Throughout the 30 years of the LSU gymnastics team’s existence, hundreds of athletes have donned purple and gold to help the Tigers finish second or better in the Southeastern Conference five times, while winning seven regional championships.
Despite all the changes, there has also been one constant each year: the longest tenured coach in LSU history – D-D Breaux.
Breaux came to LSU in 1978 after spending three years as an assistant coach at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Breaux inherited an LSU program in its fourth year of existence.
In Breaux’s first 10 years at LSU, she took over a gymnastics program in its beginning years but still had great success despite the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women’s strict rules regarding recruiting.
“When I first started we couldn’t pay for kids to come visit the campus because we were under AIAW rules,” she said. “So we got a lot of local kids and a lot of kids from Texas.”
Further adding to Breaux’s difficulty was the lack of true facilities to impress recruits.
“The first couple of years, we didn’t have a facility, and we didn’t have a locker room,” Breaux said. “It was because of the efforts of Pat Newman, our women’s administrator, Ernie Hill at the Field House and Bill Bankhead, who ran the PMAC, that we had anything at all.”
With a team of mostly Louisiana-born players, LSU won four regional championships in the program’s first 10 years from 1978 to 1988.
Even with the early accomplishments, Breaux said she always has regrets about how the beginning of her career played out because she had the demands of balancing work with being a graduate student and a mother.
“The first couple of years I was a coach we had successes, but it was because we had good athletes, and I thought we did a pretty good job coaching,” Breaux said. “But I didn’t make the demands early that I could have or possibly should have.”
In her last 20 years at LSU, Breaux has built LSU into a national power, having a 129-97-1 postseason record since 1987, including 15 finishes in the national top 10.
Breaux has also made the gymnastics program into an academic success. Since 1991, 106 LSU gymnasts have been SEC Academic Honor Roll, including 82 Academic All-Americans.
“Our mission is education, first and foremost, because that has to be our first priority,” Breaux said. “But then after that, it’s recruiting. [Assistant coach] Philip [Ogletree] does it everyday, all day. It’s constantly recruiting, recruiting, recruiting.”
Breaux has also been active in marketing and selling her program to the student body. LSU promotional director Jenni Peters said a large part of Breaux’s success is because of her dedication.
“D-D is one of the most involved coaches in her sport, in our department and in the country,” Peters said. “I can remember 15 years ago, before I was in this department, seeing D-D out in the community, whether it was at Albertson’s or on campus, whether it was walk or run, D-D was out there doing things.”
Peters and Assistant Ticket Manager Eric Hummel both said Breaux has made a large effort to sell the team to the student body.
“The last few meets we had a really good attendance, and that was fueled by over 900 students…,” Hummel said. “There has definitely been a rise in attendance sales the last few seasons.”
Since 2000, 11 of the top 20 meet attendance figures have been posted, including two this season.
Now in her 30th season with the Tigers, LSU is No. 8 in the country and is preparing for its 22nd consecutive postseason appearance.
The athletic department honored Breaux’s career prior to LSU’s victory over the University of Illinois on Jan. 19. LSU senior gymnast Kelly Phelan said that following the meet Breaux deserves more credit than she often receives.
“[Breaux] is never one to be about herself,” she said. “But it was good to be able to shift the attention to her for just a few minutes.”
Despite the sport being far different from the one she inherited in the ’70s, Breaux said one particular trademark of her teams has impressed her over the years.
“I think I am proud of the consistency, too, because consistency wins,” she said. “This program has been consistent. It has been there every year, and I think we’ll continue to work and be there every year.”
—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]