College Sports Information Directors of America

Dear Friends,

On behalf of Louisiana State University and particularly our LSU Athletics family, let me thank all of you for the outpouring of concern and support in this most difficult time.  We in Baton Rouge count ourselves among the fortunate that the wrath of Katrina did not overwhelm us in the way that it has devastated our friends in New Orleans and other communities in Southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast Region.

It is important for you to know that in the most recent aftermath of the storm, LSU has become not only an institution of higher education, but for the short term, it has also become a major hub of the evacuation efforts. To give you a snapshot of life today at LSU, let me share the following: The Maravich Assembly Center has become a triage site where medical personnel are performing surgeries and delivering babies, and the Field House has become a hospital.  The LSU Outdoor Track now serves as a helicopter landing pad for medical helicopters, and the Indoor Football facility has become a hospital dedicated to patients recovering from surgeries and treatment for serious injuries.  In addition, portions of many of our facilities now serve as offices for FEMA as well as the FBI. For our coaches and student-athletes the day is not only filled with day to day activities that also include practice in their sports, but they are now engaged in volunteer efforts on our campus.

Here is how all of this may affect you.  At the present time, two of the greatest challenges in Baton Rouge are lodging and transportation for both rescue workers and displaced victims of the storm.  For this reason, we are asking that you encourage coaches on your staff that will be traveling to Baton Rouge for contests in the months of September and October to immediately contact the hotels in which they have reservations to determine if those reservations will be honored.  Additionally, we would recommend that you also contact ground transportation companies to confirm those reservations.  Particularly in our fall sports, we have instructed our coaches and their supervising associate directors to begin to anticipate the need for altering schedules and/or sites of competition.

Thank you all in advance for your assistance as we work through this uniquely difficult time.  It is with great hope and resilience that the folks of Louisiana persevere, and we are thankful for our friends who assist along the way.

Sincerely,

Skip Bertman
Director of Athletics
Louisiana State University

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