn't think you would be featured on our social medias like you are. I mean, you're kind of becoming one of the faces of Lamar. I'm just saying. You're on our social media all the time. You know, doing the Wear Red on Fridays, which is a campaign we've been pushing. You're doing an amazing job with it, but it's just, it's interesting how, if you want to plug in and take advantage of these opportunities, they're there for the taking.

CARSEN: Yeah, absolutely. Which, you know, I came in my freshman year, and my parents, you know, maybe at the end of the day, your parents do know best. But, you know, I came into Lamar and I was unfocused, you know, I was unfocused, and they were like, you know, jump out there. Like, you know, make your mark. And I was like, man, like, I'm not listening. And I didn't listen in my sophomore year, they were like, jump out there. I was like, I'm not listening. And by the end of my sophomore year, I was like, yeah, they were right. I had to lock in. I had to lock in, for sure.

JOHN: Very nice. Well, let me ask you this before we wrap up. Do you have any favorite memories at Lamar? I mean, they can involve athletics, whatever.

CARSEN: Absolutely. Yeah, my favorite memories at Lamar. I mean, they are, they really are countless. You know, Lamar has been nothing but a positive, but I would say the sporting events. You know that first Flock game, the first football game this season with The Flock, when we beat South Dakota that was up there, the two whole McNeese basketball games from my freshman and sophomore year. Those have to be up there, you know, the McNeese basketball tournament. We fell short, you know, right there at the very end. But I talked to Earl White, number 10. He's one of the seniors on the basketball team. He keeps saying, finish the story, which I thought was pretty special. But I would have to say, the biggest thing for me was coming into college. I was afraid it was going to be more of my high school because, you know, it's right down the road. But you know, I spend time with wonderful people. I've met, you know, I hang out with all these people from like Europe, on the tennis team. You know, I've made of my best friends, you know, they live on the other side of the globe. And I've met a girl from Beaumont, you know, she's on the soccer team, a girl from Pasadena who've been nothing but wonderful. And it's just the connections I've made that really have made Lamar the most special to me, for sure.

JOHN: So is there anything exciting in the works for The Flock? Y'all got anything coming up you want to share? And also, how can folks keep up with y'all? You know, the social media accounts? Where can they find you?

CARSEN: Yeah, so absolutely we we've talked about, we've thrown around having a little basketball tournament, having a little volleyball tournament at the wreck, just trying to get students out and engaged. I know finals is coming up, which can be a stressful time. I know it's stressful for me, and, you know, I know there's maybe a couple majors out there that are a little bit harder than mine, but, you know, we've thought about some stuff. Fundraisers for The Flock. Maybe get us some funding to do more things. So in two days, we're having a tailgate for the last home volleyball game, which we're super excited for. Get some food out there. Get some traction. Pack it out. We're playing the number one team, SFA, so hopefully we'll be able to knock them off and then right roll, and then next semester, bigger, better, stronger, and for basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, stuff like that. So golf, yeah, they play at the Golden Nugget this year. So we're gonna try and get out there for them, women's gone as they play at the Beaumont Country Club. We'll go out there for them. Men's and Women's Conference for tennis is at home this year, so we'll have a home court advantage, which will be super exciting. And then go over to McNeese and tear him up in basketball.

JOHN: There you go. Hey, sounds like a plan to me. Alright. And I know you are very active on Instagram. Are you on Facebook as well?

CARSEN: Just Instagram. So, so we are just active on Instagram right now. I do run the social media and I'm not a social media guy.

JOHN: You're doing an amazing it looks good.

CARSEN: I just pound out as much information as possible there.

JOHN: And you share across the board. You know, you brought up volleyball a while ago. They won 10 in a row, 10 in a row. Athletics is doing amazing. But keep sharing all that good info, because it is getting to the people.

CARSEN: Absolutely, that's the goal. So awesome.

JOHN: Well, thanks again for joining me. Keep spreading that positive energy on campus.

CARSEN: Well, I do appreciate it.

JOHN: As we wrap up another episode, please make sure to search LU Momen wherever you get your podcasts to keep up with the events, activities, programs and people right here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.