BATON ROUGE, La. -- Let’s be clear about one thing: LSU will play football in 2016 and beyond, no matter what Louisiana’s governor implied last week. That does not, however, mean the state’s college athletes are in the clear.
Critics say newly inaugurated Gov. John Bel Edwards used overstated scare tactics in Thursday’s televised remarks, in which he said athletes at the state’s public colleges are at risk of losing their eligibility because of Louisiana’s budget crisis.
Maybe those critics are correct, but Edwards’ intention was clearly to alarm the public about the gaping hole in Louisiana’s budget -- a shortfall projected to be as large as $2 billion next year.