Students riding on the Tiger Trails buses Tuesday morning received T-shirts, trail mix and laughs when LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor hopped on board to encourage students to ride the buses and cheer on the Lady Tigers.”This is your lucky day, and we’re happy to see you,” Chancellor said as he handed out shirts to students. “If you take a shirt, you’re agreeing to attend a Lady Tigers’ game.”Chancellor spent an hour riding the buses and handing out items, talking and joking with students on the Purple and Gold routes. Later, Chancellor went a step further, throwing leftover T-shirts at unsuspecting students walking on campus.”I’m in a heck of a mood today,” Chancellor said. “I’m feeling good.” Chancellor said the idea to ride the bus came from Tom Harlukowicz, LSU marketing and group ticket coordinator, and the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation. Chancellor said Harlukowicz wanted to see more student involvement in women’s basketball, and the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation wanted to promote Tiger Trails. “We have a good, strong team, and we have a good bus system,” Chancellor said. “It’s a heck of a marriage, so I said, ‘Let’s do it.'” The new bus system made a good first impression on Chancellor, who said it was a “great way to ride.””If I was in college, I’d take the bus,” Chancellor said. “You don’t have to park, and both buses were right on the money. It’s a great way to save time and takes the hassle out of getting to class.” Eric Reid, Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation assistant director, said the event was a fun way to spread the word to students about the bus system as well as receive student opinion on the new system. “With the amount of people riding the buses, I wish we could’ve done it longer than an hour,” Reid said. “I asked a couple students about the buses, and they like the buses and the routes. One student told me the only ones who complain are the ones who don’t know much about [Tiger Trails].” Andrew Rutledge, kinesiology junior, said he wasn’t expecting to see Chancellor on board when he got onto the bus Tuesday morning. “This is the funniest thing I’ve seen on the Greek bus,” Rutledge said. “It’s definitely different and getting the point across.”This is not the first time Tiger Trails invited guests and handed out items to students to promote the bus system, said Catherine Utt, First Transit general manager. Past guests include Student Government members and Eric Monday, associate vice chancellor for Finance and Administrative Services. “We would love to do this with coaches again,” Utt said. “We’ll have to require future coaches or guests to throw shirts, though.”Chancellor, who often gets involved with students by attending Student Senate meetings and throwing candy and shirts to the student section at football games, said the most important thing is to be involved with the LSU family — both athletes and students. “College is a great experience,” Chancellor said. “It makes me feel young again to be involved with the students.”—-Contact Brianna Paciorka at [email protected]