The 2004-05 athletics year has come to a close and it has been another wonderful year for our Tiger teams. Some sports won more and ranked higher than others; some exceeded expectations and some did not. All in all it was an exciting year for LSU’s student-athletes, coaches and fans, and we are anxiously looking to the seasons ahead.
Of LSU’s 20 sports, 14 teams advanced to post-season play. Among the highlights: the football team advanced to a New Year’s bowl game for the fourth straight year … the women’s basketball team reached the Final Four for the second straight season … the men’s outdoor track & field team finished No. 3 in the country … and the men’s tennis team reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
LSU was one of only four schools in the country to send its football team to a New Year’s Bowl game and both of its basketball teams to the NCAA Tournament.
Six LSU teams finished their seasons ranked in the nation’s top 10 and 11 finished in the top 30. Two teams — the women’s basketball team and gymnastics team — were ranked No. 1 in the nation during their respective seasons.
The women’s basketball team won the Southeastern Conference championship and two teams — men’s basketball and baseball — finished first in the SEC Western Division.
Once again this year, numerous Tigers were named All-Americans in their sports, and three were named the best in their sport in the SEC: Seimone Augustus in women’s basketball, Brandon Bass in men’s basketball and April Burkholder in gymnastics.
Our men’s tennis doubles team of Ken Skupski and Mark Growcott advanced to the finals of the NCAA doubles championships, and just last week at the NCAA Track and Field Championships our men’s 4×400 meter relay team set a collegiate record in winning the national title in that event.
The most significant awards went to Seimone Augustus who won the Wade and Naismith Trophies, given annually to the best women’s college basketball player in the nation. These awards rank with the greatest awards ever won by LSU athletes, including Billy Cannon’s Heisman Trophy, Pete Maravich’s National Player of the Year Award, Ben McDonald’s Golden Spikes Award and Shaquille O’Neal’s Adolph Rupp Award.
The expectations for our teams, our coaches and our student-athletes are high at LSU, as they should be. We strive to meet those expectations, and we will maintain our vision of excellence for everything we do in LSU Athletics. I hope you take pride in your Tigers, and that you are as excited about the coming athletic year as I am.
ACADEMIC WINNERS, TOO
Your Tigers had another outstanding semester in the classroom in the spring. Seven of 16 sports posted a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher, and 13 of the 16 were above 2.8, with women’s tennis leading the way with a team GPA of 3.40.
I’m proud to report that nearly 50 percent of your Tigers — 48.5 percent to be exact — recorded a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. A total of 79 had a GPA of 3.5 or higher and 22 Tigers had a perfect 4.0 GPA in the spring semester.
Four Tigers — Chelsea Agar in soccer, Brandon Bass in men’s basketball, Jason Determann in baseball and Paul White in men’s tennis — were named SEC Scholar Athletes of the Year in their respective sports.
You will also be proud to know that LSU had the second most Academic All-SEC selections in the entire league in 2004-05. Our congratulations to LSU’s student-athletes for their commitment to success on and off the fields of competition.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
The big topic of the summer is the renovation of the west side of Tiger Stadium. Everywhere I go, I am asked about the progress of this massive project.
The contractor is on a pace that will make the west upper deck habitable for the first game of the season. There will be many finishes that won’t be complete, but our goal from Day One has been to have seats ready for our fans to watch the first game.
We could have taken an easier path and scheduled this construction over a two year period, but we made the decision to renovate during just one off-season to accommodate our west side fans. This project is good for the long term future of LSU Athletics, and although we will have some inconveniences this year, the stadium will look better with each and every game.
I want to assure you that safety is the primary factor in determining the use of the west upper deck, and in the event that a small percentage of seats are not usable for the first or second games, we will be able to accommodate any displaced ticket holders with tickets in the south end zone or east upper deck where visiting fans normally sit.
Meanwhile, progress continues on the construction of the new football operations center at the Charles McClendon Practice Fields, Mike the Tiger’s new habitat and the renovation of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of these projects as the summer progresses. To see the progress for yourself, log on to our construction photo gallery at www.LSUsports.net.
We welcome your comments, so write to us at LSUvision@etigers.net . Although we cannot promise a response to every e-mail we receive, please be assured that every letter will be read. Thank you for your continued support of Tiger Athletics.