HAMMOND, La. – A 2022 that saw Southeastern Louisiana University athletic programs win four Southland Conference championships capped a decade of excellence for Lion and Lady Lion student-athletes.
 
When head volleyball coach Jeremy White's Lady Lions raised the championship trophy on the University Center court Nov. 20, it marked the eighth SLU program to win a SLC title during the decade-long tenure of Director of Athletics Jay Artigues. In the 16 seasons as a Southland member prior to Artigues taking over the department in 2013, four SLU programs won conference championships.
 
Southeastern has a stretch of 12 straight semesters with a department-wide cumulative GPA of 3.0 after SLU student-athletes posted a 3.16 GPA in fall 2022. During the past 10 years, the Lions and Lady Lions have consistently averaged over 20 hours per student-athlete of community service.
 
White's progress with the volleyball program, which was 2-27 the season prior to him coming to Hammond, mirrors the improvements Artigues has seen throughout the department. Artigues didn't hesitate when asked of the number one factor that has turned around SLU's fortunes.
 
"We've changed our culture," Artigues commented. "When I took over the athletic department, we had just been put on probation and we weren't having consistent success in competition outside of a handful of programs. We had to change our culture and our mindset."
 
Artigues and the SLU head coaches at the time developed a mission statement for Southeastern Athletics – A commitment to excellence in the classroom, in the community and in competition.
 
"I felt it was important to develop a mission statement that we could live by daily," Artigues said. "What's changed the most over the last 10 years is excellence in those three areas isn't our goal now; it's our expectation."
 
Artigues credits the coaches, student-athletes and staff members for helping him change the mindset.
 
"We've been fortunate to bring the right people into our program," Artigues stated. "Just about every coach we've brought in has won a conference championship or been named Coach of the Year. (Former head men's basketball coach) Jay Ladner won a conference championship and when he left, David Kiefer was the Southland Coach of the Year. (Former head football coach) Ron Roberts took us to the playoffs two straight years and we brought in Frank Scelfo, who is a two-time Coach of the Year and has taken us to the playoffs three times. The sustained success we've enjoyed speaks to the strength of our culture.
 
"We've got great people in this department who are committed to being successful and reaching that success the right way," Artigues added. "Our student-athletes want to be at Southeastern. They're vested in Hammond, America and it shows in their performance in competition, the classroom and the community."
 
2022 marked the fifth calendar year in school history that saw Southeastern win four conference championships. Three of those years (2013, 2014 and 2022) have come in the past decade.
 
Last April, the SLU men's golf team bested the field by 10 strokes on the way to its first Southland Conference title since 2013. The following month, the Lion baseball team completed a gutsy run with an 11-7 winner-take-all victory in the SLC Tournament championship game at regular season champion McNeese to earn its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Matt Riser.
 
A four-day stretch in November provided two more memorable moments. The Southeastern football team overwhelmed Nicholls, 40-17, Nov. 17 in Thibodaux to claim its third Southland Conference title in 10 years and third NCAA FCS playoff berth in the past four seasons under Scelfo. Three days later, the SLU volleyball team defeated top-seed HCU, 3-1, to win the program's first-ever SLC Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
 
All this success capped a 2022 that saw the softball, men's basketball and women's basketball teams all advance to their respective conference championship games.
Southeastern Athletics and the athletic training program announced plans for a state-of-the-art home in 2022, ensuring a bright future.
 
For Artigues, the success of 2022 was a fitting exclamation point on a decade rich in progress. Artigues expects continued growth into the next decade and beyond for Southeastern Athletics.
 
"There's never been a better time to be a part of this department," Artigues said. "We're not going to be content and we're going to continue to push the envelope. We believe we're the premier department in the Southland Conference and we want to maintain that status. The facility improvements are going to be a big step to helping us achieve that goal.
 
"All of the members of our Athletics family – coaches, student-athletes and staff – come to work with smiles on their faces," Artigues added. "We're all feeding off each other's positive energy. If we keep cultivating our culture, we'll continue to reap the benefits."
 
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CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events, effective with the start of football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.