April 1, 2004
TO: Fans, Friends, and Supporters of LSU Athletics
FROM: Skip Bertman, LSU Athletics Director
THIS WEEK:
What a year it’s been for LSU Athletics. Since I last wrote to you, the LSU men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams won the NCAA National Championships, and now our Lady Tiger basketball team is on the way to the Final Four. We have several other teams ranked in the nation’s top 10, so more is still to come.
Words can hardly describe what the LSU track and field teams have accomplished. LSU is the first school ever to win the indoor national title in both men’s and women’s indoor track in the same year. That gives LSU 30 national championships in the history of the sport. Congratulations to Pat Henry, his staff and his world class athletes for bringing home the trophies once again.
Now, March Madness has gripped Baton Rouge thanks to Lady Tiger basketball. National contenders don’t just happen overnight, and we have Sue Gunter to thank for taking this program to an elite level. Her leadership skills have allowed her to take a medical leave of absence from the bench while her staff hasn’t missed a beat. My thanks to acting head coach Pokey Chatman and assistants Bob Starkey, Carla Berry and Joe Carvalhido for guiding the Lady Tigers to new heights. We’ll see you in New Orleans.
GYMNASTICS
Another NCAA championship event is on the LSU campus this week. The NCAA Central Regional Gymnastics Championships will be held Friday at 6 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. If you haven’t had a chance to see the LSU gymnastics team in action this year, you’ve missed out on one of the best teams in the country.
Our Tiger gymnasts are currently ranked No. 7 in the country and will be hosting five other top teams, including No. 6 Brigham Young. Our own April Burkholder was recently named the SEC Gymnast of the Year in the best gymnastics conference in the country. She is truly one of the most highly skilled gymnasts we’ve ever had at LSU, and she is currently the No. 4 ranked all-around gymnast in the nation.
With a top two finish in the regional, our Tigers will again qualify for the national championships later this month at UCLA. Like every other sport at LSU, we need you to provide that important home arena advantage, so get your tickets for just $8 for adults and $5 for students at the LSU ticket office and LSUsports.net.
ALL SPORTS SUCCESS
Some of you have asked how LSU’s success in athletics will impact our standings in the annual All-Sports Directors’ Cup competition, formerly sponsored by Sears and now sponsored by the United States Sports Academy.
The Directors’ Cup awards points according to a school’s final national ranking in each sport, with 100 points awarded to the national champion. Because LSU has won the national title in three sports this year, we already have 300 points, ranking us No. 10 in the nation as of March 18. The national leader is Michigan with 611.5 points.
Unfortunately, the system awards points only for either indoor track and field or outdoor track and field, but not for both. Since we have already won the national titles in indoor track, we won’t be awarded any points for outdoor track, regardless of our finish.
We’ll pick up more points as women’s basketball and gymnastics wrap up their seasons and other highly ranked sports are still in competition. To keep an eye on LSU’s progress in the all-sports rankings, log on to www.nacda.com.
TIGER STADIUM WEST SIDE ESCALATOR
You need to be aware of an important step that will soon be taking place in the renovation project at Tiger Stadium. To accommodate the work schedule for completing the renovations to Tiger Stadium by September of 2005, it is necessary to remove the escalator on the west side of the stadium prior to the 2004 football season.
Pending full approval of the state fire marshal, the escalator will be replaced with four temporary passenger elevators to move fans to the upper deck during the coming football season. Rest assured that these elevators are of high quality and, in fact, will be provided by the company that installed the same type of temporary elevators with much success for the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
Each elevator will accommodate approximately 30 people and we will provide personnel at the top and bottom of the elevators to assist with loading and unloading of passengers. Also, the existing ramps will still be in place for fans who choose to use them to walk up to their seats.
We hope you’ll be patient and understanding with these changes as we work to improve your athletics facilities. I encourage you to log on to LSUsports.net and check out our new Tiger Stadium Renovation Webcam that will keep you up-to-date with live pictures of the construction progress.
Remember that we welcome your feedback, so write to us at LSUvision@etigers.net. I cannot promise a response to every letter we receive, but I promise that every one will be read. Your letters help us know how to make LSU Athletics better for you.