Life for D-D Breaux may be trending toward lavish these days but it hasn’t always been so.
Yet, as Breaux barrels into her 40th season as LSU’s gymnastics coach, the banners ornamenting the program’s near-1-year-old, multi-million dollar practice facility, emblazoned with high achievement, would indicate life has been pretty good lately.
Sitting atop the second-floor, glass-enclosed lobby for what some call the “greatest gymnastics facility in the country,” used as much to swoon recruits as it is to strategize, Breaux remembers a time when her gymnastics equipment was disassembled and tossed into a pile in the gymnastics corner of the Carl Maddox Field House.
It was one example she recalled of the struggle she absorbed for many years, dating back to when she was head of a team with “club” status, and smushed into a corner in the always-busy Field House.
Breaux remembered reassembling the practice equipment with her team more than 25 years ago while fighting to keep the program alive.
Why fight for it?
“I knew we could recruit,” she said. “I knew we can get good recruits to LSU. We had proven that we can recruit good athletes, good students to LSU. I knew that our fan base could be grown. I knew that we could put 10,000 people in the PMAC. I knew we could out 13,000 in the PMAC. I knew we could.”
In the corner, Breaux and the gymnastics program practiced in the same facility the LSU football or baseball teams did in instances of bad weather so they could practice indoors. Not to mention the swarms of students using the facility for recreational basketball and weight training.
After years of fighting to be relevant, other LSU coaches began to take notice of the blossoming gymnastics program — including Charles McClendon, who led LSU football to 16 winning seasons during his career.
“Why, gal, you’ve really got something going here,” she remembers McClendon telling her.
Breaux recalled dialing LSU Board of Supervisors members over the last three decades, asking for financial support for LSU gymnastics. It took effort, she notes, and a whole lot of it.
Eventually, Breaux and gymnasts expanded from the corner as the program did, too. Then came the above-ground pits to practice skills.
“It got bigger and bigger as the program began to grow and expand,” Breaux said. “You know the old saying, ‘You give her an inch and she’ll take a mile.’ It was kind of that.”
Fame and fortune for Tiger gymnastics started to develop decades ago. Breaux has seen multiple LSU athletic directors come and go, but former athletic director Skip Bertman helped Breaux take gymnastics from club status to one of the more popular athletic programs on LSU’s campus.
“Skip is the one who said how to market and what to market,” Breaux said. “He said, if you don’t care about your program more than anybody else, then nobody is going to care about your program.”
Then came athletic director Joe Alleva, a facilities-focused leader with an ambition to treat all LSU student athletes “right,” Breaux said.
“He’s kind of a facilities guy,” she said. “He’s kind of a numbers guy. He didn’t have a whole lot to say when he first got here. He was kind of an observer. He saw a lot of things he liked and a lot of things he didn’t like.
“You have to have the same message, same work ethic and wake up every day with the same enthusiasm and nothing is going to get you can. Nothing can beat you but yourself. Joe Alleva didn’t just listen, he heard.”
All Breaux needed was for gymnastics to make money.
Alleva told her that should could get whatever she wanted if she would start raising money.
For example, two years ago when LSU gymnasts were hours from competing in the national semifinals in Fort Worth, Texas, Breaux was outside waving and chatting with passersby in downtown Fort Worth, hoping to sway them to buy a ticket.
“It’s cheaper than a movie ticket,” she laughs.
She wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Then, along with the approved expansion to Tiger Stadium in 2012, Alleva also set aside money for the gym facility, providing a space for future success of the program.
“[I would have] four sets on competition bars,” Breaux remembered the plans of the facility that now remind her of all LSU gymnastics has achieved in four decades. “I can put six balance beams down there if I wanted to. [Alleva said to Breaux,] ‘You’re going to have three vaulting runs. You’re basically going to have whatever it takes to have a championship level team.’“
“D-D, this is really going to happen,” Alleva told the coach.
“God, I’ve heard that before,” Breaux replied.
“But, you’ve never heard me say it,” Alleva countered.
As the 2016 gymnastics season gets underway, beginning with “Gymnastics 101” on Monday, Breaux hopes for packed arenas for home meets in the PMAC.
Breaux isn’t finished, but reminiscing on the max-capacity, near-14,000-person crowds from the last two seasons drew a smile to her face.
Breaux acknowledges pride in what she has wrought, the popularity and success. She’s cherishes of the practice facility, so don’t spit a wad of worn-out gum on the floor, she warns, brandishing one of her latest acquisitions: a gum scraper.
After all, the House that D-D built took 40 seasons to accomplish.
You can reach Christian Boutwell, @CBoutwell_