Tony Minnis has made a living of getting the most from his players.
Not only has the LSU women’s tennis coach been a mainstay on the court at the University since 1992, but he has groomed one of the school’s most successful academic programs.
Last season wasn’t any different, as his team posted a 3.373 team grade point average, the highest among 16 varsity sports, according to grade reports obtained by The Daily Reveille from LSU through an open records request.
The numbers are from the 2009-10 season, which is the most recent compiled by the University.
“I’m very hard on them,” Minnis said. “Obviously you’re here to be an athlete, but more importantly, you’re here to get a degree.”
While Minnis is a fierce instructor on the court, he understands the rigors of a full-time student athlete.
“What’s always been great about Tony … if we ask for practice off to study for a test, he’ll give that to us because he knows how hard [school] is to balance,” said senior Kylie Adamek, who is in the process of applying for medical school.
Besides the women’s tennis team, the gymnastics (3.27), softball (3.163), volleyball (3.105), soccer (3.085), men’s golf (3.039), men’s tennis (3.034), women’s swimming (3.033) and women’s golf (3.023) teams all posted GPAs of more than 3.0.
In fact, eight of the top 10 highest team averages were women’s sports, which correlate with University averages. Women’s sports averaged a 3.06 GPA while the men came in at 2.715.
The University average for 2009-10 was nearly identical. University women averaged a 3.022 and the men a 2.797.
Minnis tried to pinpoint why women’s sports historically tend to be higher than men.
“The opportunities are limited for female student athletes to go pro and make a lot of money,” he said. “It’s easier to say when you walk on campus, I’ve got to really focus and get my degree. On the men’s side, they’re more opportunities.”
Overall, LSU athletics finished with a 2.728 GPA. That figure has been nearly equivalent the past decade. In 1999-00, the teams combined for a 2.719 average.
Near the bottom of the list are baseball (2.687), women’s basketball (2.577), men’s basketball (2.477) and football, which had the lowest GPA with a 2.329.
“What we use GPAs for is not so much for a comparison amongst teams, we look at it more along the lines of where to identity where people need additional assistance or teams who need to focus more on study habits,” Senior Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator Miriam Segar said.
Sports Information Director Michael Bonnette and LSU football coach Les Miles didn’t respond to multiple interview requests, nor did Executive Director for the Cox Academic Center for Student Athletes Ken Miles.
Meanwhile, LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson, who came to LSU from Stanford, said his team has a long way to go to enhance their grades.
“We’ve had some work to do and demands have been put on our guys,” he said. “Are we where we need to be? By no means we’re not.”
GPAs aren’t the only measure the athletic department looks at. They also monitor the Academic Progress Rate and Graduation Success Rate.
Johnson said Chris Bass, Storm Warren, Garrett Green and Malcolm White are all on track to graduate next year, which will make him more proud than any GPA number.
“I stay hard and firm on not the figures, not the stats, but the individual and making sure we can do what ever we can to supply him with the resources so he can graduate and … have a good degree,” Johnson said.
The GPAs of baseball, basketball and football grades at LSU are on par with national averages.
Smaller sports tend to harbor athletes that play at the collegiate level for their own personal satisfaction, like Minnis described with women athletes, while those playing baseball, basketball or football have dreams of playing professional where money comes in bundles.
These dreams could be a reason GPAs tend to be lower.
Educational upbringing also plays a part.
“It’s not like everyone is coming in here with the same standards … there are some that have to work their living tail off just to get C’s and B’s,” Johnson said.
Even so, some things can’t be corrected.
During the past 10 years, baseball, men’s basketball and football have hovered around a 2.5 GPA. For that matter, every sport has stayed relatively the same.
But Johnson even admitted the numbers nationally for the major spectator sports are unlikely to change in the future.
“Right now in the sport of football and the sport of basketball, especially basketball, those figures are probably never going to move up,” he said.
 
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Contact Sean Isabella at [email protected]