The difference between winning and losing in gymnastics isn’t much, sometimes only hundredths of a point.
After more than three decades as LSU’s gymnastics coach, D-D Breaux knows that difference as well as anyone.
“You come on the floor, and you start with a 10, and as soon as you move, the judges start whacking away at that 10,” Breaux said. “If we are not coaching with that critical eye, that attention to detail, then we’re going to lose. You let up, you lose.”
Breaux, a 2009 USA Gymnastics Region 8 Hall of Fame inductee, is in her 35th year as the Lady Tigers’ head coach. She has built a winning tradition from the ground up, indelibly marking her athletes with this intense but nurturing philosophy, and hasn’t slowed down since.
“A lot of people have been doing a lot of things in their lives for 35 years,” Breaux said. “I just get up every day knowing there’s certain things I want to get accomplished, and I just come and attack everything I’ve got with all the enthusiasm that I’ve had since the first day I hit the job.”
Her potential as a leader was as evident in that first season as it is today. Her team won the Southeastern Conference championship in her first year, and she has since led the Lady Tigers to multiple NCAA Championship appearances and coached more than 100 gymnasts to All-American honors.
LSU made the Super Six Finals in 2008 and 2009 and hasn’t fallen out of the Top 25 since 2001, providing evidence that her team — and coaching — is as strong as ever.
Breaux said last year was difficult, citing an unexpected lack of leadership, but her excitement regarding this season’s squad is evident. 
“This year we have an infusion of freshmen and talent,” Breaux said. “They are coming in the gym and responding to the intensity of our coaching, so I think this team will rise and get better and better each week.”
Breaux is known for the intensity of her coaching, demanding the dedication she and her family showed when she started gymnastics as a youth.
While taking dancing classes in her hometown of Donaldsonville, an impressed instructor asked Breaux’s parents to allow her to attend an affiliated gymnastics program in Baton Rouge.
Her parents juggled driving her 45 miles to class with no interstate, taking the ferry back and forth across the Mississippi River while taking care of Breaux’s seven other siblings.
Her parents’ sacrifice stoked her love for the sport, and she passes on that passion to her team, who appreciate the fire of her coaching.
“D-D loves what she does,” said Ashley Lee, the lone senior on the current squad. “She definitely pushes us and expects a lot from us. She doesn’t necessarily give us an easy way out because that won’t make us better gymnasts.”
Breaux said her gymnasts sometimes take her criticisms personally but know they are necessary to get the athletes where they want to be.
“Everything in their life is ‘quick and now,’ but progress in a sport is not ‘quick and now,'” Breaux said. “Sometimes that’s the hardest lesson to teach the kids. Yeah, it’s not pleasant. It’s not easy, but anything worth working this hard for is going to be precious when you realize your goals.”
Former gymnast Kelly Phelan, who spent four years under Breaux’s tutelage, said she can call the coach for anything. Currently working as an acrobat in the Las Vegas resort performance Le Reve, Phelan said Breaux’s greatest attribute is her ability to relate.
“LSU gymnastics is her heart and soul,” Phelan said. “It’s her life.”
Breaux has repeatedly turned down job offers elsewhere to stay where the seeds of her passion were sowed and her legacy has blossomed.
“It’s always like the grass is always greener, but it’s never better,” Breaux said. “I’ve been here so long, I couldn’t think of anywhere else.”
 
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