The LSU football athletic equipment team played a crucial role in the team’s journey to the national championship this season.
The athletics equipment team is made up of four full-time managers, over 35 full-time undergraduate students and several graduate students, according to LSU Sports. The team works “tirelessly and timelessly” to assist with everything from fitting players in equipment to setting up practice for 20 of LSU’s varsity sports.
A team of football equipment managers worked hard to create a winning environment for the players this season, according to Student Football Equipment Manager and mechanical engineering junior Chase Falterman.
Falterman worked with the equipment management team as a volunteer his freshman year before being hired on scholarship one year later. This marks his fourth full-time semester.
The work of a student football equipment manager involves lots of behind-the-scenes work, according to Falterman. He assisted coaches during practice, packed and unloaded the team’s 18-wheeler for away games, set up Tiger Stadium for home games and fitted players in equipment to ensure their safety.
Falterman said he and other equipment managers made sure players and coaches had what they needed “day-in and day-out.” This included everything from laundry to odd requests.
“They know they can come to us for anything they need, and we will take care of them,” Falterman said.
The equipment managers form close relationships to the coaches and players, Falterman said. The ability to interact with them is one of his favorite parts of the job.
Second-year Student Equipment Manager and construction management junior Henri Terrebonne said most of his work was behind the scenes, but it never went unnoticed.
“We contribute so much to practice and games that players, coaches and other staff members recognize our hustle and respect us for it,” Terrebonne said. “In fact, the day Joe [Burrow] left campus we helped him and his family load all of his stuff in his car. Afterward, he came up to each one of us thanking us for taking care of him while he was here at LSU.”
The group of equipment managers had been with the team since January 2019, following the Fiesta Bowl, according to Terrebonne. Winning the national championship was a great way to end the season, he said.
Terrebonne and Falterman said they believe the work of the equipment team contributed to the overall success of the players.
“I think our staff was vital to the success of the team with working all hours of the day to ensure that the only thing players and coaches needed to worry about was winning the football game,” Falterman said.
Behind the scenes of LSU football: Athletic equipment team assists coaches, players
February 16, 2020