Good news that Alleva is staying

In this December 2009 file photo, LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva listens on speaker phone as officials of the Capital One Bowl extends an invitation to LSU to play in the 2010 Capital One Bowl.

When LSU’s administration got wind of the fact that Tennessee was courting athletic director Joe Alleva, the reaction was a swift, “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”

After getting a lot of love, affection and it appears, more money from Chancellor Michael Martin and the LSU Board of Supervisors, Joe said no to Tennessee and decided Tuesday he will stay at LSU.

Good for Alleva. More money and more security is always sweet if you can get it. In April, he received a three-year contract extension through June 2016. Now he’s got the other half of the package, to borrow a euphemism from Martin during Tuesday’s flurry of rumors and reports concerning Alleva’s future.

Is Alleva staying good for LSU?

On the face of it, yes.

LSU would certainly lose face if it lost its A.D. to a peer program in its own conference. Especially when Alleva is about to begin a five-year tenure on the men’s basketball selection committee, the most visible and arguably most prestigious committee the NCAA has.

Alleva’s departure could have raised questions in the minds of future coaches, even recruits, as to where the LSU athletic program is headed: “What does he see coming that I don’t know about?”

There are likely a lot of LSU fans out there who ask what has Alleva done for the athletic program aside from hire Trent Johnson, replace Van Chancellor with Nikki Caldwell and bring in Beth Torina to coach softball when Pat Murphy got cold feet. He’s also set as a priority to beautify Tiger Stadium and under his watch LSU built practice facilities for its basketball programs.

Basically, that’s what athletic directors do: hire and fire coaches and find the money to build things. When not doing that, Alleva has kept a low profile in his three years at LSU compared to his predecessors, Joe Dean and Skip Bertman.

Dean and Bertman were both well-known LSU figures before they sat behind the A.D.’s desk. If Alleva was known in Louisiana, it was for being embroiled in the lacrosse scandal while athletic director at Duke.

When you think about it, what A.D. was popular? Certainly Dean’s “Mr. String Music” image got frayed when he presided over six straight losing seasons in football. And Bertman’s five national championship trophies didn’t cut much ice with fans put out by seat licenses (the Tradition Fund).

Could LSU athletics be doing better? Certainly. This spring marked the first time in nearly 30 years that men’s and women’s basketball and baseball missed their respective NCAA tournaments in the same year, and football is on probation. Ultimately, it’s Alleva’s job to hire or retain successful coaches who build winning programs and do it the right way.

But just because he has a job in which he can please virtually no one is no reason to assume Alleva is not good for LSU. If he was doing such a lousy job, you’d have to believe Martin and the LSU board would have let Joe go without a fight.

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Comments

1) Comment by mistert - 31/07/2011

Well...did Tennessee REALLY offer Aleva? Or was this a stunt to get him 200,000 to match his undeserved extension? Fact is, Aleva hired an assistant swimming HC, for a peanut salary; he hired a very expensive WBB HC, and in my opinion attracted this hire with money; he botched the softball search because he did not do due diligence, using money again to make a hire; THEN HE HIRED TRENT JOHNSON! Did anyone notice that the major sports did as follows? A) FB is respectable and was respectable before Aleva; B) MBB was horrendous and DEAD LAST IN THE SEC FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS; Baseball did not make the SEC Tournament....when did that EVER HAPPEN? ; C) WBB was going progressive downward but Joe Aleva had extended that previous HC's contract (and WE ARE PAYING THIS GUY, CHANCELLOR, AND HE CLAIMS HE IS PLAYING GOLF), while we are paying this new HC, in the neighborhood of 1M per annum; D) Joe Aleva cavaliely hired Patrick Murphy, who made a fool of him and then had to delay Softball recruiting and I don't think they even hosted camps; to hire a young lady from Florida International University, with an inauspicious record! I was very impressed with Beth Torina though, and I support her and believe she is competent. That is not all the indicators of Joe Aleva's, in my opinion, poor management. The proverbial cherry was his flirtations with Tennessee, in my opinion just a stunt to get more money!

2) Comment by Milesthebest - 28/07/2011

As usual, Scotty doesn't know squat. For him to act like that a guy who made a HORRENDOUS decision in hiring Trent Johnson as the men's basketball coach to be an asset to LSU as AD is downright laughable. The Nikki Caldwell hire was a good one IMO but then again, all Alleva did was to call around and get suggestions. Geez, I can do that. Can I be AD at LSU where all I do is to call around and see who I should hire? Alleva is a JOKE of an AD. So far, assuming Caldwell works out, he is 1 out of 2 in major hires. I'm skipping the softball coach for now since women's softball isn't a major sport IMO. And I still remember in 2009 when Les Miles was under some fire from ignorant fans, Alleva sat back and said nothing. Alleva is a poor AD and I was hoping Tennessee would grab him. Scotty apparently hasn't kept up with LSU sports for him to say different.