Louisiana Voice

Way back in 1955, the introduction of new car models was a major event, shrouded in mystery, until a nationally-coordinated introduction date when crowds would swarm into the local dealerships to gawk at a flashy new Chevrolet model that still stands as the benchmark of automotive design.

Oh, Ford and Chrysler also had new models, but they could never compare to the Chevy (can anyone recall what the ’55 Plymouth looked like?). Our entire Cooktown Road neighborhood in Ruston was elevated in status when Allen Carpenter’s parents purchased a green and white model that made such an impression that many years later, Allen would set out on a quest to obtain his own ’55 model. His is red and white, but no less impressive than that one of more than 65 years ago.

That same year, LSU hired a relatively-unknown assistant coach from the US Military Academy named Paul Dietzel. It took him three years of winning three, three and five games before he introduced the White Team, the Go Team and the Chinese Bandits that would win a national championship with a perfect 10-0 regular season capped by a 7-0 win over Clemson in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day.

The 1959 season was spoiled by Tennessee’s 14-13 upset of the Tigers but not until that immortal 89-yard punt return by Billy Cannon gave the Tigers that breathtaking 7-3 win over Ole Miss on Halloween night that captured the Heisman Trophy for Cannon, who rushed for an eye-popping 759 yards and five touchdowns that year.

When Dietzel came to Baton Rouge, his SALARY was a whopping $13,000 or $18,500 a year, depending on your SOURCE – and LSU wouldn’t even pay his moving expenses.

Gasoline was somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 cents a gallon and that ’55 Chevy sold for as little as $1500 to as high as $2000, depending on the model. Even as late as 1964, when I purchased my first car, a sparkling new Volkswagen Beetle right off the showroom floor, I paid only $1600.

Which brings us to 2021 and the hiring a new coach at LSU.

Yes, times are different. Gasoline is hovering around $3 a gallon, a 10-fold increase from ’55 and new cars can go for considerably more than $1500 for that ’55 Chevy. A new home that might’ve cost $12,000 to $15,000 – provided you were moving into an upscale neighborhood – now starts at around $200,000.

But football coaches at LSU? Those salaries have escalated into the stratosphere.

LSU’s newest hire, Brian Kelly, will receive about $10 million a year. That equates to about $769,000 per game, for a 13-game season that would include 12 regular-season games and a bowl appearance. Should his teams advance to the national championship game, it would mean a 15-game season, or $667,000 per game – or almost as much per quarter ($11,000) as Dietzel earned for an entire season.

And remember, LSU refused to pay Dietzel’s moving expenses when he came from West Point to Baton Rouge. Kelly, on the other hand, is to receive an interest-free loan of up to $1.2 million for the purchase of a home in some exclusively Baton Rouge gated community and relocation funds.

Meanwhile, down Interstate 10 about 50 miles, we have the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, which also just hired a new coach in Michal Desormeaux, who signed a $3.875 million contract to lead the Ragin’ Cajuns for the next five years.

That comes out to $775,000 per year, or roughly what Kelly will make per game at LSU.

So, where is all this money for Kelly coming from? Obviously, not from public funds. The state simply does not have the money for such lavish expenditures as a coach’s salary.

Instead, it will be coming from private contributions, funneled through the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF) from business interests who bitch and moan about unfair taxes for such extravagant expenditures as public defender offices.

We can’t seem to find the funds for university libraries, teacher salaries, or lower college tuition, but by gawd, the sky’s the limit for a coach who just might beat Alabama.

We can’t repair our state’s deplorable roads but if we pin Nick Saban’s ears back, what’re a few potholes to dodge?

Oh yes, I’m aware I’m comparing apples to oranges – public funds to private money. I admit it, I can see no justification for the outpouring of private dollars on lobbying, campaign contributions and yes, coach’s salaries, while neglecting basic needs that cry out for attention.

Louisiana is a poor state – FOURTH-POOREST in the nation – behind, in order, only Mississippi, West Virginia and New Mexico and barely ahead of Alabama. Accordingly, it makes no sense to pour all our resources into something as trivial as football.

I love sports. In fact, my first choice for a career was to be a baseball coach but thanks to the salesmanship of the late Wiley Hilburn, I became a journalist and never looked back. And as a journalist, my first duty is to observe the entire spectrum and that field includes human needs that I just cannot ignore.

Football coaches, no matter the urgency of competing on a national level with the Alabamas, the Oklahomas, the Ohio States, and the Clemsons of the world, do not – or should not – stand as the number-one priority of the fourth-poorest state in the country.