Great piece and interview on Skip Bertman of LSU in the Shreveport Times ( also appearing in other Gannett papers in Louisiana). GO see End of an era: Skip Bertman and also this small piece Scott Ferrell: Bertman was a home run for LSU.
I think Skip was one of the best AD's in the the schools history.
The interview is very good . It remind us what a special run we have had lately:
Q: Officially, Monday is your last day as athletic director. LSU is doing as well as ever from top to bottom in all sports. You just got back from Omaha. Could you cap off your last year as athletic director better?
A: No, I don't think so. Nineteen of the 20 teams made it to the NCAA postseason, which is of course the first time ever. Football, soccer and volleyball won the West. That's the first time in the history of the SEC. Basketball men and women were in the Final Four in 2006. That has not been done often. The two BCS championships in football is more than anybody else. It's really been a wonderful, wonderful thing, and of course we've been able to get more facilities, so that we can keep that going. That's important as well.
Also I thought this was interesting as to the Revenue stream that the Baseball stadium will bring:
Q: How is the new baseball stadium coming along and are you sad to see the old Alex Box come to an end?
A: I am. Yankee Stadium will be going down this year, too. There's no more tradition and history in baseball than Yankee Stadium. But there comes a time when the fans should be able to watch the game without a pole in front of them, where the restrooms should be clean and neat, where you can stand in line and buy some groceries and still see the game, where you can conduct a little business at the ballgame. This ballpark is fan friendly. It starts with 8,800 seats. Phase two, which I still have to raise money for, will increase it to over 10,000. It's got the amenities that the players need. They can finally go from their dugout to the locker room, which of course they haven't been able to do for 70 years. There are many other kid-oriented stuff. But I think another thing that is really important is financially it's a major boost for LSU. It's worth about $5 or $6 million a year, whereas the old Box as it is now is worth about $1.5. The reason for that is there are parking spaces at the old Box that will be sold for football, and skyboxes in the new stadium were sold for $35,000. And they're all sold already. There are many other tickets that will cost $2,000 to purchase. On the other hand, for those fans who were there for the past 25 years or longer, they'll get a ticket for the usual $8 or $9 and have a beautiful seat to sit in as well.
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