May 15, 2003
TO: Fans, Friends, and Supporters of LSU Athletics
FROM: Skip Bertman, LSU Director of Athletics
This is the second in a series of letters intended to inform you about our vision for Tiger Athletics. Our intent is to not only maintain an athletics program of which you can be proud, but to build it to a stature of excellence that will demand respect nationwide.
It was exciting to see the response to my first Cyber-side Chat. It generated a lot of feedback, plenty of great suggestions and helpful constructive criticism. Everyone who sent us an e-mail received a response.
I received a lot of comments and questions about the future of Tiger Athletics which, after all, is what these Cyber-side Chats are all about. As you read these Chats, keep in mind that the decisions we make now are meant to make a positive impact on LSU Athletics anywhere from five to 25 years in the future.
LSU already has one of the nation’s best athletics programs. Thanks to all of the great athletes, coaches and fans who have passed through LSU, we have a rich tradition of success that has proved to be the foundation of today’s winning teams.
Today LSU has outstanding coaches and talented student-athletes who have produced a tremendous amount of success, both on and off the field. So we often get the question, “Why fix it if it ain’t broken?”
It’s our responsibility at LSU to look to the future and see what factors could ultimately affect that success. What must we do to continue to allow LSU’s coaches and student-athletes to excel?
That is why we so often talk about the need to improve LSU’s athletic facilities. As we look around the SEC today, facility development is the one area where we have already fallen behind, not to mention where we may be just five to 10 years down the road.
It’s important to consider just what facilities do for an athletics program. For one thing, it provides you, our fans, an enjoyable place to watch LSU sports, to take your family and to experience LSU athletics as an event rather than just a game, meet or match.
Facilities also help us attract the best coaches and support staffs to LSU, and facilities help those coaches attract the finest student-athletes to become Tigers.
For instance, one of our priorities is to build a new football operations center adjacent to the existing football practice fields. LSU’s football team is the only one in the SEC that has to take buses to practice. Placing all football operations together, including all offices, locker rooms, meeting rooms, weight room and training facility, LSU’s coaches will be better equipped to recruit the best student-athletes to LSU.
And then there’s Nick Saban, the most complete coach I’ve ever seen. He set a vision for the LSU football program when he first came here that included a new Academic Center for Student-Athletes to help our young people excel in the classroom and graduate. The Tiger Athletic Foundation raised $15 million for the Center that also houses a 1,000-seat auditorium that hosts five classes per week of 500 to 900 students per class. This extraordinary renovation of an aging building no doubt contributed to LSU’s No. 1 recruiting class in football and No. 2 recruiting class in men’s basketball.
He also envisioned a comprehensive football operations building. In similar fashion to the Academic Center, I can envision the football operations center having a dramatic and positive impact on recruiting student-athletes to LSU in the years to come.
Finally, we must consider the day Nick Saban eventually leaves or retires from LSU, which we hope will be many years from now. But when that day comes, he will have elevated the football program to a level that will allow LSU to attract another premier coaching staff, in part because of the superior facilities LSU will have built.
Before I close, allow me to address the reasons we want to renovate our two biggest facilities, Tiger Stadium and the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The renovation of the west side of Tiger Stadium will provide nearly 3,300 new Club Seats. Club Seating is a key source of revenue for most schools in the SEC, but LSU currently ranks No. 8 in the league in Club Seating revenue. The revenue from the new Club Seats would allow LSU to build other facilities and to help fund the annual athletics budget that supports all 20 of LSU’s varsity sports.
The renovation of Tiger Stadium will include cleaning, painting and waterproofing the entire facility, as well as renovating every restroom and every concession stand. We want to put a shine on this 79-year-old gem so it will last for many, many years to come.
The Pete Maravich Assembly Center opened in 1972 and has had few improvements, no renovations and little regular maintenance. The renovation of this facility will benefit our men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and gymnastics programs, as well the other 90 non-athletics-related events that are annually held in the arena. Just as the renovation of the gym armory by the Tiger Athletic Foundation has been beneficial for the entire campus, a renovation of this convocation space will bring more high quality events for the enjoyment of all students as well as the Baton Rouge community.
As you consider our future, don’t forget that the LSU Athletics Department is a totally self-sufficient auxiliary of Louisiana State University. LSU Athletics uses no state tax dollars and it takes no student fees.
I hope this letter has addressed some of your questions about athletics facilities. I encourage you to send your feedback to us at LSUvision@etigers.net. Although I cannot guarantee a response to every e-mail we receive, please know that they will all be read, so I do hope you will participate in this process as we remain dedicated to giving Tiger fans and LSU’s student-athletes the very best in our quest for excellence for LSU Athletics.
(This letter has been e-mailed to every Tiger fan in our database for whom we have an e-mail address. If you know of someone who would like to receive these e-mail updates, forward this e-mail and have them send their addresses to LSUvision@etigers.net.)