Skip Bertman aimed to create a baseball dynasty at LSU, but over thirty years later, the SEC is expected to be sufficient in one sport: football.
So, that raises the question: What sport is LSU known for?
We asked 48 college freshmen, including 23 LSU students and 25 others across the SEC: Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Texas, to see their responses.
Most students said football, despite being labeled the “baseball school” of the ’90s and early 2000s.
“I said football since my mom’s family has been watching LSU football play for as long as I can remember,” Oklahoma University student Owen Cunnigham said.
Eighty-eight percent of LSU students said football is the sport LSU is known for.
“Football because it is what put LSU on the map,” LSU student Tori Bonin said. “Like everyone around the country knows LSU football.”
A few LSU students said baseball is a close second, but more people said women’s basketball over baseball.
“I said women’s basketball because of the 2023 season and championship,” LSU student Mia Hattaway said. “I feel like it brought a lot of viewership and attention to basketball and women’s sports in general, but also later to the WNBA.”
Other SEC schools had a more diverse answer to the question than the LSU students. Forty-eight percent of other SEC students said a sport other than football. Most students said women’s basketball. Dance, baseball and gymnastics were also popular picks.
“I chose women’s basketball because that’s the sport that I feel has become more prevalent within the past few years,” University of Tennessee student Aubrey Powell said. “The popularity of it at LSU has definitely boosted it around other schools and different leagues as well.”
Despite all the chatter from current students, LSU’s women’s outdoor track has the most national championships, with 14 titles. Football is fifth in line with four titles, baseball is third with seven and gymnastics and men’s and Women’s Basketball are tied for seventh.
But football is so deeply ingrained in American culture that it’s hard for a university in the SEC, a conference forever known for its prowess on the gridiron, to be known as anything more than a football school.
The new-look 12-team college football playoff’s quarter- and semi-final rounds drew an average of 16.9 million and 19.2 million viewers via Front Office Sports, respectively.
When compared to the average viewership of last year’s College World Series (2.82 million, via Sports Business Journal) and gymnastics national championship (1.02) million, via Front Office Sports), they are dwarfed by the presence of college football. Women’s basketball is an outlier, with last April’s national championship setting a record as the most watched ever, averaging 18.7 million viewers and peaking at 24 million.
Football is by far not only the most popular college sport but also the most popular sport in the entire country. LSU will have to win multiple national championships in a sport other than America’s sweetheart and dominate while doing it.
South Carolina has built a women’s basketball dynasty in the last several years with deep postseason and national championship runs in recent years. Oklahoma has also done this with its four back-to-back national championships in softball.
It could take more than five years of deep championship runs in baseball, basketball, or gymnastics for LSU to be seen as it was in the ’90s and early 2000s- something other than a football school.
