BATON ROUGE, La. — After Governor Jeff Landry threatened to strip scholarships from athletes who skip the National Anthem at sports games, LSU’s athletic department said Friday they would review their policy.
“At LSU we have and will always be dedicated to the flag, the anthem and the country,” LSU Athletics Director Scott Woodward said Friday. “We consistently look at all our processes and will do so again.”
The move came after Gov. Landry criticized LSU’s basketball team for their absence during the National Anthem ahead of the team’s Elite Eight game against Iowa, even taking his case to cable news Wednesday when he told Fox News’ Sandra Smith that athletes must respect the anthem.
Landry praised Woodward’s statement on his own social media just minutes after LSU Tigers’ posted on their page. In the governor’s statement, Landry also referred to the LSU Lady Tigers as, ‘our girl’s basketball team.’
“This has never been about Coach Mulkey, a great stalwart of our time, great citizen of Louisiana and patriot!,” Gov. Landry said Friday. “Nor about our girl’s basketball team, who have beat the critics and rose to the challenges and brought great pride to our State.”
Thank you Scott #LSUAthleticDirector for your leadership as well as the entire LSU community. This has never been about Coach Mulkey, a stalwart of our time, great citizen of Louisiana and patriot! Nor about our girl's basketball team, who have beat the critics and rose to the… https://t.co/e79gUvnSGZ
Before Woodward’s Friday statement, LSU had said Wednesday that skipping the anthem had become part of a long-time routine.
“Our basketball programs have not been on the court for the anthem for the last several seasons,” LSU officials said on Wednesday. “Usually the anthem is played 12 minutes before the game when the team is in the locker room doing final preparations.
In Woodward’s statement Friday, the school’s athletic director did not list which specific changes might be made to this routine.
The University of Louisiana System also responded to Landry’s scholarship threats saying that despite the governor’s claims, the school system never received a letter.
“This is about traditions and consistencies, that without either, we remain consistently divided!,” Landry said. “Now it is time for the NCAA and NCAA President Charlie Baker to step up and show leadership.”
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