College Strength Profile of the Week: Louisiana State University

Name: Louisiana State University (LSU)
Private or Public: Public University
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Mascot: Tigers
Size: ~30,000 in 2007 (undergraduate & graduate students)
Director of Strength and Conditioning: Tommy Moffitt
Program Overview: Click Here

Overview: Louisiana State University (LSU) competes in arguably the nation's most dominant collegiate athletic conference: The Southeastern Conference. Established in 1893, LSU has developed an athletic program that has served the school proudly: 109 Southeastern Conference titles and, in an effort that ties LSU for the most in the Southeastern Conference, has won 43 national championships in nine different sports. To state that LSU's athletic program is large is an understatement: 450 student-athletes, competing in 20 NCAA sports: 9-men's sports and 11-women's sports. A testament to the success of the athletic program is the fact that the entire LSU athletic program is completely self-funded. An overview of the athletic facilities can be found here. The presence of the LSU program on the national stage is hard to ignore. After sending 19 of its 20 athletic programs to post-season play in 2007-2008, LSU finished the 2007-2008 athletic season ranked 8th in the Sports Academy Directors' Cup rankings. This was the highest ranking ever for LSU and it was up from an 17th place finish following the 2006-2007 athletic season. The only SEC team to finish higher than LSU in the Director's Cup rankings was the University of Florida (6th place finish). More details on LSU's 2007-2008 Director's Cup run can be found here. With the emphasis placed on the development of student-athletes at LSU, a Top 5 Director's Cup finish is within sight.

Tommy Moffitt, LSU's Director of Strength & Conditioning has put together one of the largest and best qualified staffs in the country. Tommy and his staff of fourteen (14) assistants ensure that the LSU strength and conditioning program doesn't miss a beat. Each coach Moffitt, twice a "College Football Strength and Conditioning Coach of the year (in 1999 per the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society, and again in 2003 per the America Football Monthly), came to LSU in 2000 following a two-year stint as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at the University of Miami. Specializing in developing elite football athletes, teams consisting of players trained by Moffitt were 214-40 through the 2007 athletic season. Moreover, Moffitt's players have competed in 13 consecutive college bowl appearances and won one national title: LSU's 2003 football national championship. Moffitt and his staff are proven winners when it comes to the development of elite collegiate athletes. Nothing speaks to this fact louder than the on-field performance of the athletes trained under their watch.

Click for an overview of the LSU athletic program.