June 24, 2004
TO: Fans, Friends, and Supporters of LSU Athletics
FROM: Skip Bertman, LSU Athletics Director
Three National Champions.
Nine teams in the nation’s top 10.
Fourteen teams in the nation’s top 25.
The Nokia Sugar Bowl. The Women’s Final Four. The Men’s College World Series. The Women’s College World Series. The NCAA National Track & Field Championships. The NCAA Gymnastics Championships.
Four Academic All-Americans and 107 SEC Academic Honor Roll members. 154 student-athletes awarded the Director’s Cup. Ninety-eight student-athletes on the Dean’s List and 30 with perfect 4.0 grade point averages in the spring semester.
Nearly 1.2 million fans at LSU home events. No. 1 in the nation in baseball attendance. No. 6 in the country in football attendance.
What a year it’s been for LSU Athletics … arguably the best in the history of Louisiana State University.
The successes of our athletics teams did not just happen overnight. It took thousands of hours of hard work, practice, organization, teamwork, dedication and sacrifice on the part of hundreds of student-athletes and scores of coaches and support personnel. They built on the years of tradition that has brought LSU Athletics to its rightful place among the elite sports programs in America.
The current day success in Tiger Athletics is truly a testament to LSU’s tradition of excellence.
And thanks to you, our fans, for being there every step of the way. You’ve supported our young people with the ardent enthusiasm and fierce loyalty that have become renowned and envied by other programs nationwide.
You filled our arenas and traveled in great numbers to road events, bowl games and tournaments. You cheered our teams in victory and supported them in defeat. You cooked and tailgated like fans nowhere else can do.
Almost to a person, Tiger fans supported our vision for the future of LSU Athletics. Over 98 percent of football season ticket holders renewed their tickets in the first year of the Tradition Fund Contribution. Your support means we can build for the future and secure the financial stability of the athletics program for the next decade.
This year you saw seven LSU sports teams contend for national titles, three of which came home with the ultimate prize: football, men’s indoor track and field, and women’s indoor track and field.
Meanwhile, the women’s basketball, baseball, softball, gymnastics and men’s and women’s outdoor track teams reached their national championship tournaments or meets, and all finished in the top ten in the country for their respective sports.
The student-athletes … the coaches … the support staffs … the athletics administration … the leadership of the University … LSU’s faculty and staff … the Tiger Athletic Foundation … and you, the fans. Without everyone working together, the successes of the 2003-04 athletics year would not have been possible.
It is truly remarkable what can be accomplished when every component of LSU works with a common purpose. There is no goal we cannot reach and no hurdle we cannot clear if we continue to work together as we did this year.
And there are great things ahead. The renovations of Tiger Stadium and the Pete Maravich Assembly Center are well underway. Soon to come are the Football Operations Center and a new habitat for Mike the Tiger. On the horizon is a new stadium for our softball team and a new or renovated stadium for our baseball program.
We have some of the greatest coaches in America on the LSU campus, and now we welcome the promotion of Pokey Chatman to head women’s basketball coach, and the return of former swimmer Adam Schmitt to head our swimming and diving program.
Because of you, LSU uses no state tax dollars to operate one of the greatest and most successful enterprises in the state of Louisiana: Tiger Athletics. We hope you take pride and ownership in the LSU Athletics program, and that we will continue to work together to take the Tigers to even greater heights, on the fields and in the classrooms.
Another athletics year has come to a close, but another begins in just 10 weeks. We hope you enjoy your summer, and that you are looking forward to another year of great memories just waiting to happen at LSU.
We welcome your feedback, so write to us at LSUvision@etigers.net and tell us how we can make LSU Athletics better for you. I cannot promise a response to every letter we receive, but I can promise that each one will be read.
Thank you for your support of Tiger Athletics.