Lane Kiffin accepts offer to become LSU football’s head coach.
LSUReveille.com
What’s ahead for Kiffin?
BY JASON WILLIS Editor in Chief
LSU has landed the big fish it was seeking all along: Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin has had a drawn-out public wrestling with his future for the past several weeks, but has ultimately chose to leave Ole Miss despite the Rebels clinching the first 11-win season in program history and likely a College Football Playoff appearance.
Now, he’s come to Baton Rouge to take over a program in a tough spot. Here’s what he’ll have to deal with and the decisions he’ll have to make.
Deciding which coaches stay
It’s not uncommon for incoming coaches to clean house when they arrive. However, LSU’s last head coach, Brian Kelly, drew criticism early in his tenure for flushing out many of the established coaches with Louisiana ties.
He was forced to course correct several years later, when he brought back defensive backs coach Corey Raymond and defensive coordinator Blake Baker, both of whom were on the LSU staff when Kelly was hired.
What will Kiffin do? Raymond and Baker have both seen success with their units, as the LSU defense has been one of the only positive parts of this season. Early reports have said Baker will receive considerable consideration to return as the coordinator.
Interim head coach and former running backs coach Frank Wilson is another coach Kiffin will face a decision on. There was sizable outside support for Wilson being given the full-time job, so the respect he’s garnered prompts consideration.
It’s been reported Kiffin has rallied some offensive and administrative staff at Ole Miss to join him. Reportedly coming along to Baton Rouge are offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., wide receivers coach George McDonald, strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage and general manager Billy Glasscock, as well as a few others.
The approaching early signing period
The early signing period for the incoming high school class is Dec. 3-5. Kiffin will immediately have to close deals with recruits, which will likely include assuring them that LSU is still the place they want to go — a difficult pitch with so much uncertainty about the coaching staff.
The majority of recruits typically sign during the early signing period, but the national signing day is Feb. 4.
Keeping talent in Baton Rouge
With Kiffin being such a highprofile hire, it feels less likely current players will want to leave. The lack of entries into the transfer portal and decommitments in the
ALL ABOARD
LSU lands top target, ending suspenseful search
BY ROSS ABBOUD Staff Writer
Lane Kiffin will be the next head coach of LSU football, he and the program announced Sunday.
LSU will hold a press conference Monday to formally announce the move.
“We shared when we began this search that LSU would secure the best coach in the country and Lane Kiffin is just that,” Athletic Director Verge Ausberry said in an LSU statement.
Kiffin was the head coach at Ole Miss for six seasons, where he held a 55-19 overall record. The Rebels have won at least 10 games in four of the past five years, and this year was the program’s first 11-win season in its history.
“While I am looking forward to a new start with a unique opportunity at LSU, I will forever cherish the incredible six years I spent at Ole Miss and will be rooting hard for the team to complete their mission and bring a championship to Oxford,” Lane Kiffin said in a personal statement.
Kiffin’s contract is being reported by ESPN as seven years with an average of $12 million annually, with the potential for bonuses. Previous reports said LSU also promised the program would commit $25-30 million each year for roster building.
Kiffin, considered one of the sport’s premier offensive minds, will leave Ole Miss in the middle of a season where its spot in the College Football Playoff is all but guaranteed and in which the team is firmly in the national championship hunt.
He’ll also reportedly bring along several members of the coaching and administrative staff at Ole Miss, most notably offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., wide receivers coach George McDonald, strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage and general manager Billy Glasscock. Several
others are expected to join, but specifics remain unclear as of print time.
Kiffin has been LSU’s top target throughout the entire coaching search, reports have said, since LSU fired former head coach Brian Kelly on Oct. 26.
Kelly filed a lawsuit on Nov. 10 against LSU. That lawsuit included details that LSU claimed it had not yet officially terminated him, with the university allegedly telling Kelly that former athletic director Scott Woodward didn’t have the authority to terminate Kelly’s contract.
The lawsuit also said LSU took a position that it would look to fire Kelly with cause, a route that could free them of Kelly’s $53 million buyout.
Since then, LSU sent Kelly an official letter of termination on Nov. 26, pledging to pay his buyout and ending the public battle.
All the while, LSU was courting Kiffin.
The courting process included Kiffin’s family taking a tour of Baton Rouge on Nov. 17, according to reports.
The trip included a tour of the city, residential properties and high schools, trying to get a sense of if Baton Rouge was a fit for Kiffin and his family.
Later that week, Kiffin met with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter, after which Carter released a statement saying Kiffin would coach the Egg Bowl on Nov. 28 and announce his decision the following day.
After his Egg Bowl win, Kiffin went deep into the night on Saturday without an announcement, as he reportedly met with Carter for about three hours that afternoon. The hangup, according to reports, was Kiffin’s desire to coach Ole Miss through the CFP despite leaving for LSU.
Ole Miss decided not to allow Kiffin to do so. The Rebels appointed defensive coordinator Pete Golding as their permanent head coach.
B-16 Hodges Hall
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, La. 70803
“I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year’s team by… investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern,” Kiffin said in a statement. “My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance.”
Kiffin told Ole Miss leaders that if he wasn’t allowed to coach Ole Miss in the CFP, he would take members of his coaching staff with him, multiple reports indicated. He also reportedly told coaches that they had to make the decision Saturday to get on the private plane LSU sent to Oxford for him, or they wouldn’t have a spot on his staff.
Florida also had interest in Kiffin. The Gators made heavy pushes for Kiffin across the first few weeks of November, but Kiffin ultimately cut off communication with the program.
Despite Florida reportedly matching LSU’s contract offer, it wasn’t enough for the Gators to stay in contention. On Friday, reports surfaced Florida was out of the running and looking for other candidates.
Florida hired Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall on Saturday.
Kiffin has also been the head coach for the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, Tennessee, USC — where he was previously an assistant coach under Pete Carroll for many years — and Florida Atlantic. After a disappointing four seasons leading USC, Kiffin was fired and revitalized his career as the offensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban. He helped the Crimson Tide to the 2015 national championship.
LSU finished its regular season at 7-5 after falling just short of a potential upset over No. 8 Oklahoma Saturday.
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NEWS RESOURCES
Student Health Center shares tips to manage seasonal depression
BY ALAYNA FORD Staff Writer
As semester comes to end, here’s how an LSU counselor says students can support their mental health
Seasonal depression doesn’t always look like someone crying alone in their dorm. It may be the student sleeping for over 10 hours a night, skipping class due to the weather being gloomy or downing energy drinks to push through another study session.
Raime Thibodeaux, the director of mental health at the LSU Student Health Center, said what many students call “seasonal depression” may be a major depressive episode mixed with a seasonal pattern. Symptoms of the episode return as the days get shorter and nights get longer.
Stress can often trigger an episode and derail students’ routines. With finals and winter break coming up, Thibodeaux and the rest of the mental health staff at the Student Health Center are providing students with various resources catered to their needs.
“Therapy is a way to tend to your mental health, but it’s by no means the only way,” Thibodeaux said.
Services offered
The mental health center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Students in need of support have access to a variety of mental health services. The services include individual therapy, same-day access therapy, group counseling and after-hours virtual sessions through Uwill.
Uwill is a virtual platform that is relatively new to the Student Health Center. It is not limited to full-time students and is an enrollment-based package. It is a helpful tool for out-of-state students since many LSU therapists cannot practice across state lines when students are not oncampus.
Students can find Thibodeaux and her staff on the second floor of the Student Health Center. All therapy appointments are covered by student fee bills for full-time students. Students can either call or walk-in to set up an appointment.
Wait times depend on staff availability and the demand from the student body. Thibodeaux said that at the beginning of this semester, the staff experienced an influx of students and up to three-week wait times.
“We usually have approximately a two-week wait for the first available appointments,” Thibodeaux said. “But this semester it stayed closer to three weeks which is a little longer than usual.”
The cause October through December can be rough for students across the country. Midterms and finals lead to a hefty load of academic stress combined with holiday stress.
Traveling home can cause students financial stress or mental stress depending on if they come from a supportive or unsupportive home environment.
“For some people, going home is a treat,” Thibodeaux said. “For others, home isn’t as supportive as they’d like it to be,
Here’s what to plant in Louisiana’s fruit season
BY EMILY BRACHER Staff Writer
With November coming to a close and the cooler winter months rolling in, it’s time to start planting.
Despite misconceptions, the prime time to plant fruits and vegetables is the late fall, not the spring.
“You want to get them out during this cold season,” said Denyse Cummins, an extension horticulturalist at the LSU AgCenter.
By planting fruits like strawberries in the late fall, they have the time to sit through the winter and start blooming and producing fruit around February. Even though it looks like plants are just “sitting there” in the winter, Cummins said, there is a lot more going on underground. These plants are growing roots and accessing all of the nutrients during these colder months.
and plums.
Alongside other horticulture professors, Cummins contributed to the creation of a “Sustainable Gardening” guide.
“The whole concept behind it is that you are going to garden in such a way as to leave the environment as good or better as when you started,” Cummins said.
Carl Motsenbocker, a horticulture professor at LSU and the executive director of the Louisiana Farm to School Program, said that the guide is a part of their work. It is based on temperature zones throughout the state and shows when it is best to plant different fruits and vegetables.
While it might be best to plant strawberries in November, other crops like tomatoes should be planted from March to May.
and it’s not the smoothest place to be.”
Another factor is daylight savings time. Having less exposure to natural sunlight significantly affects a person’s mental health. Less daylight means more time indoors and less time interacting with others. This can lead to self-isolation which also negatively affects a person’s mental health.
The technical term for seasonal depression is a major depressive episode attached to a seasonal pattern. The depression comes and goes like seasons and is primarily seen in the winter time.
“In some instances, it actually can happen in the summer,” Thibodeaux said. “Sometimes the heat can be so oppressive that it forces people inside, and that looks very similar to winter.”
Thibodeaux said having low vitamin D can also simulate depression. When skin is exposed to the sun, the body makes vitamin D which plays a vital role in mood regulation. Being exposed to the sun for at least 15 minutes is an easy way to maintain vitamin D levels.
Thibodeaux also said students should be careful with how much they sleep during winter, since sleeping too much can be harmful.
“Once you become an adult, if you’re sleeping more than ten hours a night every single night, that can actually worsen depression rather than help it,” Thibodeaux said. “Most people
When it warms up in the spring, the fruit plants get the push to grow. Since they had time to grow over the winter, Cummins said the plants have something to fall back on when it stops raining and gets hot.
Some of the fruits that are best to plant now through February are apples, blackberries, figs, peaches
Beyond the guide, Motsenbocker and his team put together detailed guides of different crops, which can be found on the Seeds to Success website. Their details include more than just planting times, including the history about where certain plants are from and how their cultivation began. Their largest guide is on tomatoes and how to grow them successfully in
Students hold 42nd Thanksgiving food sale
BY KALEY MELANCON Staff Writer
An LSU student organization provided Thanksgiving essentials with its annual sweet potato and rice sale.
The LSU and Baton Rouge community reaped the benefits of the Biological Engineering Student Organization’s sale ahead of Thanksgiving. This was the 42nd year of the sale, which helps raise money for BESO.
“There’s a lot of things you can do with it near the holidays,” said Grant Harris, BESO’s vice president.
At the corner of South Stadium Drive and Highland Road, BESO members sat under a purple and yellow tent waiting for customers. Displayed on a blue tarp were five and 10-pound bags of sweet potatoes to choose from.
Those looking for more could take home 25 or 40-pound boxes of sweet potatoes, which members helped bring to customers’ cars. Creole popcorn rice was also sold in 2-pound, 5-pound and 10-pound bags.
Some people were shocked by the large boxes. For others, it was exactly what they were looking for.
Mike Jefferson wanted a 25-pound
box — plus two more — when he came to the sale.
Jefferson, 68, said there was only one thing he was making with the potatoes: sweet potato pie. He said he’s been coming to the sale for over 10 years, and this year was no exception.
Except, the potatoes were not all for him. Jefferson planned on giving the other two boxes away.
One was going to a friend who was housebound and could not get them herself, something Jefferson said had become tradition.
“She’ll be calling me asking where her sweet potatoes are,” Jefferson said.
The other was for an administrative assistant at his church. Jefferson said he had recently lost his son. He was giving the potatoes to her for helping with the funeral.
While BESO members are part of the College of Engineering, there is overlap with the LSU AgCenter. One major cross over between the programs is the strain of sweet potatoes being sold.
The Beauregard sweet potato was created by the AgCenter in 1987. It is known for its high yield and disease resistance. Since then, it
COURTESY OF RAIME THIBODEAUX
HEALTH, from page 3
need somewhere between that seven-to-nine hour window. It’s pretty rare that someone truly only needs five hours a night.”
Daily habit recommendations Thibodeaux shared some habits for students to practice when they feel an episode coming on.
1. Keep a consistent sleep schedule
Setting regular bed and wake up times can help regulate mood. An irregular sleep schedule can have negative consequences on mood and make daily functions difficult.
2. Complete physical activity
Regular movement can be walking to class or to your dorm’s laundry room. Thibodeaux said students do not have to wake up at 6 a.m. to go to the UREC.
Movement is proven to help blood flow and oxygen circulation. It also helps with studying. Completing a physical activity right before a study session can help the brain focus and absorb information quickly.
“Whenever we move, blood and oxygen goes to our brain, and we can absorb information, take in information and recall information better,” Thibodeaux said.
3. Manage caffeine intake
While the occasional cup of coffee isn’t harmful, too much
PLANTING, from page 3
the high temperatures of Louisiana summers.
“Heat-tolerant tomato cultivars are used in Louisiana summer heat,” Motsenbocker said.
Alongside history, culture plays a big role in planting and gardening. Cummins said that cultural practices are when someone repeats something out of habit. In relation to gardening, maybe it was because they saw a relative do it or maybe it is an activity that has grown on them from their community.
The AgCenter offers advice on preventive methods that make plants easier to grow and require less labor. Here are some steps that Cummins recommended repeating:
caffeine can mimic anxiety symptoms. In extreme cases, too much caffeine can also contribute to paranoia. According to the American Medical Association, it is generally recommended to have a maximum of two to three, 12 ounce cups of coffee per day.
“Too much caffeine can make it look like you have an anxiety issue, when really what you have is a caffeine issue,” Thibodeaux said.
4. Socialize
Thibodeaux says taking a break from screens and having human interaction throughout the day matters, whether it’s greeting the barista at CC’s before class or saying hello to the Tiger Trails driver.
“Sometimes it can be easy to only be with our phone and only engaged in technology,” Thibodeaux said. “Going out your way to have human contact is really important.”
5. Give a helping hand
Helping out in the LSU or Baton Rouge community can boost endorphins which is important for someone experiencing a dark period of depression. Volunteering helps distract people from internal worries and focuses them more outwards on the task at hand.
“When we’re helping somebody else out, it takes the attention off of us and gets us
1. Keep soil covered at all times, especially during the winter
2. Keep up with fertilizer and put it down when you first plant because it gives the plant a little more as it grows
3. Grow plants at the right time
4. Use a lot of mulch on top of the soil because it gives the soil nutrients and organic matter
Learning how to be a sustainable gardener leaves the soil better than when it was found, Cummins said. Paying attention to these tips not only makes gardening easier and more productive, but also more mindful.
“These are practices and things that your grandfather did and you know they kind of got forgotten and a lot of people don’t know about them,” Cummins said.
focused on something outside of ourselves,” Thibodeaux said. “And that can be really helpful for depression.”
Though therapy can be helpful, Thibodeaux said there are multiple ways to care for mental health.
“If you’ve tried all the usual techniques — working out, eating well, getting good sleep, interacting with your friends — and it’s just not working like it used to, that’s usually an indicator it might be a good idea to reach out to mental health services,” Thibodeaux said.
Therapy helps address deeprooted issues that can cause depression. Depression can be seasonal or tied to emotional issues stemming from childhood, which changes in one’s lifestyle may not fix on their own.
“We’re here when students need us, but I never want anyone to think that struggling means you only have one option,” Thibodeaux said. “There are so many ways to take care of yourself and you deserve to feel supported.”
(225)- 924- LSU1 (5781)
Health Service number: (225)- 578- 8774 National Suicide Hotline number: 988
Tuesdays.
SALE, from page 3
has been considered one of the most popular varieties in the country.
The rice also had a bit of flair to it. BESO members encouraged customers to stop and smell the product, which produced a buttery, popcorn-like aroma.
Members of the AgCenter like Kimberly Rooney stopped by to show their support. Rooney, an administrative coordinator for LSU’s Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology department, had already been to the sale but said she wanted more.
Unlike many, Rooney was not stocking up for Thanksgiving. Instead, she was sharing them with coworkers and wanted to make baked sweet potatoes. Rooney is a fan of the BESO potatoes in particular.
“It’s fresher, and I trust AgCenter produce,” Rooney said.
Harris said BESO ordered 7,000 pounds of sweet potatoes and 728 bags of rice from Garber Farms in Iota, Louisiana. He said each year BESO increases the amount it orders to avoid selling out early.
By the end of the sale’s first week, Harris said a third of everything had sold and the group was hoping to break even. If everything sold, Harris said BESO would get around $7,000 in profit.
Harris said this money helps keep member dues low and allows them to provide food at meetings. He said a large portion of the money will go towards BESO’s crawfish boil in the spring.
This is why Harris said the sale happens rain or shine. When it started to drizzle, students brought the
bags under the tent and put a tarp over the extra stock.
What is put out at the sale is not everything BESO has. In the Agricultural Metals Building on the corner of South Stadium and Tower drives, hundreds of bags and cases of sweet potatoes waited to be sold. Members grabbed more when supplies at their station ran low.
Once a product is gone, there is no more. The first item to sell out was the 10-pound bag of rice. Afterwards, members would sell two 5-pound bags for the price of one 10-pound bag. The 5-pound bags sold out by Tuesday.
As cars passed by and music played, BESO members made small talk or did homework to pass the time. Customers came in waves: a rush of people followed by a slow waiting period.
One customer found the sale just in time. Charlee Sistrunk, a kinesiology sophomore, bought a 40-pound box of sweet potatoes to bring home for Thanksgiving.
Back home in Bastrop, Louisiana, Sistrunk said her and her family usually buy sweet potatoes from a local farmer. This year, though, the farmer was not selling the potatoes. Sistrunk said the sale is exactly what she needed.
The sale finished at noon Wednesday before the start of Thanksgiving break. BESO is donating its leftover supplies to the East Baton Rouge Lotus Pantry, a free food resource for elderly residents in the area.
“I think it’s fun for everyone to come and hang out,” Harris said. “It’s always a good time.”
LSUPD chief shares travel safety tips ahead of winter break
BY TORI BONIN Staff Writer
LSUPD Chief Marshall Walters advises to students on how to stay safe during the holiday season as travel and seasonal festivities start to take place on and around LSU campus.
Last year, 9 million people visited Baton Rouge, which adds to the over 200,000 people who are residents of the metropolitan area. Walters emphasizes the importance of being aware of surroundings and being familiar with the area, especially during the holidays.
“The biggest thing we’ll always say when talking about safety is staying alert,” Walters said. “ Being
aware of your surroundings and paying attention to what’s going on.”
Walters said students should lock windows and doors before leaving home, turn off lights and unplug all devices from outlets. This is to help prevent burglaries and fire hazards while students are traveling for the holidays.
Keeping vehicles secured and not leaving valuables in sight is a good way to prevent theft during the holiday season, Walters said.
“They’re looking for opportunities, so if there’s a laptop or an iPad sitting in the front seat they are going to take advantage of that,” Walters said.
While shopping around Baton
Rouge or traveling back home for the holidays, Walters says students should keep an eye on personal items. Keeping them close is a good way to prevent pick pocketing.
“People are out in other cities,” Walters said. “They are in shopping areas, travel locations, bus terminals and airport terminals. Just make sure to keep an eye on it and that you’ve got a good feel for it.”
The LSU Shield app is a hub for students and visitors to campus. One of the app’s features is a friend watch option, which allows students to notify one of their friends if they have not arrived at their destination in a timely manner.
Walters recommends students
use this feature or reach out to their family or friends while traveling.
“If you’re driving, make sure friends and family know when you’re leaving and what time you’re expected to get there,” Walters said. “That way you just have someone keeping up with you. You can always use the LSU Shield app and use the location-sharing mechanism for friends and family.”
Christmas is approaching which means an increase in online sales occurring on and around campus. Walters emphasizes the importance of safe transactions by asking questions, never sharing personal information online and not meeting at home or in a dorm.
“If you’re on campus and you don’t feel comfortable meeting them at your dorm, which we would not recommend, come to LSUPD and you can do the transaction here on site at the police department,” Walters said.
Walters advised students to call emergency services if they ever feel unsafe.
“Always trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, if something doesn’t look right, step away and call 911,” Walters said. Reach out to someone that you trust that can help you figure out if it is a legit concern or not.”
LSUPD is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. To reach LSUPD call (225)-578-3231.
ERIN BARKER / The Reveille
The LSU Biological Engineering Student Organization sell potatoes and rice on Nov. 18 on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge, La.
COURTESY OF CARL MOTSENBOCKER The Hill Farm Market Garden, where Motsenbocker’s HORT 2525 class meets on
ENTERTAINMENT
How LSU is shaping the next generation of opera performers
BY MIA HATTAWAY Staff Writer
How LSU is shaping the next generation of opera performers
While opera may seem like an antiquated genre to some, it is proving to be the future of LSU’s legacy in the arts.
Louisiana has always been vital to the opera scene in the United States; known as the opera capital of North America, New Orleans was the first major American city to have an opera house, which was the Théâtre de l’Opéra. Though it burned down in 1919, its impact had already spread through the state.
In 2007, the Opera Louisiane opened in Baton Rouge, cementing an already strong scene in the city that was fueled by LSU’s TurnerFischer Center for Opera. Legends including Lisette Oropesa, Paul Groves, Terry Patrick-Harris and Andre Chiang all studied at LSU before going on to have successful opera careers.
“It’s been a strong opera city for a long time,” associate professor of opera and music director Michael Borowitz said. “Opera in Baton Rouge is stronger than many larger cities just because of those folks, those talented folks that we have.”
Borowitz highlighted LSU Opera artistic director Dugg McDonough as the fuel behind Baton Rouge’s opera growth.
“Dugg knocked it up a notch because he brought a modern and very savvy sensibility to our art form that is the way most people are thinking these days,” Borowitz said.
Though McDonough has built an incredibly successful program, he believes that the school should be used as a resume-builder rather than a strict blueprint.
“I see this as a stepping stone and a stopping place, whether they end up being teachers or performers or both,” McDonough said. “This is one stop along the journey of greatness.”
When students walk away from the Turner-Fischer Center for Opera, Borowitz hopes that LSU has properly prepared them to be apt with self-criticism.
“The most important thing is to teach them how to really teach themselves so that they’re not having to pay other people,” Borowitz said. “Once you leave this sort of environment, the coaches and conductors that you’ve worked with are no longer free.”
At LSU’s School of Music, training is extensive, with dictation and language coaching at the core of their approach to opera. Borowitz works one-on-one with singers. While a large part of vocal artistry starts with natural talent, much of what ensures long-term success is the hard work students are willing to put in.
“Opera singing is a craft,” McDonough said. “In order for a career to exist, it takes a real study of craft of how the voice is produced, what we call vocal pedagogy, about how the human body works and produces the kind of sound that works in opera and is healthy.”
This is where voice teaching and conditioning comes into play. Opera is an especially difficult genre of music to perform, with various technicalities that inform the art. One of the biggest challenges is vocal amplification, as opera doesn’t typically use microphones or speakers.
“Opera is like a marathon with sprints,” McDonough said. “Opera singers train like athletes.”
The School of Music holds four productions a year, a quicker turnaround than most colleges are able to manage. This pressure is the key to LSU’s successful output of talented artists.
Despite opera being daunting to many musicians, LSU doesn’t struggle to find students willing to take on the challenge. Last spring’s opera “Candide” saw over 120 auditions, though the program only allowed for approximately 30 graduate and 50 undergraduate students.
Borowitz credits both the reputation of the program as well as the natural draw of opera for a good application turnout.
Though this tenacity is what makes thriving opera professionals, LSU’s music program isn’t one-size-fits-all. The professors involved with shaping the talents of students are acutely aware of the
various backgrounds their pupils come from.
“There is no typical,” Borowitz said of the demographic of music students. “Now that we’re in this 21st century, it’s not like in the past when singers would have been exposed to this from an early age. What we pride ourselves on here at LSU — and what separates us from so many other institutions that are like us — is that we give everyone equal opportunity based on their audition.”
Just like inclusion is at the heart of every production put on at LSU, versatility is at the heart of every professor’s approach to the classroom. Students are given opportunities including stage-managing, writing, composing and conducting.
“While we all, you know, attempt to steer our students in a particular direction, you don’t have to, as a modern singer, limit yourself to just one thing,” Borowitz said.”
One of the biggest factors when choosing productions is balancing classical compositions with new operas. While traditional stories can be more appealing to opera fans, modern productions serve better opportunities for the students.
Simultaneously with traditional genres including jazz and classical music seeing a rise in popularity, opera has continued to be a growing culture.
“In the United States, it’s a huge renaissance,” McDonough said.
As LSU approaches 100 years of opera programs in 2030, McDonough is ensuring that the school is consistently re-examining relevancy in how they approach music.
McDonough encourages new opera enjoyers to experience a slice of a variety of operas before they write off the genre.
“Just try to come and listen to it as music and see what you think,” he said. “It’s interesting because different kinds of music appeal to different people. Give opera more than one chance. If you don’t like the first thing that you saw or heard, don’t give up on the art form. Try something different.”
PUZZLES
Stella Zawistowski
COURTESY OF LSU OPERA
Students perform in LSU Opera production “Le nozze di Figaro.”
I’M GONNA MARRY YOU TOBEY MAGUIRE
Left: Eric Rhode (as Tobey Maguire) in the Spider-Man suit.
Right: Sophie Rollins (as Shelby Hinkley) and Sofia Silva and Cashmere Hall (as the ensemble) dance.
Right: Sophie Rollins (as Shelby Hinkley) with Brenda D’s skeleton.
Above: Eric Rhode (as Tobey Maguire) speaks.
Above: Sophie Rollins (as Shelby Hinkley) holds gasoline.
Photos by Alexis Persicke | Design by Riley White
Left: Eric Rhode (as Tobey Maguire) does Sophie Rollins’ (as Shelby Hinkley) hair.
Left: Sophie Rollins (as Shelby Hinkley) pours gasoline on Eric Rhode (as Tobey Maguire).
Below: Cashmere Hall (as Brenda D) talks to Sophie Rollins (as Shebly Hinkley).
Rev Rank: Does ‘Wicked: For Good’ belong in the Emerald City
BY PAUL TIBBETS Staff Writer
It was already a bold premise to split the “Wicked” musical into two parts. Not only was the first movie longer than the whole play, but the second half of the play is infamously the weakest part of it. To give it over 120 minutes to it is stretching it past its limits.
How does one go about this Herculean task? With how popular the first film was and how loathed the second half of the play is, it would not be remiss to try something new. Yet, in line with the first film, we received a frustratingly accurate adaptation. At the same time it honored the original musical. The film also made strange new decisions that did not quite land.
John M. Chu has a few spots where he showcases some interesting ideas. While these ideas don’t always work, I can see what he was going for and wish it was executed better. The body horror aspect of the Tin Man transformation is very cool, for example. Whenever he is first shown, his introduction feels right out of a horror movie, which I loved.
The camera work in certain musical numbers had potential as well. “No Good Deed” features a fun flashback through everything in Elphaba’s life that led up to that moment. In a fun twist, we see key moments from a different perspective as she reflects on them years later. Glinda’s new number “The Girl in the Bubble” has some interesting camera movement as well. Unfortunately, the poor direction and cinematography brings these aspects
down a lot.
Chu and cinematographer Alice Brooks still seem to not be able to light a scene in the land of Oz. Any scene set inside is mostly innocent due to the lack of artificial sunlight. However, when we step back outside, it is either washed-out concrete or brownish golden green-screen sludge.
This is seen most egregiously in the aforementioned “No Good Deed” scene. The flashbacks are a neat addition, but every time we cut back to Elphaba casting her spells, it is just visual noise.
Speaking of “No Good Deed,” that song and “For Good” are the only songs of note. While the soundtrack is still consistently decent, nothing quite hits the highs of the first act — especially considering the two original songs they added.
Glinda’s ballad “The Girl in the Bubble” is the better of the two additions. It is still not quite good, but it adds more substance to her story. We get some nifty camera movements in this number, moving through mirrors and reappearing at a different spot on the other side.
Regardless of quality, these two songs bring up a big pacing problem in the movie. The musical numbers feel like they stop the plot to happen rather than being worked in naturally. Despite being an entire 23 minutes shorter than “Part One,” it somehow feels longer. So many moments felt like a natural ending, but it just kept going.
BY SARAH WALTON Staff Writer
It feels weird to finally be at this moment. “Wicked” was one of the first musicals I ever learned about. I was in kindergarten when I was introduced to it, so needless to say, it has been a long wait for many theater kids like me.
The second installment of “Wicked” did not disappoint. With continued incredible costumes by Paul Tauzwell and set design from Nathan Crowley, each scene is full of care and unmatched artistry. The mix of art deco and something completely Ozian truly sets this film apart.
Being back in Oz is always great, unless you’re Elphaba Thropp. The book portrayed strong themes of authoritarianism, facism and propaganda, and the film retained that part of the story while still being accessible to audiences. Though it may be a bit on the nose, “Wicked” still holds up as a story that points out how leaders can lie to their people and persecute those who are seen as different.
I have to be honest when talking about the storytelling, however. If seeing the runtime didn’t hint at it, the movie is long, and that fact begins to feel noticeable near the middle. That is sometimes the downside of having fans of the source material at the helm. How could you not try to explore everything?
singers, and their moments of singing take away from the story — especially when their performances are right next to the likes of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
In the first “Wicked” film, Grande and Erivo proved that they were the right women to cast for these iconic roles, and in “For Good,” they finished their character’s journeys. Glinda goes from appearing good to doing tangible good, and Elphaba comes to terms with the circumstances of her life.
For the loyal “Wicked” fans, there is more than enough material to keep your heart happy — and isn’t that what this is all for? As I walked into the theater, I noticed two twins dressed in pink and green, having the time of their lives. They stood in front of the “Wicked” poster doing Elphaba and Glinda’s Ozdust greeting as their mom took photos. Seeing the joy on their faces and the faces of millions of other fans is what it’s all about, right?
Almost any theatre person has a memory of “For Good,” the anthem for the strongest bonds forged by the world, but especially in theater.
I wouldn’t say this movie changed me all that much, but it is a love letter to how I have been changed “for good.” (I know, corny. I had to though.)
Though “Wicked: For Good” may not be everything some wanted, it stands as a perfect landmark for everything musical theater. Almost everyone has a memory connected to this story and what a wonderful feeling to have two movies to cherish that.
Sarah’s Score: 8/10 Paul’s Score: 4/10
Jon M. Chu’s casting of both “Wicked” movies are arguably almost perfect, except for the ill-decided stunt casting. Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh are both incredible actors in their own right but that doesn’t mean they were the right fit for a musical. Both aren’t very well-trained
Former ‘Chopped Junior’ winner is cooking up a future at LSU
BY LAURA ALLEN Staff Writer
Senior Emily Roche is a Jack of all trades. With experience from high school broadcasting classes and Tiger TV under her belt, the communication studies major is hoping to go into TV production after graduation. Roche is also a frequent dinner party host, whipping up her famous chicken and sausage gumbo with potato salad for her friends to enjoy.
Though it seldom comes up in conversation, these passions that have seen her through high school and college all stem from her time as a contestant on “Chopped Junior” nearly one decade ago.
“I really think that my time on ‘Chopped Junior,’ and also working with student media here at LSU, has influenced me,” Roche said.
Twenty-one-year-old Roche was the winner on episode 3, season 2 of “Chopped Junior,” a spinoff of the Food Network TV series “Chopped.” It premiered in 2015 and featured contestants ages 15 and under competing for the chance to win $10,000. Roche was the youngest contestant on her episode at only 11 years old.
When Roche auditioned to be on the show, she actually had very little cooking experience. For her 10th birthday, Roche’s grandmother gifted her with cooking
classes at Culinary Kids, a small business in Roche’s hometown of Mandeville, Louisiana. It was at her very first cooking class that she picked up an audition form for “Chopped Junior.”
“So I took it home my very first class I ever went to, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna apply for the show,’ almost as a joke,” she said. “At first I was like, ‘this is stupid. This will be fun.’”
But what she lacked in experience, she made up for in personality. The entire casting process was over that summer, with Roche sitting in on Zoom interviews and sending in home videos, including a 12-minute-long edited video of her dancing in the kitchen and singing “They All Ask’d for You” by The Meters.
“I would say probably 60% of the casting process is personality,” Roche said, “Obviously, they would like you to cook, but they never tried my food before I went.”
In December of 2015, Roche found out she would be on the show. She and her mom flew out to New York City in February of 2016 to film at the Food Network Studios in the Chelsea Market over the course of three days.
For the competition, Roche and the three other contestants were tasked with preparing an appetizer, entree and dessert using four mystery ingredients per
round. Each round was 30 minutes long, and the clock kept ticking even if one of the contestants got burned, cut or otherwise injured.
Despite the stress of the tight time crunch, Roche still remembers how positive the environment was. As part of the rules, contestants were allowed to help each other out if they were falling behind, and when another contestant dropped a mystery ingredient during the dessert round, Roche offered up some of her own.
All four contestants became very close over the three days of filming, and even after their episode wrapped up, they remained close friends and kept in contact for years.
By the end of the competition, Roche was the last one standing. Along with the $10,000, the young chef also received the coveted “Chopped Junior” chef jacket. After filming wrapped, Roche took her prize money to the Apple Store next to Central Park and bought an Apple Watch.
The whole experience, from audition to filming, lasted about a year, and throughout it all, Roche was contractually obligated not to tell anyone about her participation on the show. When her friends went over to her house while she was away, her brother told them she had the flu. It wasn’t
until the commercial for season 2 of “Chopped Junior” aired that Roche could finally break her silence.
Ironically enough, Roche does not bring up her time on “Chopped Junior” all that often, usually only mentioning it when she has known someone for some time.
“It is kind of a hard thing to bring up in conversation,” she said. “There are a few times when people are like, ‘Oh, I love to cook, and I love to do this.’ And when it kind of just gets too far and I know them pretty well, then I’m like, ‘I should probably bring up the ‘Chopped Junior’ thing now.’”
Though Roche’s appearance on the show was almost 10 years ago, the impact of her experience on “Chopped Junior” has been lasting. In addition to cooking and baking recreationally, Roche also teaches advanced cooking classes at Culinary Kids, the place where it all began.
The show not only sparked an interest in cooking, but also in TV itself. Being on the set of the competition introduced Roche to the behind-the-scenes of media production. She took broadcasting classes throughout middle school and high school, and when she got to LSU, she joined the Tiger TV team for just over a year as a news reporter.
No matter what career she decides to pursue after graduation, Roche is certain that her time on “Chopped Junior” has had an undeniable role in encouraging her love of broadcast journalism.
“It’s been 10 years, and I’m still influenced by something I did as a young child.” Roche said.
“I think I was so natural at being behind the anchor desk, because I was running around in a little kitchen when I was 11 years old with cameras all in my face.”
COURTESY OF EMILY ROCHE
Emily Roche on “Chopped Junior” in 2015.
SPORTS
Football falls short of Oklahoma upset
BY ISABELLE CALLAHAN Staff Writer
LSU fell 17-13 in the final game of the regular season against the Oklahoma Sooners in the program’s first trip to Norman. While the Tigers’ defense stood strong, the offense seemed to fall behind after being taken down by the Sooners’ defense.
Both teams were trudging through the first half of the game, capping it with a score of just 3-3, one that perfectly captures how the first half went.
Neither offense seemed interested in showing up. What was supposed to be a lateseason statement opportunity instead felt like a long reel of punts, stalled drives and missed chances. LSU’s offense was once again at the center of the frustration.
From the opening minutes, it was clear the rhythm was going to be a problem. Oklahoma struck first with a field goal, but even that came off a drive that sputtered more than it surged. LSU answered with one of its own, yet the Tigers never built anything resembling momentum.
Every promising snap was followed by a loss of yards or a throw short of the sticks; every possession felt like LSU was
see LSU VS OU, page 10
FRESH START
Meet the senior transfer leading LSU gym into 2026
BY DELANEY POTTHAST Staff Writer
Emily Innes didn’t need to adjust to LSU’s colors because they were already familiar. After three years at Washington University, the purple and gold followed her to Baton Rouge. What changed however was everything around them.
Emily mentioned how the support system she was welcomed by in her conference jump was what stuck out to her most after receiving the offer from LSU.
“The coaches are so genuine that it made it feel welcoming,” Innes said. “Going from Big Ten to the SEC is a big jump, so just trusting that they believed in me and seeing me in their program was the reassurance that they continue to give me.”
How she ended up in Baton Rouge sprouted from a desire for stability. Though she came from a team that felt like family,
a constant revolving door of staff changes at Washington pushed Innes to look for a program where both the culture and coaching foundation felt solid enough to support her senior year.
“I didn’t leave because of anything negative,” Innes said. “There was just a lot of change throughout my time there. I just felt like I had more to give and the place I was at, I felt like I’d given everything I had to that school and wanted something more for myself.”
During her time at Washington, Innes proved her talent on a comeback from a season ending shoulder injury in her senior year of highschool. Over three seasons as a Husky, Innes earned countless awards including Newcomer of the Year in 2022 and became the NCAA regional floor champion while being named to the Pac-12 2024 Winter Academic Honor Roll her sophomore year.
In her junior season, Innes
earned both the Distinguished Scholar award and was named to Big 10 Academic Honors. Career wise, 2025 was the first time she had been named to the AllConference Second Team and she also earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Championship Team for Floor Exercise.
Even with all the success, Emily still knew she had more to accomplish.
“I knew I only had one more year and decided to switch it up,” said Innes. “Trusting that I would go to a place that would welcome me the same as [Washington] did and continue to grow for my last year of gymnastics.”
Though the decision itself was obvious for her, she admits that turning down the other programs wasn’t as easy.
“I think the hardest part was just telling other people no, but I feel like I knew what my heart
see GYM TRANSFER, page 10
MENS BASKETBALL
Men’s basketball wins tournament
BY RAMI BURKS Staff Writer
LSU men’s basketball put each aspect of the game together to beat DePaul and win the Emerald Coast Classic in its seventh consecutive victory.
The Tigers’ offense has been the hottest part of the 2025-26 team, and it played a part in the 96-63 victory over the Blue Deomons. But it wasn’t just an offensive effort; it was the defense that took LSU past its previous downfalls throughout the beginning of the season.
Before this game, the Tigers’ stellar offense helped power past opponents, but after a team Thanksgiving on the road, the Tigers gelled together to look astoundingly better on the defensive front.
After the Tigers’ matchup with Omaha, Dedan Thomas Jr. said that the biggest thing LSU needed to improve on was defense to stay undefeated.
On Saturday night, it took a step in the right direction. Against DePaul, 29 of LSU’s 37 rebounds were defensive rebounds.
Max MacKinnon and Thomas led the scoring for the Tigers big time. In the first half alone, Thomas scored 10 points, while MacKinnon scored 13 points throughout the entire matchup.
Mike Nwoko picked up the slack in the second half, scoring 10 points of his own.
Thomas was named the Most
see EMERALD COAST, page 10
Soccer’s record-breaking season ‘set a whole new standard’
BY TRIPP BUHLER Staff Writer
Four games into the season, the 2-2 Tigers led an unassuming campaign. The next match changed the trajectory of their magical season.
On Aug. 28, LSU soccer welcomed the 21st-ranked Wisconsin Badgers to town. The match went into the final minute scoreless until freshman Sariyah Bailey delivered a pass to forward Ava Galligan, who headed the winning goal into the net.
It was LSU’s first win at home against a ranked opponent in almost four years.
Over the next month, the team lost three games, each by a single goal, but the Fighting Tigers’ mentality was set. LSU
went unbeaten for the following two months.
“This is a team that I think has set a whole new standard for LSU soccer,” head coach Sian Hudson said after winning the regular season finale against Florida.
The standard was set higher in the postseason. For the third time ever, the Tigers made the SEC championship. They faced off against Vanderbilt after tying earlier in the year, but lost at the end of 10 gut-wrenching rounds of penalty kicks.
Two weeks later, LSU made it farther than ever in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history. Once again, the team faced Vanderbilt in a high-stakes matchup.
That game was the last of LSU’s season, but its postseason run grabbed the attention of many. The last two tournament games were previewed with hype videos on social media narrated by LSU legends Odell Beckham Jr. and Kim Mulkey.
LSU’s powerful offense captivated the nation. LSU scored more goals this year than any other team in the SEC, netting 52 and averaging two per game. The scoring was led by Galligan, a junior who owns six gamewinning goals on the season.
She earned All-SEC First Team honors in 2025 and scored 11 total goals, more than any other Tiger. It’s also the most any LSU player has scored since Jorian Baucom’s 15 goals ten years ago. Galligan’s selfless
leadership guided the team on and off the field.
“This is her best season in terms of goal production, but I also think it’s a season where she’s really developed leadership capabilities,” Hudson said.
One new player Galligan helped mentor was the one who assisted her winning goal against Wisconsin.
Bailey made an instant impact as a freshman. Her highenergy play stuck out on both sides of the ball, but primarily on offense. The young phenom scored nine goals, the most by a freshman since fellow Canadian Summer Clarke scored 10 in 2013.
Though not the leading scorer, senior Ida Hermannsdottir ended her illustrious career at
LSU in high fashion. While playing almost 2,000 minutes, her 10-goal year brought her to a career total of 29. She also finished 9-of-11 on penalty kicks. Her senior class anchored down the defensive end of the field. Veterans Sydney Cheesman, Jazmin Ferguson and Jocelyn Ollivierre all played their final season at the top of their game.
In the Sweet 16, Cheesman played her best game of the year, preventing many shots that would’ve blown the game open.
Ferguson was a hard-nosed defender all year. She led the team’s back end, playing physically and putting her body on
PHOTO COURTESY OF LSU ATHLETICS
10
HISTORY, from page 9
the line. Against Vanderbilt, she played all 90 minutes in her final game in the purple and gold.
Ollivierre’s senior season saw her back up Cheesman and Ferguson as the brick wall in front of LSU’s pair of clutch goalkeepers.
Sophine Kevorkian and Audur Scheving played well all year, as the goalkeepers allowed 26 goals in 25 games. They combined for six shutouts on the year.
Kevorkian is a senior and has finished her LSU career after two years with the Tigers, but Scheving has one more year of eligibility.
starting over from scratch yet again.
The Sooners weren’t playing much better, either, with an interception, an empty red zone trip and more punts than points, but LSU’s inability to capitalize on these faults made the stagnation sting even more.
Drives ended before they even really began, and third downs felt like formalities before the punt team jogged out. The Tigers’ offense was hesitant and predictable, falling back into the same patterns that have made this season more of a headache than a highlight.
Although LSU’s offense was the story of frustration, its defense was the lone source of stability. The Tigers held up through short fields, pressured the Sooner’s quarterback at key moments and forced Oklahoma into mistakes.
These mistakes included an interception that should’ve swung momentum the Tigers’ way, but instead it led to yet another empty drive. Still, LSU’s front seven won battles at the line, and the secondary kept Oklahoma from hitting anything explosive. It wasn’t flawless, but it was resilient for the defense.
Just when the game seemed like it was going to last forever, an interception from AJ Haulcy followed by two short plays right after led to a touchdown from Zavion Thomas, which got LSU out of the gridlock, giving a 10-3 score.
Shortly after, DJ Pickett grabbed the third interception for the Tigers, but the offense again fell short, choosing
, from page 2
immediate aftermath of Kelly’s firing speaks to the fact that many in LSU’s bubble were in a waitand-see mode. Kiffin may well be what they wanted to see.
That being said, he will still need to touch base with LSU’s top talent and convince them to stay. Such core players include freshman cornerback DJ Pickett, sophomore tight end Trey’Dez Green and incoming freshman defensive lineman Lamar Brown, consid-
, from page 9
Outstanding Player in the Emerald Coast Classic due to his performance during the weekend.
Together, MacKinnon, Nwoko and Thomas showcased the offensive prowess of this LSU team. Their veteran status gels the offense together for big games like the tournament championship, and Thomas said it’s the key to how this team plays so well.
December 1, 2025
ter beating FIU, Thomas said the team’s head coach, Matt McMahon, expects the team to be aggressive and get to the free-throw line.
run plays that would not be turned into another touchdown. After LSU was finally able to pull away, the Sooners put the score back in a gridlock with a 45-yard dash for a touchdown score, sitting at 10-10 going into the fourth quarter.
As the clock kept ticking, the same three plays continued to pop up over and over again. After another unsuccessful touchdown attempt, Damian Ramos came in for his second field goal attempt, and it was good to get out of the gridlock.
The LSU offense did just the opposite of that. In the last chance of getting those final yards for a first down, an attempted throw by quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. got blocked, and the game was over.
“Unfortunately it just was not enough and we fell short,” interim head coach Frank Wilson said. “I told our team I’m extremely proud of how they competed.”
With five minutes left and one launch of the ball down the field, the Sooners scored the second touchdown of the night, putting a larger gap between the teams. If LSU had any chance to win, it would require the offense to get to work and score the final touchdown with three minutes and 16 seconds to go in the game.
ered by some the top recruit in the 2026 class. Brown has announced that, with Kiffin’s arrival, he’s closing down his recruitment and will join LSU. Proving he can be a stable force
More than anything, Kiffin has to fight a battle against perception.
Kiffin’s decision to leave Ole Miss in the midst of the program’s best season in history which could very well still end in a national championship is a tough
one for many to stomach. It’s not dissimilar to the decision he made in 2009 to leave Tennessee for USC after one season as the Volunteers’ head coach.
With a chaotic month and change that featured the departures of a coach and athletic director, an uncomfortable series of public comments by the governor and the murky status of the sitting athletic director, LSU needs stability. Kiffin will need to prove he can bring that and intends to stay for the long haul.
“These dudes made it so easy on me,” Thomas said after the game versus Tarleton State. “It’s like a breath of fresh air playing with them. Everyone knows how to make plays. Everyone’s about winning. Everyone can do a lot of different things. So they make it easy on me, like they hit open shots. They make plays on their own. They get me open.”
The Tigers shot efficiently from the free-throw line as well, with another season high.
On Saturday night versus DePaul, the purple and gold put up 21 free throws in 26 attempts. Af-
“[McMahon] expects us to get to the line that much,” Thomas said after the FIU game. “That’s actually what’s on the board pregame. He wants us to make more free throws than the other teams attempted. We just keep pushing the ball in transition and getting to the basket, getting fouls. Just staying aggressive.”
For the first time this season, LSU looked to be on the up. There was no true shaky spot in this game against the Blue Demons.
Obviously, it’s still early in the season, and time will tell how LSU holds up with the stiff SEC competition, but as of now, it appears more dominant than at any other moment this season.
The Tigers will play for its eighth straight victory on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at Boston College at 6:15 p.m. CT.
wanted,” Innes said.
One of the biggest things this transfer brings to the program is a competitive edge on the vault and floor rotations. Emily set career highs during her time in Washington for both events, with the highest being a score of 9.950 on floor and 9.875 on vault.
The senior also shines on the balance beam with a career high of 9.900 that she earned her sophomore season. As she prepares to take the competition floor in 2026, she has hopes of adding her competitive experience to the Baton Rouge lineups.
“I would hope to be in the three events I train in which are floor, beam and vault.” Innes said “I’ve been upgrading my vault, so I’m really excited about that. A lot of the LSU lineups are very competitive because we have so much depth, so as long as I’m training and gaining consistency, I feel like it’ll fall into play wherever I’m meant to be.”
Aside from what she adds to the team’s overall score on Friday nights, she also adds to the team’s dynamic. Having three seasons under her belt, Innes has stepped up to a leadership position despite being a newcomer to the squad and tries her hardest
to be a role model for underclassmen.
“I think perspective is very important,” said Innes. “I’ve gone through a lot and learned a lot of things in my time at college with different coaches now on two teams. I feel like my perspective can be very beneficial for this team just as a leadership aspect, there’s a lot of upperclassmen on this team, so I think all of us together are helping to navigate the underclassmen.”
Even as a first year Tiger, Innes has quickly become a member of the LSU family. She brings a great deal of competition experience and leadership to a team that’s on the prowl for a finals appearance after a late upset last year.
As one of the four transfers that’s helping to reshape the roster for the 2026 season, Innes adds depth to competitive lineups that are built for a championship run and has hopes to close out her career as a part of the push.
“I’m super excited to be in the SEC and to compete at the highest standard that I could with that competitive drive,” she said. “I’m also just so grateful to be living the life I do as an athlete while being able to get a degree and be around people that are so supportive and understanding.”
ALEXIS PERSICKE / The Reveille LSU soccer freshman forward Sariyah Bailey (15) runs Nov. 14 during the 4-1 win over Houston Christian at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
EMERALD COAST
LSU VS OU, from page 9
HINESLEY BRYANT / The Reveille
LSU football freshman running back Harlem Berry runs during the Tigers’ 13-10 over Western Kentucky University Nov. 22 at Tiger Stadium.
GYM TRANSFER, from page 9
ALEXIS PERSICKE / The Reveille
LSU men’s basketball fifth year senior forward Marquel Sutton (10) dribbles Nov. 10 during their 93-58 win against New Orleans at the PMAC.
KIFFIN
OPINION
Stop box office watching. Discussing a film’s budget is useless
BY PAUL TIBBETS Staff Writer
In the film world, people seem to believe they know what makes a flop or a success in terms of budget versus box office. It is time to clear up why these conversations are almost always wrong, especially in a post-COVID world.
Movies are not quite what they used to be. This is not a comment on any drop in quality; there are plenty of great films still being made. The stark difference comes in the theater experience.
With the rise in streaming services and effects still being felt from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is hard to imagine the way we approach movies ever being the same. Before the lockdown, Netflix was already a powerhouse in entertainment. They had been pumping out original content since 2012 and closer to 2020 began trying their hand at high-budget action blockbusters.
Netflix and other streaming services alike surged in use during the lockdown. Since people could not go to the movie theater, studios were losing money like never before. This is when companies, most notably Disney,
started releasing their theatrical films on streaming. Even after the lockdown, there have been films released in theaters alongside the option to purchase it on streaming.
The film industry never fully recovered either. People are still going to the movies, but the yearly box office has never quite reached pre-pandemic numbers. This does not mean the film industry is dying — just that it is in a different landscape. Movies are still making money despite this lower number.
Many online discussions do not seem to comprehend this, however. They still see the success of a film through a lens of pre-pandemic profit and misinformation. This misinformation is in the form of reporting on a film’s budget. The essential thing to understand is that film production costs are rarely, if at all, public record.
Trying to determine accurately what a film’s budget is requires one of two things. One, acquiring numbers directly from studios or tax reports (such as this one from the California Film Commission).
Two, doing a lot of hypothetical information aided by past film budgets.
This second method is obviously flawed. It is also most often used
for newer films who might not have had their budgets disclosed yet. Most commonly, people will do this and run with it as if it is fact.
Two of the most common sources that people use for reporting on this are entertainment news publications Deadline and Variety. These publications claim to have insiders that leak this information, but this is a very tenuous declaration. The kicker is that Variety will not even list a source at all sometimes.
All of this to say: oftentimes, no one really knows for sure what a film’s budget is. Yet, still, online discussions will feature people determining what films have flopped or succeeded based on false information.
Even if some of the reports are accurate, there is another problem in this discourse. A popular idea amongst box office talk is that a film needs to make 2.5 times its reported budget to be profitable. This metric is used to account for both the production of the film and marketing. While this may be true for certain movies, it is not the rule of thumb for every single one.
This idea also forgets to factor in money made from streaming and merchandise. Disney is notorious
for its media franchises making a good chunk of their money after the film’s theatrical runs.
A recent example with supporting evidence from an industry veteran is with the reporting on James Gunn’s “Superman.” The pressure surrounding this movie to be successful was suffocating from fans and haters alike. DC superhero films had a bad track record for most of the last decade, and this was the big reset event.
Superman has never been much of a box office draw like his dark knight counterpart. No solo film of his has ever crossed the threshold of $700 million, even pre-pandemic. This is still a lot of money for a movie to make, but considering how popular he is and compared to the “Batman” or “Spider-Man” franchises, it’s not too high a bar.
Combine that with the postpandemic world, and this film was always destined to make less than people wanted it to. An idea started floating around internet spaces that this movie had to make upwards of $650 million to turn a profit. It did not end up making this, capping out its theatrical run at $616.7 million worldwide.
Many detractors deemed this performance a flop, despite making back twice its supposed budget. Gunn helped to clear up how wrong this claim was with a post on Threads back in August of 2025. A fan asked Gunn if it was true that the film had to gross the aforementioned $650 million, and he declared this absolutely false.
“Anyone saying that doesn’t have an understanding of the film business, and we would be idiots to make a first-in-a-franchise film that would need to make that much to be profitable,” posted Gunn.
It bears reminding that ultimately, talk of a film’s box office is a futile effort. Whether the audience thinks it made money or not does not matter as long as the Hollywood higher-ups are happy. The money the film made has no impact on whether it was good or not. If this were true applied to other aspects of life, McDonald’s would be considered fine dining.
To quote director Zack Snyder when talking to The Hollywood Reporter, “The truth is? It doesn’t matter. The movie got made.”
Paul Tibbets is a 23-year-old broadcast journalism major from Bossier City, La.
7Brew has one glaring issue: Their workers are annoying
SAVOY’S SCOOP
CADE SAVOY Columnist
I woke up this morning at 6:43 a.m., my head ringing with the ghost of the 12-pack of Miller Lite I eviscerated only five hours prior and my heart filled with a visceral sense of dread that only comes with Sunday morning scaries. I sought to nurse my hang over with the only remedy I knew: caffeine. Unfortunately, my options were limited. My Keurig broke last week, so I couldn’t make coffee at home. Getting down from my car to order at Highland Coffees or Cherrybomb Coffee Co. seemed to me a fate worse than death. I’ve already shared my thoughts on Starbucks in a separate column.
Reluctantly, I hopped in my Ford Ranger and mosied over to 7 Brew. That was a mistake.
Anyone who doesn’t treat fast food drive-thrus like an Oprah interview should understand why. After ordering my beverage, I was
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assaulted with a bevy of questions totally unrelated to my cappuccino.
Here’s a rough transcript:
Employee: So, any big plans for today?
Me, politely: No, not really.
Employee: Oh, that’s so real. Just keeping it simple, huh? I’ve been on shift since 6, but after that I’m going to go home and decorate for Christmas. I need to take down my Thanksgiving stuff, but my apartment looks so empty without it… Anyway, any Christmas plans?
Me, wondering how my Christmas plans are any of her business: No, not really.
Employee: Ok, fair [pauses for ten seconds]. So what’s your major?
Me, wondering if the secret ingredient in “Santa’s Cookie” is cocaine: [sigh] Philosophy.
Employee: Oh my gosh, philosophy is so interesting. I wish I could major in philosophy [maniacal laughter]. What’s your favorite philosophy? Mine’s LastThursdayism.
Me, wondering if this employee’s reaction to my academic calendar broke the sound barrier: That’s crazy.
I’ll spare you the pain of reading any more of this encounter.
Luckily, I only had to wait about two minutes for my drink (folks work fast when they’re
hopped up on cocaine… take notes Jeff Bezos). Unluckily, those were the longest two minutes of my life. As I turned right onto Burbank, I considered steering my truck into oncoming traffic.
Frankly, the only thing that prevented me from endangering the lives of my fellow drivers was the taste of my cappuccino. And that’s the most tragic thing about 7 Brew: the coffee is so good, but the customer service is insufferable.
I know that I’m not alone.
While Gallup and Pew have yet to conduct surveys that ask respondents how they feel about 7 Brew employees, several of my friends have supplemented my horror story with horror stories of their own. There seems to be a common trend: 7 Brew employees love talking — loudly, at any time of day and regardless of whether the customer responds enthusiastically.
If any 7 Brew employees are literate enough to read this article, I have one message: calm down, please.
Also, if any of you were think-
ing of commenting about workplace training and the evils of capitalism, save your breath. I get it. I’m sure that 7 Brew tells their employees to be over-the-top and borderline manic to boost business.
I don’t care.
Whether 7 Brew rank-and-files are to blame for my lingering hangover or whether it’s their corporate overlords, I’m still upset.
For those of you who blame corporate overlords, though, I’d like to use this rant as an opportunity to comment on a disturbing trend in mega-chain customer service. CEOs are obsessed with manufacturing the ideal employee — people who like where they work, care about their customers and seem fun to be around.
The problem with this drive for aesthetic perfection is that it rests on a fundamental contradiction: the combination of wage labor and ultra-fast, socially draining customer interaction makes genuine fun near-unattainable for employees.
That’s why 7 Brew employees seem so cringey. Forcing employ-
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ees to go off-script ensures that they come across as inauthentic — and sometimes really annoying, if I haven’t already conveyed that clearly enough.
I really want to like 7 Brew. I want to drink their coffee: it’s fairly cheap, it tastes good and it’s a drive-thru. It has so much potential. So even though I’m currently feeling bitter, spiteful and scorned, I would like to imbue this message with a sentiment of care and congeniality.
Maybe 7 Brew’s Burbank managers would benefit from walking across the street to Chick-fil-A. There’s an example of corporate oppression done right: they have a fun script, they work quickly and they don’t ask any questions unrelated to your order.
In the meantime, though, I’ll be pooling my spare change into a Keurig fund. I’ll brave the Sunday scaries from the comfort of my own home.
Cade Savoy is a 21-year-old political science and philosophy major from Breaux Bridge, La.
This holiday season,
don’t forget that family is more than just blood
BODACIOUS BLAIR
BLAIR BERNARD Columnist
As the holidays come around the corner, I think it’s important to talk about something that is surely crossing all our minds: family drama. Over this most recent summer, I learned a valuable lesson — family does not equal DNA.
I’ll trauma dump, why not?
Over the aforementioned summer, I lived with a close relative who ultimately made the decision to cause a divide between me and my immediate family. It was a sad case of generational trauma; women choosing men over blood. The strife this caused ended up getting the best of my family, a family that only wanted to heal and grow.
As you well know, there are certain family members we dread seeing every year: relatives with controversial political opinions, people who are judgmental of certain lifestyles and all around bad people. Yet, we come together for the sake of the holidays, and because he’s Uncle John, the family lets it slide. Why is that?
Let’s face the fact that it’s hard returning to your hometown, especially being in an environment where you feel misunderstood, not welcomed or even tolerated for the
sake of the holiday. It’s triggering going from a space you feel validated in, like creative outlets or your comfy LSU apartment, to going back to a place that still uses harmful language and supports harmful views.
As a result, I will always be appreciative of the small communities I have been able to build over the course of my years in college. I’ve always valued personal connections from as early as first grade, I remember. I was always developing quick and close relationships with peers, maybe even in ways I shouldn’t have. I got close and attached to the ideas of an everlasting community. I was the type of kid who thought it was normal to invite a stranger to their home and eat or play with them.
As I have grown into an adult, I still feel this way. When I meet someone, I feel a strong sense of connection with them and I want them to come to my house and stay forever. I realize that sounds like most of my peers’ worst nightmare. I am also realizing some of my behavior sounds like something therapy can fix — but I won’t invalidate myself just because I love people in a deep and general sense.
I once asked a friend if they had a best friend, to which he replied, “I don’t have a best friend, only people I consider family.”
And I understood him on so
many levels. I have friends, but I also have people who have been around my entire life I can call friends but ultimately they’re my family.
Friends who I have experienced some of the worst with. Friends who I have been there to console at their loneliest hour. The people who show up for you when it matters the most are your real family.
Life has always reminded me that with tribulation comes restoration, meaning that when we enter a dark chapter of our lives, the universe, God or whomever or whatever you choose to believe in, has ways of reminding us of divine planning and timing.
I don’t want to get on my soapbox about my ideas of faith and destiny. But in my humble opinion, I do believe our destined family is out there. As the holidays come and go, I am reminded of sweet media recollections: families accidentally being blended by message mishaps, friendships and unexpected community connections.
If you find yourself especially lonesome this holiday season, remember this: Your family is out there awaiting your arrival — if not already seeking you. There is a place for you.
Blair Bernard is a 22-year-old theatre major from Lafayette, La.
We need to make air travel great again
BERGERON’S BRIEFINGS
THOMAS BERGERON Columnist
Editor’s note: The following column is a satire.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has been in the news lately calling for Americans to bring civility back to air travel — encouraging us to trade our cold demeanors for respectful conversation, our ungrateful actions for neighborly support and our airport pajamas for suits and ties.
A noble goal, certainly, but he’s thinking too small.
We cannot have classy air travel without restoring the pillars of what made a polite society: complimentary in-flight cocktails, luxurious fine leather seating you melt into and the joy of chainsmoking cigarettes at 40,000 feet while trapped in a pressurized metal tube. If we want to truly relive the “golden days of air travel”, then, by God Almighty, we need to commit.
To begin, let’s talk about that legroom. Today’s modern planes offer the same amount of personal space as a Victorian-era rentable coffin, except instead of paying four pennies after a hard day at the factory, we are expected to pay
hundreds of dollars for a similar experience.
If Duffy is demanding civility, he should demand airlines switch from using airborne cattle cars to the truly luxurious velvet-clad cocktail lounges typical of the Pan Am era. I imagine passengers would be much more courteous without having to undertake hour long battles with strangers over armrest real estate.
Speaking of cocktails, what happened to in-flight bottle service?
When Delta Air Lines offered free champagne or Continental Airlines hosted an on-board tiki bar to serve tropical hors d’oeuvres and libations, there seemed to be little reason for passengers to consider assaulting the kid kicking the back of their seat. These 12 dollar plastic spirit shooters of the so-called “future” of air travel are clearly not doing the job of calming pre-flight jitters or stimulating mid-flight conversation.
And finally, the pinnacle of what used to make the United States a proud nation — smoking sections. I can remember back to the good old days when almost every restaurant had a smoking section, whether it be the local dive bar, Ruth’s Chris Steak House or IHOP.
There is nothing finer, more high-class, than segregating a metal tube with wings into “smoking” and “non-smoking” cabins. The hazy environment gave flights a cinematic ambiance. The sweet
Forcing yourself to be happy won’t always work
AVA’S POV
AVA FRANCIS Columnist
I tried to have a Dua Lipa fall, but it didn’t work.
Let me explain further. I kicked off this semester writing my first column of senior year titled “Opinion: Sad girl era is so last season, follow the Dua Lipa methodology.”
In the column, I expressed how sad girl autumn was so last year. I wrote, “You heard it here, party people; we’re having fun this semester. Ditch the sad girl playlist and tune into the perfect blend of club bangers and pop hits.”
Unfortunately, the months ahead were filled with unexpected events and a roller coaster of emotions.
The main point I was trying to get across in the column was the idea that summer wasn’t the only time life should be savored.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe fall really is when life gets real. Ice cream cones, beach days, tan lines and carefree nights belong to summer. That’s why we’re eager for May to roll around.
The gleeful elements of summer often transition into autumn’s melancholy moments.
smell of tobacco eased the stress of turbulence.
Back when we were a proper country, United Airlines used to offer complimentary cigars on male-only “Chicago Executive Flights” for 17 years; seventeen years of service clearly shows success to me. This is clearly the kind of experience the American traveler is yearning for, even if they don’t know it yet. I’m almost willing to argue that the Federal Aviation Administration banned smoking and vaping to make the airport wayfarer miserable.
If Duffy is serious about reinstating class and dignity back to American air travel, these halfhearted suggestions of dressing nicer simply will not do. Restore the space between the cockpit and tail to its once courtly status.
We need hand crafted cocktails for every man, woman and child; branded ashtrays installed into velvet-lined, full-grain leather seats; and legroom to accommodate you, the missus and the mistress.
Air travel was meant to be the mode of the future, and it deserves all the fixings of high-altitude glamor. If we continue to treat ticketed passengers like prisoners, we can expect all decorum to be checked at the gate.
Thomas Bergeron is a 25-yearold graduate student from Baton Rouge.
I was so sad, uninspired and grief stricken, I didn’t even update my Instagram stories as per usual and I’ve been told by peers my virtual hiatus was noticeable.
My world felt like it was spinning out of control while it seemed as if everyone else proceeded with normalcy. However, society has looked far from normal. Even when things weren’t affecting me directly, I still felt for others who were impacted by the government shutdown.
Witnessing strangers lose their SNAP benefits, livelihoods threatened, everyday people being targeted and harassed just for existing and the fall of our country happening right before our eyes is gut-wrenching.
I’ve walked around campus these last few days, and the look of hopelessness in many students’ eyes hurts my heart.
The thoughts that run through my head when I notice anyone who appears to be down or upset are worrisome: “I hope they’re not hungry, I hope they have at least one good friend, and I hope they’re okay.”
Kindness and community are more important now than ever.
Seasonal depression sneaks up on us, and sweatpants and oversized sweaters that swallow us become our default garments. Those playlists full of the musical stylings of Lizzy McAlpine, Fiona Apple, Olivia Dean and Norah Jones have their moment to shine.
Their music becomes the soundtrack of our current situations in life. The poetic lyrics are reminders that a friendship has ended, the relationship we were hopeful for never began and the sadness we feel in life may be temporary, but it’s ever so present.
We tried to hold on to Lipa’s upbeat dance melodies for so long but eventually “Be the One” and “Electricity” didn’t match our state of life.
When my family experienced an unexpected passing of a loved one this September, the last thing I wanted to hear was high energy music. No, I laid on my couch singing through my tears to ballads by Barbra Streisand and Adele. The end of September shifted into an October full of ups and downs, love, loss and stress induced days and nights. Life was indeed life-ing.
I, myself, didn’t have a meltdown. I don’t believe in destruction, let alone self-destruction. No, I kept it together, showed up to class, showed up to work and pushed through, but I’ll be vulnerable for a second. Behind closed doors, I was sad.
Sometimes I wish walking up to a stranger and offering a hug wouldn’t be considered weird, because I seriously would do it.
I can’t help but wonder: Is anyone having fun this fall?
My fun has been sporadic: coffee dates with a close friend in between classes, traveling home for fall break, attending the Jonas Brothers concert, my best friend visiting me in the boot and my other best friend — also known as my mom — turning her one week trip into a month long visit with me here in Baton Rouge. Now that’s some good ole much needed fun.
Let’s face it, this fall has been difficult at times. The Tigers were suffering from a losing streak, and so was I. I refuse to let the heaviness of fall define my year. I’m using these next two months to reclaim the positivity I started this semester with, and I encourage you to do the same. Don’t let one or two agonizing months ruin the rest of your 2025.
Through the hardships, we still have so much to be grateful for. We’re breathing, aren’t we?
We’re not always going to feel merry, just like we won’t always feel glum. That’s fair. That’s life.
Lipa and Adele can both have a spot on our playlists.
Ava Francis is a 22-year-old journalism major from New Orleans.