BATON ROUGE ? The LSU Board of Supervisors approved a promotion for director of athletics Joe Alleva on Thursday.
Alleva added vice chancellor to his title, which now expands his role to the academic side of the university. It’s the first time at LSU that the director of athletics has also held a vice chancellor position.
“I am honored to be named vice chancellor at this outstanding institution and thank Chancellor Martin, President Lombardi and the Board of Supervisors for the confidence they have shown in me,” Alleva said. “Athletics is the window through which many people view LSU and it is important that we excel in competition and in the classroom while demonstrating the utmost of integrity.
“I believe my promotion ties athletics closer to the university and that is a good thing for everyone; we are all on the same team.”
Under Alleva’s direction in 2008-09, all 20 LSU sports competed in NCAA post-season play for the first time in school history, and it culminated with the baseball team winning the national championship. In addition, six teams finished in the top 10 nationally. The Tigers hold claim to being the only school in the Southeastern Conference to participate in a bowl game and the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments during 2008-09. Furthermore, LSU student-athletes volunteered a total of 2,360 hours for community service projects.
LSU earned a ninth place ranking in the 2009 Learfield Director’s Cup, which measures the overall athletic success for institutions across the country. LSU was second only to Florida in the Director’s Cup among SEC institutions as the Tigers accumulated points in 18 of a possible 20 categories in the standings, also a first for the school.
One of Alleva’s big initiatives on the LSU campus is the launching of a strategic plan for the continued success and future improvement of LSU Athletics.
LSU Athletics has produced a new booklet called “LSU: Thru and True” designed to introduce a strategic plan for operating a top tier athletics program.
The strategic plan booklet is titled “LSU: Thru and True” because, in the words of Alleva, “Our core values run deep and our commitment to excellence is relentless. At LSU, college athletics is an avenue for providing opportunities, for achieving goals, for generating enthusiasm and for nurturing passion.”
The subtitle of the booklet is “Excellence in Competition, Distinction in the Classroom, and Contribution to the Community.” The strategic plan addresses various topics including quality of life for student-athletes; academic and athletic excellence; compliance and ethics; financial responsibility; diversity, inclusion and equity; tradition and history, and service and communication.
The plan also includes a vision for the future of LSU athletics facilities, highlighted by plans to improve North Stadium Drive between Tiger Stadium and the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.