Robe v. Manieri, Des, & Priorities
A few years back, the BR media published an article comparing Robe to Manieri. It set my antennae twitching.
It was some weeks before I began to figure out what was bothering me: Why, after decades of telling us that there is no comparison between UL & LSU, were the LSU media now claiming that there were comparisons between our coaches?
It took a couple of years before I came up with an answer to that question: LSU is right. There is no comparison between UL & LSU.
Manieri wasn't Robe. In fact, LSU doesn't have a coach like Robe.
Then in our recent discussions about Des, I realized that that LSU can't have a coach like Robe.
Because Robe put the players above winning.
Robe put a lot of things above winning: he put character, integrity, selflessness, teamwork, personal accountability, maturity, leadership, and education, all above winning.
So here's an interesting question: What has LSU ever put above winning?
This is the tradition Louisiana has inherited... and really, so has most of the country: Nothing is more important than winning.
Des is like Robe, he believes many things are more important than winning. He won't sacrifice his kids to win, he won't sacrifice their education, he won't sacrifice this school or this community.
So what about the rest of us? What do we value above winning?
On several occasions I have asked people here which comes first, athletics or academics? I still suspect that those who won't answer the question are tacitly admitting that they, too, put winning above academics.
Many people here have made posts which include the phrase, "Des needs to win [insert metric here.]" So who among us, myself included, has ever said:
Des needs to graduate more players in the STEM disciplines.
Des needs to recruit more first-generation college students.
Des needs to get his players to volunteer more. (They already volunteer, UL leads the 'Belt in volunteerism. But could they volunteer even more, serve as role models for the rest of the campus?)
Des needs to help one of his players win a Rhodes scholarship, or a Fullbright fellowship.
The same could be asked of all of our coaches, and many other questions/metrics could be asked of them, besides.
Who among us asks them?
What do we value above winning?
Some people want to beat LSU by being LSU, just better. Or worse, depending on your perspective.
Some of us, however, want to beat LSU by being different.
We want to beat LSU, by being better than LSU.
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