Last week LSU confirmed that it plans to get approval for the south endzone expansion, with construction starting as early as this fall and finishing in the summer of 2014. As we said last week, this is about getting more club seats in Tiger Stadium, and as it's not going to effect any existing seating, I really don't have a problem with it (though I think it's going to be a cold day in hell before there are actually standing room only options in Death Valley) The proposal also ropes in a facilities shuffle that sends Tennis from The Dub to a new off-campus indoor facility, gives Gym a practice facility in it's place, and frees up space in the Fieldhouse for some new expanded track and field locker rooms.
DIG Baton Rouge has a nice profile of Alex Box groundskeeper Randy Partin, and all of the hours and pride that goes into his work.
NFL offseason practices have begun and as expected, Chad Jones is out working with the Giants, with a goal to fully rejoin the team this year.
For the 6th straight year, LSU Powerlifting has won a national championship, taking home the Men's championship at the USA Powerlifting Collegiate Nationals that were held in Baton Rouge earlier this month.
The SEC led the nation in spring game attendance again this year, though Ohio St had the highest single total for the beginning of the Urban Meyer tenure.
It's good to know that at least one Ole Miss QB can take a punch.
A&M will be looking for a new AD this summer as they've decided to let current AD Bill Byrne's contract expire this summer, rather than fire or extend him. A&M is also not settled on their own stadium expansion plans and extreme options like complete demolition are still on the table.
Arkansas still doesn't have a head coach yet (though one could be coming today, according to various rumors) The Expats have a great suggestion for an interim coach.
EDSBS's Spencer Hall spent a day in Starkvegas earlier this month and got a look at the madness of Dan Mullen
As part of joining the SEC, Mizzou is going to have to increase it's academic standards for it's players. Shocking, right? Mizzou also has a difficult road ahead of it as the other new face in the conference.
The Tennessean has a write up of all of the security details that handle the head coaches in the SEC, including LSU's Sgt. Bryan Madden, a former player who's been covering Les Miles since 2008.
Officially, talking to potential recruits through things like twitter or facebook is a no-no in the eyes of the NCAA, but as Jason Kirk points out, it's not like it's something either the NCAA or the schools are actually interested in policing.
The NCAA's midseason report on Baseball stats shows power numbers continued to slide in year 2 of the Dead Bat era. Perfect Game has a fantastic write up of what will be different in this year's upcoming MLB draft thanks to the new CBA.
The Seattle Times has a great read on the challenges faced by the 4 PAC12 schools who changed football coaches this year, focusing especially on the under-the-radar work done by Washington State to hire Mike Leach.
There's been a bit of uproar over the last few weeks over a high school baseball game between Jesuit and Archbishop Rummel that had and LSU and a Tulane signee each throw over 150 pitches in an 18 inning marathon. There was much wailing from the scouting community about how dangerous this was, but the Jesuit coach says, while the high number was indefensible, he was confident in letting his player stay out that long. For what it's worth, the Jesuit pitcher, who went 193 pitches in that game, came back again last night and was fine.
After the break, the latest breakthrough in Tailgate food genetics from the LSU Ag Center
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