We get chills watching the sun disappear behind the west grandstand in Tiger Stadium, but we cringe when people only recognize LSU as a football titan. We can’t wait to walk through the Death Valley entrance that’s under construction, but we complain about the disheveled state of our academic buildings. We brag about our No. 1 ranking in the USA Today Coaches Poll, but sigh in exasperation when the team’s most recognizable player’s name is splashed across headlines for his dismissal.
It’s no secret that most students have a two-sided relationship with LSU Athletics, but perhaps never more so than right now. On one hand, we want to sink onto our hands and knees and thank them for the bailout they handed to the academic side of the University amid the most recent round of budget cuts. We want to stand up and applaud them for their bravery and integrity in axing a popular player who wasn’t following the rules.
But are bravery and integrity the areas that deserve applause? We have no idea, and that’s when we shake our heads and shrug our shoulders at the Athletics Department.
Tyrann Mathieu strolled through this campus, ate in The 5 and lit up the football field on Saturday evenings. The students at LSU who rooted for him, who watched the “Honey Badger” video hundreds of times and who boasted about their fearless punt returner deserve to know why he is no longer on the football team.
The lack of transparency in the Athletics Department regarding Mathieu’s dismissal has led to a flurry of speculation, rumors and whispers about what the final nail in the coffin was for LSU’s Heisman finalist.
FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, is an easy reason why the Athletics Department may shield Mathieu’s reason for dismissal, but LSU’s own explanation of FERPA details that there can be exceptions to the law.
LSU should consider taking a wide stance on FERPA regarding all student-athletes. Mathieu should be held to a higher standard of maturity as a student-athlete, and his transgressions are therefore a bigger deal than those of a general member of the student body.
News leaked late last week that Mathieu will spend the fall in rehab, a story all too easy to believe after The Daily Reveille broke the news last year that Mathieu was suspended for the Auburn game after failing a drug test that revealed he’d been smoking synthetic marijuana.
But even at this point, it’s difficult to determine why the LSU Athletics Department would not confirm if drugs were the bad habit that led to Mathieu’s boot. From a PR-standpoint, they could make a champion campaign about “just say no” and the importance of athletes staying healthy.
Instead, we’re left to wonder what secrets are locked inside of the Athletic Administration Building that perhaps involve more than just the player and could compromise the legacy and the future of LSU Football. Is the threat of an NCAA investigation what’s keeping their mouths shut?
The Athletics Department could easily stop the heresy, the fodder spoken everywhere and the putty in journalists’ hands by owning up to the real reason Mathieu was kicked off the team. But for unknown reasons, it’s refusing to elaborate. While we can connect the dots that point toward drugs, we can’t be certain if that was the true problem without confirmation from LSU Athletics.
The Athletics Department is still poised for victory – the University’s academic side would be sinking without the department’s generous donation and the boot of Mathieu easily comes off as noble.
But deeper than the donation, the poll rankings and the glamour, the reason behind why Mathieu was kicked off the team is bottled up.
If the Athletics Department wants to maintain the shiny reputation it’s currently enjoying, its administrators should come clean about Mathieu’s dismissal. Then again, maybe the shiny reputation is what’s preventing them from releasing that information.
