Sugar Bowl

D-D Breaux, who led LSU Gymnastics to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships, was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Collegiate Coach of the Year for Louisiana for 2016-17. The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories; it also selects Amateur Athletes of the Month and each year’s Hall of Fame class.

Breaux was named the 2017 National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches National Coach of the Year after directing LSU to an NCAA National Runner-Up finish for the second straight season, matching the best finish in school history. The Tigers posted nine scores which rank in the top-25 in school history, including the 198.275 in Semifinal II for the second-best score at an NCAA Championship ever. The team completed the season with a perfect 21-0 record against teams in the SEC and captured the league’s regular season and tournament championships as Breaux was selected as the Coach of the Year for the SEC and the Central Region. The Tigers totaled 16 All-America honors at NCAA Championships for the most at the meet in school history. Including the 11 All-America honors during the regular season, LSU finished with 27 All-Americans in 2017. The honors marked the most in school history and the best in the nation. Three gymnasts won NCAA individual championships for the most in a single season in school history. Breaux was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame earlier this summer.

The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top amateur athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month. To be eligible, an athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 102 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 89-year history. The 90th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2024. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting nearly $2.4 billion into the local economy in the last decade.

-AllstateSugarBowl.org-