If there’s one thing I’ve learned in four years of journalism classes, it’s to question and evaluate every quote, action or explanation.
With that in mind, I’d like to examine the latest show of support for LSU Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva.
On April 15, the LSU Board of Supervisors voted to extend Alleva’s contract three more years through the end of the 2015-2016 athletic year.
Pardon me while I embrace my inner skeptic.
Why? What has he possibly done to merit such an extension?
Based on the timing of the announcement, it’s not a stretch to infer that the extension was a gift-wrapped pat on the back for his hiring of new women’s basketball coach Nikki Caldwell.
Make no mistake, Caldwell is a good basketball coach. She took UCLA from a perennial doormat to NCAA tournament participant in an extremely short span, winning 2010 Pacific-10 Coach of the Year in the process.
However, she’s not an elite coach — which would be fine if she hadn’t gotten elite money.
Caldwell jumped up from $300,000 at UCLA to $700,000 at LSU, more than any coach during LSU’s run of five consecutive Final Fours made.
She couldn’t even beat the man she’s replacing. One of the few highlights of LSU’s season was beating UCLA 55-53 in Los Angeles.
Also, her next Sweet 16 appearance will be her first.
What are they going to pay her once she starts winning?
That is, if she wins.
Three years ago, Alleva’s first hire at LSU was a Pac-10 coach who’d recently won coach of the year honors, and his tenure hasn’t exactly been a slam dunk thus far.
For a department that talked about the need for fiscal responsibility when introducing new football parking fees, Caldwell’s contract is markedly irresponsible.
And then there’s Alleva’s undying love of the non-revenue sports.
Without a doubt, there have been improvements. The complete renovation of the University Club golf course was needed, as was the new outdoor track surface. But other than that, it’s been all big sports, all the time.
LSU is the only school in the Southeastern Conference without an indoor tennis court. Carl Maddox Fieldhouse doesn’t even have a banked track, and the Natatorium is one of the worst venues in the conference.
At least Tiger Stadium is getting new windows. Which reminds me — when are those coming in?
If money and facilities aren’t your thing, maybe results are.
In 2007-08, the year before Alleva arrived, LSU finished eighth in the Director’s Cup, a competition that ranks athletic programs based on all sports.
In Alleva’s first year, LSU fell slightly to ninth, but it was still the school’s best two-year stretch in the history of the competition.
Last year, LSU dropped all the way down to 19th.
Time for a comeback? Not so far. In the latest standings for 2010-11, LSU is ranked 26th.
The Tigers could make the postseason in every sport remaining, but other than track, it’s hard to imagine any big point totals out there.
But wait until he gets his own players and coaches, right?
I’ve yet to understand how a national-championship winning baseball coach can draw such ire from a message board, but an athletic director who has never hired a national champion coach in his entire career is above reproach.
If you aren’t concerned about the direction of the Athletic Department, you’re asking the wrong questions. Or, worse yet, asking none at all.
 
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Contact Ryan Ginn at [email protected]