July private sector job growth gives us a glimpse into the future and LSU says farewell to a legend.

This week’s private sector job report gives us hints about what the future might hold as the nation heads into the Fall. Expectations were high that a job recovery in the private sector might be on the horizon, but this week’s news revealed a dramatic drop in job growth. Private payrolls increased by only 167,000 in July. Economists were predicting 1 million new jobs in the private sector. When you expect one million jobs and less than 200,000 actually appear, leading economic indicators point to an ominous future.

It is just a fact – private sector job growth is the fuel of any free market economy. If job opportunities continue to dramatically shrink in the private sector as they did in July, public sector stimulus and increased government activity will, sooner or later, tip the scale on the American economy in ways that will make it very difficult to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

If it was not clear prior to July’s private sector job report, containing the coronavirus is not only a medical issue, but an economic one as well.

In 1977, D.D. was a young graduate student at LSU. The opportunity came for her to take over the struggling gymnastics program. The very next year, the LSU gymnastics team went 9-1. That was a sign of things to come!

For 43 years, she has led the LSU gymnastics team. Under her leadership it remains one of the strongest in the nation. The athletes in her program are a who’s who among some of America’s greatest gymnasts.

Throughout my life, I’ve been able to know many of LSU’s coaches across many sports. D.D. Breaux is one of the best. LSU is better because D.D. Breaux spent 43 years on its campus.

Congratulations D.D. Breaux! We will miss you because you showed us what it means to be “Forever LSU!”