SPORTS COLUMN: LSU’S FALL & RISE

HENRY HUBER @HenryHuber_

My first article was published on Jan. 31, 2020, 18 days after LSU’s 2019 football team cemented itself as arguably the best college football team of all time and six weeks before COVID-19 shut down the sporting world.

At that time, the athletic department seemed to be back on the rise. After earning 12 national championships in the 2000s (eight from track), it had just garnered its first since 2015 and second of the 2010s. It did so on the biggest stage in college sports and 13 days after the new decade began, potentially symbolizing a prosperous 2020s for LSU sports.

The pieces were there after all.

Despite recent controversy, third-year head coach Will Wade had just led the men’s basketball team to its best record since 2000 and first SEC regular-season title since 2009. That came two seasons removed from one of its worst seasons in program history.

Just one day after my first article went up, it won its tenth straight game to put it at 17-4 overall and 9-0 in SEC play. That corresponded with the women’s best start under Nikki Fargas since 2014, as it improved to 18-5 after winning eight of its first 11 games in SEC play, four of which came against ranked competition.

Beach volleyball was one point short of attending its first national championship in 2019 and sported much of the prior year’s talent heading into 2020.

Men’s track and field was fresh off its first SEC championship since 1990.

Gymnastics was coming off its third NCAA runner-up finish in four years.

Even with a few key retirements expected in the near future, plenty of programs possessed the promise and potential to keep the title train rolling onward after football’s victory.

Two titles since then is great, but just one of those came with a head coach that was here in 2020. 12 other head or co-head coaches that were here then are gone now.

COVID

Falling short of national prominence stings, but it’s a completely different story when it’s out of your control.

Considering the mystery surrounding COVID at this point in history, it wasn’t a huge surprise when everything around us, including college sports, was shut down as the world did what it could to mitigate the spread of the virus.

That unfortunately meant the abrupt end to multiple champion- ship runs across the country, some of which would’ve been the first in that program’s history. For LSU, that was the case for beach volleyball and gymnastics.

While it was early in the season, beach was No. 1 in the country and had been picking up steam for weeks, sporting an 11-match win streak that included three wins over teams ranked No. 4 and above and five wins over teams ranked in the Top 20.

Gymnastics under D-D Breaux was always a threat to claim the title, but had never managed to do so. It ranked No. 6 in the country with a 14-2 record and 11-meet win streak.

And after 43 years with the program, Breaux would unknowingly coach her last event on March 6, as its last regular-season match was cancelled shortly after. She retired that summer, partially due to the virus but mostly because she wanted to spend more time with her grandkids.

That came just under a week before SEC Championships and over a month before the season concluded, with other sports like basketball having their seasons cancelled during postseason.

Though their strong starts to 2020 fizzled out, each basketball team made the tournament, with the men’s team being a particularly dangerous No. 8 seed.

For Nikki Fargas, it would eventually prove to be her last shot at coaching an NCAA tournament game, as her LSU career concluded at 10 years following a 9-13 finish to 2021. She elected to pursue a career outside of coaching at the season’s conclusion and currently serves as the president of the Las Vegas Aces WNBA team.

Fall from Grace

Apart from Breaux and Fargas, there were seven retirements and resignations between April of 2021 and May of 2022.

Among those departures was legendary baseball head coach Paul Mainieri, who announced his intention to retire in April of 2021. That became official after the Tigers were eliminated by Tennessee in the super regionals. His last hoorah came in the form of a regionals run that featured four straight victories in win-or-gohome scenarios.

He finished his 39-year coaching career with over 1500 wins (641 at LSU), six College World Series appearances and one national championship in 2009. All but one of his CWS appearances came with the Tigers.

Other key departures included volleyball coach Fran Flory, swim coach Dave Geyer, diving coach Doug Shaffer and men’s tennis coach Andy Brandi. These departures marked bittersweet but anticipated endings to extensive eras of their respective sports. They were met with justified praise for their accomplishments and what they brought to their programs in terms of culture and discipline.

The same can’t necessarily be said for the rest.

With no baseball to look forward to in spring of 2020, fans anxiously anticipated the 2020-21 football season and the news sur- rounding it. Eventually, the SEC would establish a 10-game all-conference schedule, with the Tigers arguably possessing one of the easier ones.

LSU entered the preseason polls ranked No. 6 in the country. Many would think that’s way too much hype for a team losing most of its key players, its defensive coordinator and passing game coordinator.

Many would be right.

While it could be expected for the Tigers to take a step back following a legendary season, divided focus and uninformed hirings from head coach Ed Orgeron caused more of a stumble than a step. It would start the season with multiple embarrassing losses to Mississippi State and Missouri before finishing it with its worst record since 1999.

When losses of that nature carried into 2021 and his off-the-field issues piled onto one another, his firing was quickly announced.

A New Beginning

Exactly two years after SEC sports were suspended in 2020, Will Wade was fired for violating his contract and committing five Level I violations against the NCAA. That marked the perceived end of the previous era of LSU sports, as football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and gymnastics all either had or would soon have new head coaches.

Following D-D Breaux’s retirement, co-head coach Jay Clark would take over as the third head coach in LSU gymnastics history. Though his 2021 and 2022 seasons were shaky by LSU standards, he managed to lead the Tigers to the Four on the Floor for the first time since 2019 this April.

Within the span of a year, athletic director Scott Woodward effectively replaced the four other vacancies, with three of those proving to be incredible hires so far.

The hiring of legendary Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey produced the quickest results, as she led the Tigers to their first title win in program history in just her second season. With the acquisitions of Hailey van Lith and Aneesah Morrow over the offseason, who join a squad featuring first team All-American Angel Reese and SEC freshman of the year Flau’Jae Johnson, it’d be a wonder if they failed to produce another one next season.

In just one season with the football program, Brian Kelly had LSU on the cusp of making the College Football Playoff and immediately re-established it as an SEC contender, winning the SEC West in his first season with the program and having them slated as favorites to repeat in that regard.

It’s ranked No. 4 in the preseason FPI Top 25 and No. 7 in ESPN’s Power Rankings, making it a potential national title contender heading into the 2023 season.

Jay Johnson picked up where Paul Mainieri left off in 2021. Though they’ve had their bullpen struggles lately, they currently rank in the Top 5 heading into postseason and have a realistic chance at making a College World Series run if they can find a way to work around those problems.

And while Matt McMahon struggled in his first season coaching the men’s basketball team, the verdict on his hiring won’t be fully established until next season.

Due to its success in 2022 and 2023, the fandom is more alive than it’s ever been. When football beat Ole Miss and Alabama in Tiger Stadium, fans poured onto the field, giving us some of the craziest pictures we’ve ever seen throughout our coverage here.

Alex Box Stadium is consistently packed with crowds of over 10,000 people, producing thunderous roars after each pivotal strikeout and sky-shattering home run.

And prior to COVID, the PMAC averaged under 2000 in attendance for women’s basketball games, a number that was quadrupled in the 2022-23 season. It broke a PMAC attendance record back in February, with over 15,000 witnessing LSU’s 76-68 win over Tennessee.

In a decade or two, we may look back on this period as one of the golden eras of LSU sports. No matter what the case may be, it’s been a pleasure covering sports at this university.