re: What the hell has happened to LSU sports?

Skip Bertman is personally responsible for removing the track program from the elite status despite the fact that they won a national championship in 2008. He ran off Pat Henry, who upon his arrival at Texas A&M immediately sealed off the Texas-Louisiana border. Since then, we haven't gotten anything out of Texas. The days of LSU putting on the track all-Texas relay teams are over with. Barrett Nugent is a tremendendous athlete, but Louisiana doesn't produce enough blue chip talent to sustain an elite track program.

Furthermore, during his eight years as A.D., LSU did not spend a cent on its track and field facilities. In 2002, the last time LSU hosted an NCAA championship, Bernie Moore was rated as one of the top three facilities in the country, but as we know, college athletics is a never-ending arms race and today, LSU doesn't even have one of the top three facilities in the conference.

In 2001, when Bertman became the A.D., Henry was the highest paid track coach in the nation and made slightly more than Sue Gunter. During Bertman's first three years as A.D. (2001-2004), Henry won six national championships (3 men and 3 women), but at the end of that three year period, Henry was no longer in the top ten highest paid coaches in the nation and was making half of Gunter's salary. Bertman's resentment of the track program went back to his days a baseball coach when he had fight for everything he got, and in his eyes, the track program was given everything on a silver platter.

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Personally I've never liked Alleva and always thought he was a terrible hire

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+1000.

But...we are looking to give him an extension?

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Get a grip people.

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no way.

Given the talent and preseason expectations, last season was definitely an epic fail...the sec tourney was a blip on the radar when it comes to bright spots

The University thinks we are doing very good. They just gave Alleva a 3 year contract extension for doing an outstanding job.

We simply suck at most sports except Football!

You're right about track's decline being due to Bertman, but you're sensationalizing some of your points.

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He ran off Pat Henry, who upon his arrival at Texas A&M immediately sealed off the Texas-Louisiana border. Since then, we haven't gotten anything out of Texas. The days of LSU putting on the track all-Texas relay teams are over with.

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This is totally false. Current prominent LSU track athletes from Texas: Brittani Carter (4x All-American, High Jump), Kimberlyn Duncan (2x All-American, 2011 NCAA Indoor Champion 200m), Tenaya Jones (All-American, 60h), Rynell Parson (World Youth Record Holder 100m), Robert Simmons (4x All-American, #8 LSU History indoor 400m), Keyth Talley (School Record 4x200m, #5 LSU history 60m).

In the 7 years since Shaver has been the head coach there has been a totally new top 7 on the men's all-time 60m list (Thompson, Holliday, Williams, Willie, Mvumvure, Talley, Parson). 6 new top 10 performers in the indoor 200m (#1 Carter, #2 Willie, #3 Williams, #7 Mvumvure, #9 Williams & Hayes), 5 new top 10s in the indoor 400 (Carter, Dardar, Williams, Simmons, Hylton), 5 new top 10s in the 60h... I could go through those same events outdoors and on the women's side and there would be a similar trend. I chose these events because they are what Shaver specifically coaches.

I realize that the track teams are no longer winning national titles every year. The thing is--neither is anyone else. It took a lot of luck for A&M to win the past 2 years outdoors. I don't want people to think we have turned into some garbage track program. We're still elite. No one is going to win 4+ titles in a row like LSU and Arkansas did back in the 90s.

Bertman's biggest mistake regarding the track program (besides letting Henry leave) was not hiring Boo Schexnayder to replace him. Boo is one of the top 3, if not the best, jumps coach in the country. In my opinion, jumps coaches are a lot more valuable than sprint coaches (Shaver). Sprint coaching is more about finding talent and keeping it healthy. Look at the most successful sprinters under Shaver's tenure: Xavier Carter, Kelly Willie, Trindon Holliday. Even Barrett Nugent was ranked 3rd in his class as a junior before being injured his senior year. On the other hand, a good jumps coach can make a big difference. Elite jumpers can score in both horizontal jumps and run a leg on the 4x1. Also, Schexnayder was a great recruiting tool. World class guys wanted to come here and train under him: Davis, Simon, Moffitt, etc.