How twisted are our priorities that a college football coach, surrounded on Saturdays by 85 behemoth-like scholarship football players we affectionately refer to as student-athletes, must still have the protective services of a Louisiana State Trooper when vulnerable female students must live unprotected and in fear of those very coaches, players, and other sexual predators?
How warped have our sensibilities become that coaches who ignore – or worse, condone or even participate in – sexual harassment/assault are paid huge settlement packages when – and if – they finally leave while those who attempt to protect the university’s integrity are unceremoniously shown the door?
How discouraging is it for faculty members to devote themselves to the task of encouraging and challenging students and to conduct meaningful research when hiring and firing is done on a whim and on the basis not of merit but of political expediency?
How embarrassing is it that in 2019, the LSU Athletic Department showcased its brand-spanking-new facilities for its pampered (and from all indications, shielded) players that included a players’ lounge and a locker room that includes, of all things, sleeping pods for each individual player (remember: they’re 85 scholarship players) all for the bargain price of $28 million – while at the same time, the rest of the campus has a $510 million backlog in maintenance and renovation?
How disgraceful is it that the LSU Board of Supervisors, the university’s governing board, is comprised for the most part of appointed political hacks who owe their positions of power to their fealty to the state’s sitting governor and not necessarily to the more noble calling of academic excellence – and acts accordingly?
Let’s concentrate on that last question because anything concerning LSU, be it academics, physical plant, athletics or administration, begins and ends with the Board of Supervisors. It’s comprised of an appointed group of individuals who, for the most part, are contributors to the governor’s campaign. “For the most part” must be said because some members are holdovers from the previous governor and are not necessarily campaign contributors to the current governor.
But the board is about as political as the word political can be defined. Members receive coveted perks and privileges over and above the status that goes with sitting on the governing board, micromanaging every aspect of one of the nation’s leading universities. In Louisiana, the only board that even comes close is the so-called Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, which presides over the John A. Alario Sr. Event Center, the Smoothie King Center, the New Orleans Saints Training Facility and of course, the Superdome.
To say that the LSU Board has been a colossal failure in the responsibility of carrying out its duties is to belabor the obvious. It has allowed a culture of toxicity to exist to the extent that female students ARE NOT SAFE anywhere on campus, whether it’s the ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT, the FRENCH DEPARTMENT, or the once prestigious MED SCHOOL.
It took an independent 250-page REPORT, for which the school paid about $100,000, to tell the board what it should have known all along: that it’s handling of its Title IX obligations was ham-handed and smacked of a clumsy attempt at a coverup. The school’s handling of sexual harassment, and sexual abuse cases was apparently so mishandled that the board belatedly saw fit to FIRE its long-time legal firm and replace it with LEGAL COUNSEL who couldn’t even defend crosstown Southern University in a public records case.
Somehow, everyone missed – or ignored – the EMBEZZLEMENT of half-a-million dollars from a Baton Rouge children’s medical foundation, $180,000 of which somehow found its way into the hands of the father of LSU offensive lineman Vadal Alexander
Even reports of incompetence and nepotism of the HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER in New Orleans were inexcusably ignored.
And of course, the totally predictable action was to PUNISH the whistleblower (as long as it wasn’t a coach blowing a whistle at practice) or FIRE anyone who might in any way be considered an EMBARRASSMENT to the university, who might point out a LEGAL LIABILITY, or who might pose a THREAT to grant funding from say, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
When that $100,000 report on Title IX violations came out, though, the university administration apparently felt it was obligated to take some form of proactive measures. Accordingly, two “high-ranking” athletic department officials were SUSPENDED – for 30 and 21 days – for their failure to act when informed of sexual misconduct. Several legislators, predictably, said that punishment was sufficient.
The events in the LSU athletic department, besides leading to the dismissal of LES MILES, has had a ripple effect beyond the Baton Rouge campus. At the University of Kansas, where Miles landed, he was forced out there as well, along with the athletic director who hired him and former LSU President F. King Alexander was likewise shown the door at Oregon State.
The focus then returned to LSU (if, indeed, it ever left). Momentarily distracted by the glitter of an undefeated season, the national championship and a box of awards, including the school’s second Heisman Trophy winner, people pushed the investigation to the back burner. But two mediocre seasons that followed 2019 has reignited interest in who knew what and when they knew it and has resulted in a $17 million buyout of Coach Ed Orgeron’s contract.
Writer GLENN GUILBEAU wrote an intriguing story that has to be taken seriously considering all that has occurred. Basically, he asks if that generous buyout might be purchasing Coach O’s silence in lieu of firing him for cause, which would cost LSU and boosters nothing but at the risk of much more dirty laundry being aired that LSU would just as soon remain under the proverbial rug.
If indeed that is the case, those responsible at LSU should be summarily fired and any board members who are complicit should immediately resign. Nothing short of a total cleansing is acceptable. A truth enema, as it were, is unequivocally essential.
And not to kick a man when he’s down, but there are the reports of past transgressions by Orgeron that should have been a red flag. In 1982, when he a defensive line coach with the Miami Hurricanes, Orgeron got in a fight in a Baton Rouge bar and was subsequently granted a “voluntary” LEAVE OF ABSENCE by the team for “personal reasons.” Nine years later, in 1991, apparently back in good graces with the team, a Miami-Dade County woman filed a RESTRAINING ORDER against Orgeron, accusing him of repeated violence against her.
It is no longer possible to ignore the fact that there are serious problems throughout Louisiana’s flagship university system and that those problems run deep and have become so entrenched that a sleazy culture of protectionism has been allowed to flourish for a select few at the expense of allowing those of lesser influence and fewer connections to become scapegoats.
And everything about that is wrong.
Everything.
Louisiana Voice 
You could have added a final sentence, “And, nothing is likely to change.”
Higher education is, has always been, and will always be a world of its own. If history has any relevance, only actions by our chief executive (the governor) can really make a difference. The Foster administration took an interest in and beefed up academics in our system primarily because Foster’s chief of staff, Steve Perry, saw the benefits and pushed hard for enhanced funding. Governor Blanco did the best she could to maintain the funding, but faced tremendous pressures related to Hurricane Katrina and political partisanship. Governor Jindal took back any and all gains under the apparent premise, “We don’t need no education [unless somebody profits from it]” – an odd stance by an Ivy League educated genius.
Nowadays, legislative leaders (Speaker of the House, President of the Senate) have taken some of the governor’s power, but they show no interest in enhancing academics and Governor Edwards apparently likes the status quo in higher education and other departments of state government.
Bob Mann tried repeatedly to make Tom’s points about the academic needs at LSU. His, and all other well-articulated arguments like Tom’s have fallen on deaf ears. I’ve always said we need an equally well financed TEF (Tiger Education Foundation) in addition to the TAF, but what would be sexy about that?
And the buyouts that gain nothing for LSU, but a lot for the recipients, don’t stop with Coach O, who is laughing in his cheerios at having accomplished his goal and still getting almost $17 million as he exits.
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/lsu/article_456490ce-38fd-11ec-ad2a-27150e0798bc.html?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=advocatebrdaily&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=headline#uid=b4ae95c4586d43d8f98407c3f04e8ef5
well written and very informative. I love LSU football but love LSU even more, the lack of safety, money wasted that could have been used for education is sad to say the least.
It is just so depressing to constantly discover corruption, mis-management, failures (especially in higher education) and face the fact that nothing ever changes. Nothing is more defeating than to face the fact that nothing ever changes because “we the people” don’t get fed up enough to force the changes. This is just so depressing….
Until I was an adult, my dad was the biggest LSU fan I knew. During the five years we spent on the other side of the world, he listened to every game he could any way he could. He kept meticulous, detailed charts of every game he could. He actually won a pair of tickets to the 1959 Sugar Bowl game, but couldn’t attend; I still have the untorn tickets (I actually have tried to donate them to the Andoni facility or Alumni Association, but perhaps it was just small potatoes to them.)
Then, in the mid-late 1980s, he stopped. He still watched games on TV, but didn’t keep his charts consistently. Didn’t come to Baton Rouge with my brother in law to watch games live. Why?
“It’s not a game anymore; it’s become something else – a commercial enterprise – a money machine. It’s no longer about the sport.” For him, it was no longer fun. The importance of football in the grand scheme of the university had already escalated, and in his mind, ‘turned pro.’ It was no longer fun for him.
Because of that five year sojourn in another country, I have a strange relationship with football, especially LSU football. I also attended U(S)L-L for a time, and I have a distinct memory of the (then) alumni director saying that the name change was vital to the future of the University and “finally being able to recruit a good football team.”
I could write enough to fill six chukkers of polo, but until we create and enforce the mindset that our children go to university to learn, funding will always fall short, football will always rule, and football athletes and others with a measure of power will take advantage of others. When we as citizens learn to value education more than athletics, we will eventually have board members at all universities who do the same, and the leaks that force Coates Hall and other buildings to close during a heavy storm may finally get repaired.
PS I graduated in 2016.
Now you rambled on and on yet failed to address the KEY issue facing LSU fans! Will Johns have everything in place for betting on LSU v. Alabama or not???? He said he was hopeful for 11/1 bets at facilities, and I think Hollywood will be able to take bets. LSU should get a ton of points, but will it be enough? If it’s 20 or less, bet the farm taking Alabama and giving the points!! You gotta get your act together on just the next 15 days and let the future take care of itself and the past heal itself! The athletes can now get endorsement money aplenty, and it’s time for fans to be able to make some serious money on this stuff!!
And that’s your key issue? Not the rapes, not the sexual assaults, not the deteriorating academic buildings, not the political firings, not the money laundering to players’ parents, not the multitude of other problems: just the odds for the ‘Bama game.
I think I’m beginning to see the real problem here.
I think your readers as well as yourself would see the evidence if, assuming they get the betting ready for 11/1, you go out and take a few photos with your phone of the mass of bettors to place their wagers and follow that up with a feature! Heck, ask them how long they have waited for this and if it’s going to be a ritual for them! Surely you’ve seen all the DraftKings commercials on your local newscasts, huh?
If they don’t have it ready by Monday, I think your readers would be highly interested in you doing a feature grilling Johns about why this is taking so long! It is outrageous that people should have to travel to a casino in Mississippi just to make a legal wager on an LSU football game!
It is a history making moment for Louisiana, and I can’t believe the media is not more focused on it and alerting citizens better than they are!
I don’t mean to trivialize all you reported on in this feature, but I think the more responsible thing to have covered given the timeframe for us supposedly being able to wager on the games would have been a feature centered on that!
Now just look! You’ve hauled off and let The Advocate scoop you!!
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/article_56d13f78-38db-11ec-bb5b-57dbfb1339c1.html
I have to be honest…..this was just a blown opportunity on your part.
Anyway, now that we know the deal for Monday, if you want a REAL story, be at L’Auberge at 4 p.m. Monday, and you ought to have a story!
Now, if you want to make some money, do as I advised and bet the farm if Alabama is favored by anything 20 points or less when the line comes out. Bama is going to cover that spread, and you can make some serious money! We’ll have to see if the line is more than 20 just what may be the best course of action, but AT LEAST now we know bets CAN be made right here in Baton Rouge, and THAT, my friend, is the major headline entailing LSU for this week, and I’m stunned you fooled around and got caught flat footed!
Excellent synopsis of the current slate of problems…which, really, isn’t that much different than many problems of the past!
Great article Tom! I worry about all who get depressed over the antics of our coaches and politicians. Wake up just look at the money and the learning is still moving in the right directions. I have a memory somewhat faded from a mountain top, Army hunting trip, in New Mexico, picking up the LSU first game with Notre Dame, 1968??. Gov Mckeithen opined that we (LSU) had more Catholics on our team than Notre Dame had on their team! Was it KWKH??? thanks ron thompson