The University’s museum dedicated to LSU athletics may soon host a coffee shop, but the plan has not gone without some dissension.
Tom Continé, former director of the Jack & Priscilla Andonie Museum, said he resigned “on the spot” in March when LSU Alumni Association president Charlie Roberts announced plans to construct a Starbucks inside the museum on West Lakeshore Drive adjacent to the Lod Cook Alumni Center.
Continé said he was concerned coffee shop visitors could damage priceless LSU memorabilia if the appropriate measures were not taken. He said he would have supported the plan with certain security upgrades, such as massive glass security cases costing about $100,000.
“I thought it would be a catastrophe,” Continé said. “I had not been told anything about it. I got up and walked out of the meeting and resigned at that minute.”
Continé, a founding director of the museum who returned for a second term in 2006, said he was surprised Roberts announced the decision at a staff meeting without first consulting him for logistical advice.
“Roberts promised the administration would sit down and talk through problems and questions, such as the hours … the weekends … the parking … the security and the staff to prevent items from being taken away,” Continé said. “None of these questions were ever addressed.”
Roberts said Continé’s resignation was premature, as the plan is just “in the thinking stages.” He said plans for Starbucks fell through because of the franchise’s cost, and CC’s Coffee House and Seattle’s Best Coffee are instead being considered.
Roberts said no construction will occur during football season.
“We want to do it,” Roberts said. “We think it’s a great idea, but we’re not ready to put it into action. It could be January before any action is taken.”
Paul Dietzel, coach of LSU’s 1958 national championship football team, said he removed some of his memorabilia after Continé resigned.
Dietzel said he was concerned for the well-being of some of his irreplaceable items, such as his football autographed by the 1958 team.
“Coffee shops don’t close at five o’clock in the afternoon,” Dietzel said. “Instead of having the kind of people to run a museum, you need to have people to run a coffee shop.”
Dietzel said Continé was “crushed” by the coffee house decision and its implications.
Jack Andonie, who serves on the LSU Board of Supervisors, said he has no involvement with the museum’s operations. Andonie said he did not think it would be ethically right to be involved since the museum is named after him.
“I had heard from time to time rumors that [the coffee house] was being considered,” Andonie said. “That’s the only thing that I heard about it and knew about it.”
Roberts said new director Bud Johnson was hired June 11, although Continé is still listed as museum director on the Andonie Museum’s Web site.
Johnson said there has “been exploration” concerning a coffee shop, but he does not think its construction is imminent.
“I really haven’t investigated it much,” he said. “I have not been notified that the coffee shop is going to be a reality.”