Coaches Salary & Basketball Programs... for the Real Fans

I will assume you finished undergrad in 99 as your moniker suggests. Your comments regarding student support aren't entirely true. Students supported basketball fairly well during the 80's and early 90's, as did the overall fan base. You can't blame students for not attending games the regular fans don't attend as well. When the program hit the skids, all attendance went down.

Unlike ticket holders, students get held to a different standard. Because they get in free or at reduced prices, others feel it is fair game to take pot shots at them. No one ever demands revoking season tickets from holders who don't attend. When LSU football or basketball is lousy, tickets get freely passed around and are often wasted. But if the students don't show up and fill their section, opportunists argue to take away their seats. Unfortunately, though, the seats are gone for good.

As anyone who regularly attends games knows, they just aren't the same without a strong student body. More importantly, the tradition is not the same when LSU Athletics takes away the seats or sends them to the worst location. 15 or 20 years later, the love for the school won't be the same; the experience just wasn't there.