re: Can LSU translate this increase in sports success to better ACADEMICS?

I agree with one of the earlier responses that LSU has more of a 'marketing' problem when it comes to academics.

From the initiatives begun by our current president, to the LSU Foundation, to TAF, to LSU Alumni Association, to Forever LSU Campaign, to:

-LSU Press - one of the finest university publishing houses in the country
- One of the top Schools of Veterinary Medicine
-Prestigious world-renowned Pennington Biomedical Research Institute
-Carnegie Institute Top 30 research university
-One of the most beautiful campuses in the world with millions of dollars worth of centuries-old oaks, campus lakes, and ancient Indian mounds.
-Highly ranked curricula and schools of:
Coastal Studies, Hurricane Engineering, Petroleum Enginering, Landscape Architecture, Mass Communications, Entrepreneurship, Veterinary Science, Music & Dramatic Arts, Agribusiness, Geophysics, Design, Paul F.Hebert Law Center,
-Prototype (featured in N.Y.Times and WSJ) :
-Cox Academic Center for Student-Athletes, and -The new billion-dollar Medical Center in New Orleans.
-One of few Athletic Departments that is self sufficient and profitable without State funds:
-Indeed only of 11% of university operating budget comes from the State.

Where the WSJ gets their (^(&%^$%^&*( rankings is beyond me. We are much higher in public school rankings than they fantasize.