D-D Breaux

• D-D Breaux Retires After 43 Seasons (Aug. 4, 2020)

Member of the LSU College of Coast and Environment Advisory Council
Member of the Governor’s Council for Fitness and Sports 
2022 LSU Alumnus of the Year
2022 College of Health Science and Education Hall of Distinction Class 
9 SEC Coach of the Year Honors
9 Region Coach of the Year Honors
Member of the USA Gymnastics Regional 8 Hall of Fame
Member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
8 NCAA Championship Finals Appearances (2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
35 Consecutive NCAA Regional Appearances
30 NCAA Championships Appearances 
15 Individual National Titles
19 Regional Titles
1 Honda Award Recipient
3 AAI Award Winners
1 NCAA Woman of the Year Finalist
266 All-America Honors
22 SEC Champions with 44 SEC Titles
93 All-SEC Honors
160 Scholastic All-Americans
7 SEC Gymnasts of the Year
6 SEC Championships

D-D Breaux built LSU Gymnastics from the ground up and turned it into the national powerhouse it is known as of today. For 43 years Breaux represented the university and state before retiring in August 2020 as the longest tenured head coach for any sports in Southeastern Conference history. 
 
LSU Gymnastics is known nationally thanks to Breaux’s work in the gym and the community. Her dedication to the student-athlete on an individual basis has transcended into academic success, community involvement, Coach of the Year honors, SEC Championships, NCAA Regional Championships and top-10 national rankings throughout her tenure. 
 
Under Breaux’s leadership and coaching, LSU reached new heights in individual and team success. LSU saw increasing accomplishments in the new millennium that included 17 NCAA Championships appearances in 18 seasons, seven NCAA Championship Finals appearances since 2008 and 14 individual national titles since 2002.


The passion Breaux showcased in 43 seasons never wavered. Breaux worked tirelessly to make LSU gymnastics the most exciting and family-friend event in the city, state and country. Friday night inside the Maravich Center is a major attraction in Baton Rouge, and the attendance records have been rewritten thanks to the hard work by Breaux and her staff. 
 
The 25-best attended meets in school history came during the Tigers’ explosion. LSU exceeded 13,000 fans on four different occasions and in 2018, the program sold out the PMAC against Alabama and Kentucky. LSU set the single-meet attendance record with 13,729 in the arena to watch the Tigers take down the Crimson Tide. 
 
In competition, LSU put together one of the most consistent programs in the nation with four-straight NCAA Championship Finals appearances, three-straight SEC meet championships and two SEC regular season titles during Breaux’s final years as head coach. 
 
Breaux is considered a pioneer of collegiate gymnastics and women’s sports. She never stopped advocating for her program since being named head coach in 1978. At the beginning of her career, the Tigers trained in a corner of the Carl Maddox Field House. They now utilize the top gymnastics training facility in the world.
 
Maintaining Excellence 
During her tenure Breaux established and maintained LSU's reputation as one of the premier collegiate gymnastics programs in the country. Under her tutelage, the Tigers placed among the nation's top-10 teams 30 times, finishing a program-best second in 2016, 2017 and 2019, third in 2014, fourth in 1988 and 2018, fifth in 2008 and 2013 and sixth on four separate occasions.
 
LSU also placed among the top three in regional competition on 34 separate occasions. The team won regional titles 18 times in four different decades, including back-to-back first-place regional finishes in 2008 and 2009 and the streak of seven straight from 2013-19.
 
Under her leadership, LSU captured 15 individual national titles and 44 SEC titles. There were also 266 All-America and 91 All-SEC honors earned in 43 seasons. 
 
Breaux's squad won the inaugural SEC Championship title in 1981 and returned to the top once again in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The three-peat marked the fifth time in SEC history a team has won three or more SEC titles in a row. Her team also finished second on five occasions and third seven other times.
 
For her dedication to the sport and her teams' numerous accomplishments, Breaux was recognized by her peers time and time again. In the summer of 2009, Breaux received one of the highest honors as she was voted into the USA Gymnastics Region 8 Hall of Fame. Breaux was first recognized as the National Coach of the Year in 2014 and once again in 2017. She was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. 
 
She was named the SEC Coach of the Year on nine occasions (1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2015, 2017 and 2019) and NCAA Central Regional Coach of the Year nine times (1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017).
 
An All-Around Coach
Aside from athletic honors, Breaux exceled in recruiting quality student-athletes. A Louisianan through and through, Breaux’s recruiting efforts reached farther than her home state. 
 
Outside of the gym, Breaux took an active role in the academic success her program has achieved in her 40-plus seasons at LSU. By making academic success her team's No. 1 priority, Breaux's teams reached the highest scholastic goals she has established over the years. Throughout the country, she was acknowledged as having one of the finest academic team year in and year out. LSU gymnasts were named Scholastic All-Americans 154 times and members of the SEC Academic Honor Roll on 231 occasions. 
 
Breaux’s team won the Tiger Cup in 2013, 2014, and 2015, an award given to the LSU team with the most community service hours, the highest GPA and the highest national placement in postseason competition. In addition, the gymnastics team earned the Community Service Award for combining community service with excellence in the classroom at the annual LSU Academic Gala in 2013 and again in 2015.
 
Following her retirement in August 2020, Breaux spends most of her time volunteering in the Baton Rouge community and serving as ambassador for LSU. She continues to talk to groups across the state and represent the university. Breaux served on the LSU College of Coast and Environment advisory council and was appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards to the Governors’ Council for Fitness and sports. 
 
Breaux and her team always participated in volunteer activities throughout the Baton Rouge area. The team annually took part in the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Box Program and Operation Christmas Child to provide presents and gifts to children who are less fortunate. From 2005-08 Breaux's teams were awarded the LSU CHAMPS Community Service Award after logging hundreds of hours of community service work.

Breaux, who has served as the Chairperson of the YWCA's Pink Ribbon Campaign for Breast Cancer, and her team have also volunteered their time to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, St. Jude's Hospital and the Alzheimer's Association, among others. The Tigers’ coach also served as chair for LSU’s United Way campaign, and in 2009 she received the McMain’s Community Service Award from the McMain’s Children’s Development Center, a great honor for Breaux.
 
From 2008-13, Breaux and the Tigers joined forces with Foundation 56 – an organization established by former LSU standout linebacker and NFL star Bradie James. James’ mother, Etta, succumbed to breast cancer in February 2002. LSU held the Etta James Memorial Meet for six years, raising money for Foundation 56’s efforts to raise awareness and fight breast cancer. In all, LSU gymnastics and the Baton Rouge community raised more than $300,000 for Foundation 56’s fight against breast cancer.
 
It is this delicate balance among exceptional academics, athletic excellence and exemplary community service efforts that allowed Breaux to keep her team at the top of the national scene year in and year out.
 
Behind Breaux
 
The foundation for Breaux’s coaching career developed long before her arrival at LSU. An excellent athlete in her own right, Breaux's affiliation with the sport began at the club level where she was a nationally-ranked gymnast by both the A.A.U. and the U.S.G.F.
She was also a Junior Olympic National Champion who earned the S.A.A.U.'s Outstanding Gymnast award. By virtue of her accomplishments Breaux qualified as one of the top-15 athletes in the country to compete at the World Games Trials and was set to compete at the 1972 Olympic Trials before a career-ending knee injury forced her to retire.
 
Breaux, a native of Donaldsonville, Louisiana, attended Southeastern Louisiana University where she competed for the Lady Lions gymnastics team for two seasons (1972-73) and helped SLU to a second-place finish at the 1972 AIAW Championships.
 
Breaux then served as an assistant coach for the Lady Lions for three seasons, where she also became a national-level judge and served as the first state director for the Louisiana USA gymnastics program. She later transferred to LSU in 1976 where she earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees. 
 
Breaux is one of eight children and comes from a great family tradition. Her parents, brothers, sisters and their spouses and children supported the program since the coach’s arrival at LSU and continue to support till this day. 
 
Breaux has two daughters, Jewel and Sara. Sara, her younger child, played soccer at LSU and earned her degree in May 2009. Sara finished her master’s program in public administration in the LSU E.J. Ourso School of Business. She has two children, Robert Eric and Rose Breaux.  
 
Jewel, Breaux’s older daughter, is also a graduate of LSU, and she served as a volunteer coach for the gymnastics team for several years. Jewel is the owner of Weichert Realty in Baton Rouge and the mother of Porter Thomas and Chase Hebert. 

LSU Accolades under Breaux
8 NCAA Championship Finals Appearances (2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
35 Consecutive NCAA Regional Appearances
30 NCAA Championships Appearances
15 Individual National Titles
19 Regional Titles
1 Honda Award Recipient
3 AAI Award Winners
1 NCAA Woman of the Year Finalist
260 All-America Honors
22 SEC Champions with 44 SEC Titles
89 All-SEC Honors
150 Scholastic All-Americans
7 SEC Gymnasts of the Year
6 SEC Championships

Career Record
Overall – 816-427-7 
Regular Season – 528-255-6
Postseason – 288-172-1

Breaux Year-by-Year Records

Year	Regular Season	Postseason	National Finish	Regional Finish	SEC Finish
1978	9-1	–	9th*	1st*	–
1979	8-1-1	–	11th*	1st*	–
1980	10-3	–	6th*	1st*	–
1981	18-5	–	11th*	2nd*	1st
1982	12-5	1-2	–	3rd	3rd
1983	11-6	6-7-1	6th	3rd	3rd
1984	8-10	–	–	–	4th
1985	12-13	4-1	–	2nd	4th
1986	7-9	6-8	9th	1st	4th
1987	13-4	10-7	7th	2nd	4th
1988	15-5-1	13-4	4th	2nd	4th
1989	17-6	5-1	–	2nd	4th
1990	16-3	11-6	6th	2nd	2nd
1991	9-8	9-8	7th	3rd	3rd
1992	8-14	0-6	–	7th	5th
1993	8-9	7-4-1	7th(t)	2nd	4th
1994	13-4-1	6-5	8th	2nd	3rd
1995	14-4	6-5	9th	3rd	2nd
1996	9-11	5-2	–	3rd	5th
1997	12-6-1	4-7	12th	3rd	3rd
1998	15-7	5-6	9th	3rd	3rd
1999	11-6	6-4	9th	2nd	4th
2000	15-4-1	6-4	9th	2nd	2nd
2001	11-5	3-2	18th	3rd	4th
2002	10-10	6-4	8th	1st	4th
2003	10-10	5-5	10th	2nd	4th
2004	15-6	7-3	7th	1st	3rd
2005	19-4	7-3	9th	1st	2nd
2006	14-11	5-5	8th	2nd	4th
2007	13-9	6-4	7th	2nd	4th
2008	17-6	9-6	5th	1st	4th
2009	16-5	8-7	6th	1st	4th
2010	11-7-1	4-6	9th	2nd	4th
2011	5-13	3-2	20th	3rd	5th
2012	10-12	4-6	9th	2nd	4th
2013	15-6	10-5	5th	1st	3rd
2014	10-3	16-6	3rd	1st	3rd
2015	13-1	12-5	10th	1st	2nd
2016	13-2	18-4	2nd	1st	3rd
2017	13-1	21-1	2nd	1st	1st
2018	15-1	18-4	4th	1st	1st
2019	11-3	13-2	2nd	1st	1st
2020	14-2	Season canceled	in March 2019 due to	COVID-19 Pandemic
43 Years	528-255-6	288-172-2

* AIAW finish
Regular season records include SEC Championships until 2014