A great game plan, on and off the field

The LSU Tigers were named the 2003 BCS National Champions after winning the Nokia Sugar Bowl on Sunday, January 4. With a 21-14 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners, LSU captured its second national title in football and its 41st national athletic title.

The triumph was the latest honor for one of the best football teams in school history. The 2003 season included a 13-1 record, a Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championship, Associated Press (AP) National Coach of the Year honors for Nick Saban, six AP All-Americans, two Academic All-America picks, seven representatives on the All-SEC team, and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. The dedicated, talented coaching staff and student-athletes achieved these accomplishments by working together and executing a great game plan.

LSU football is not the school’s only program with a winning strategy. In January 2003, the University launched its National Flagship Agenda—a seven-year plan to bring LSU to a higher level of national prominence as one of the country’s leading research institutions. The agenda includes assessing peer institutions and developing key objectives to accomplish by 2010, LSU’s 150th anniversary. Although the campaign is still in its early stages, significant progress has already been made.

Research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students are expanding faster than ever, and more of LSU’s programs are becoming nationally distinguished. Plans are currently underway to hire 150 new faculty members, while renovations and new construction will provide the campus community with innovative resources and the latest facilities.

Many know of LSU’s athletic achievements of 2003, but the year has also seen several impressive academic triumphs.

• Entrepreneur Magazine ranked LSU’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Education among the top 12 of its kind in the nation.
• The cultural geography program was selected as one of the top in the nation by the Association for American Geographers.
• Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine listed LSU as one of the country’s “best values in public education,” while Newsweek and Kaplan, Inc., selected LSU as one of “the 12 hottest schools” in the nation.
• During the 2002–03 fiscal year, LSU’s external funding jumped by more than 22 percent from the previous year to reach $122.4 million.
  

"Winning the national championship in the Sugar Bowl is thrilling for the LSU community," said Chancellor Mark A. Emmert. "I am tremendously proud of all of our players and coaches, as they have done a masterful job all season. The University strives for excellence in all that it does. As with the successes of all of our students, faculty, and staff, those of our student-athletes and coaches are a point of pride for the entire LSU family."

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Contact Teresa Devlin | LSU University Relations
Highlights Team
January 2004

Related Links

LSU Sports Web site
Did You Know?
LSU — Home Sweet Home (LSU Highlight on out-of-state students)
LSU Junior Named SG President And Truman Scholar (LSU Highlight)
Academic Athletes: Succeeding In The Game Of Life (LSU Highlight)
Game Day: Mike the Tiger's Way (LSU Highlight)
Nick Saban
Parade of Champions
LSU's National Flagship Agenda