Photo Courtesy of LSU Athletics.
Paul Mainieri, the head coach of the LSU baseball team, was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Collegiate Coach of the Year for Louisiana for 2009-10. 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.
In 2009, his third year at the helm of the potent LSU baseball team, Manieri guided the Tigers to their sixth College World Series title as they finished the season 56-17. LSU also won the SEC regular season and tournament championships while leading the nation in attendance. The Tigers closed the year with 28 wins in their final 33 games earning Manieri multiple national Coach of the Year honors. In 2010, Manieri captured another SEC Tournament Championship while leading his squad to their 20th NCAA Tournament in the last 22 years.
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-
