Originally Posted by
Jetstorm
Well, seeing as how Dr. Reneau is a Tech guy for life, I don't think he is interested in going anywhere else.
Besides, the LSU Board of Supervisors would take one look at his "strategy" (and I use that term loosely) for advancing athletics and his unyielding desire to be in complete and total control of a university's finances at all times (especially, it seems, the athletic side) and would say, "NO FREAKIN' WAY!" Dr. Reneau wouldn't be able to do to much damage to LSU's athletic funding, since LSU athletics is self-sustaining and there is a wall of separation between the athletic department and the actual university, but he wouldn't be the visionary and helper that Dr. Emmert was, and that alone would cause LSU to lose ground both academically and athletically.
Dr. Emmert's selection as LSU's Chancellor and his belief that athletics can be harnessed to the greater benefit of a university's academics are no coincidence. Prior to his stint at LSU, he was president of the University of Connecticut for several years. It was on his watch that UConn became a dominant force in men's and women's hoops and that the Huskies decided to go Division 1-A in football and build a new 44,000 seat stadium. He knows the truth; outstanding academics and outstanding athletics can co-exist on the same campus; you can have your cake and eat it too. UConn's success in sports got that school noticed. Enrollment and funding from the state increased, and UConn's newfound popularity enabled it to do wonderful things with the new resources that the attention to it's athletic teams brought. He was the kind of chancellor many close to LSU wanted; they didn't want an anti-sports nerd who saw the athletic program as an obstacle rather than a boost to the university's success, but they didn't want a Louisiana "good ol' boy" who'd cheerlead at the football games while letting the university's academic reputation head south. Emmert was the perfect choice.
Tech would benefit greatly from a guy like Emmert in Wyly Tower. I never thought of Dr. Reneau as a "pointy-headed academic" who hates sports, but I'm beginning to think that might be the case.