Jay Clark, the head coach of the LSU national championship gymnastics team, was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Collegiate Coach of the Year for Louisiana for 2023-24. 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. The Sugar Bowl has recognized an Outstanding Louisiana College Coach since 1961 and Clark is the second gymnastics coach to be honored as his predecessor at LSU, the legendary D-D Breaux, earned the honor in 2017 and 2019.
Clark, in his fourth season at the helm of the LSU gymnastics program, led the Tigers to their first-ever NCAA National Championship. After winning a national semifinal and advancing to the national finals for the 10th time in school history (and second year in a row), LSU turned in a clutch performance on the beam to wrap up the national title.
“I haven’t had the chance to sit back and relax and relish it and enjoy it,” Clark said about the championship. “But to watch the release of joy from our teams and the fans, the eruption of sheer joy and elation with what had occurred, it was very rewarding and it’s massive for the program.”
The Tigers claimed the title with a 198.225 to defeat California (197.850), Utah (197.800) and Florida (197.4375). With the win, LSU became just the eighth program in NCAA history to win the women’s gymnastics championship.
In the final rotation, the LSU beam team delivered on the biggest stage with a 49.7625 for the highest score in program history and an NCAA Championship record in the event. The Tigers led after the first rotation and the second, but they slipped just behind Utah 148.500-148.4625 going into the final rotation – LSU on the beam and Utah on the vault. The Utes managed a 49.3 on the vault and when LSU senior Aleah Finnegan stuck her landing and immediately broke into tears of joy — the Tigers had a score of 49.7625 on beam, breaking the record of 49.750 set by UCLA in the 2018 NCAA final. And earning the national title.
“I hoped the lessons that we learned from last year when we made the finals would help us,” Clark said. “Honor one another with their actions, stay unselfish, not just when they had to due to adversity, but when things were going well. And they did. The team set aside personal ambitions and trusted the coaches. As a coach, you have to have a good relationship with your athletes, you need to communicate well; I feel we did that.”
In addition to the team success, senior star Haleigh Bryant became just the second LSU gymnast in program history to win the NCAA individual all-around national championship.
“He’s amazing and understanding,” Bryant said of Clark. “He always wants the best for us, as a person and as an athlete. He did everything possible for us to make sure we were at our peak when it was most important.”
The team championship marked the 52nd in the history of LSU Athletics. It comes on the cusp of both the LSU baseball and women’s basketball teams capturing NCAA titles in the last calendar year.
“I’m grateful [for this award], but the credit goes to the team and the kids that were getting the job done,” Clark said. “I’m so grateful to D-D Breaux for the opportunity to come here 12 years ago and then the trust she had in me to take over when she retired. The Sugar Bowl, for me, has always been the most iconic sports event ever. I was at the 1980 Sugar Bowl as a kid in Georgia. It’s a tremendous organization and its historical significance is tremendous. To win an award like this means the world to me.”
Joining Clark as finalists in the highly competitive Coach of the Year field were Kyle Blankenship (LSU Shreveport Men's and Women's Basketball), Will Wade (McNeese State Men’s Basketball), and Jeff Willis (LSU Eunice Baseball).
After adding women’s basketball coaching duties to his men’s basketball role in late October, Blankenship led both Pilot programs to the NAIA Tournament – the women posted a 30-3 record and the men were 28-5 and both teams won tournament games on the same day under Blankenship’s guidance. The Sugar Bowl will honor Blankenship with the Jimmy Collins Award for his unique accomplishments at the awards banquet.
Wade engineered McNeese's NCAA Division I-record-tying 19-game turnaround from a season ago, helping the Cowboys become one of just seven teams to win 30 games or more in Division I this season. The Cowboys' first NCAA Tournament trip in 22 years also came in a season where McNeese garnered votes in the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Top 25 for the first time in school history.
Willis, in his 22nd year at the helm of the LSU Eunice baseball program, directed the Bengals to their eighth NJCAA National Championship. It was their 11th World Series appearance and their 12th Regional Championship. Willis, who also won his 1000th career game in 2024, guided his team to a 56-8 overall record, including 35-3 at home.
The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee came together 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 and a variety of annual award winners. 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 as well as a range of annual awards – the honors enter their 68th year in 2024.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 29 national champions, 107 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 90-year history. The 91st Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2025. 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 over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade.
