Will Sutton: Gov. Jeff Landry, bench your mock national anthem crisis

Gov. Jeff Landry's national anthem polemic isn't really about sports, or even patriotism. We all love sports, and we all love our country. I certainly do.

It's also not about whether college athletes at LSU or elsewhere should be present, stand and sing the national anthem before games begin.

No, Landry's manufactured crisis is about leadership style, protocol and education. It's about the future of higher education in our state and how we should expect our leaders to initiate debates and discussions about important issues.

Landry caused an uproar when he criticized LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey and her team on X/Twitter for not being on the court when the national anthem was played in the Elite 8 finale against the University of Iowa. "It is time that all college boards, including Regents, put a policy in place that student athletes be present for the national anthem or risk their athletic scholarship! This is a matter of respect that all collegiate coaches should instill," Landry wrote, in part.

He doubled down with letters to each of the state's higher education system board leaders repeating his demand — and his threat to revoke scholarships. Then came a Fox News interview, giving him and his cooked-up controversy a national platform, which many believe is what he wanted all along.

I agree with WWL Radio's Newell Normand, who doesn't often agree with me. He called Landry's move a "breakdown in emotional intelligence" and added, "This is dangerous."

Dr. Pearson Cross, a political science professor and director of the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, made a prediction. "Desperate to keep their budgets stable, expect public universities to fall in line...regardless of how Orwellian it becomes."

Louisiana doesn't lack education issues that need a governor's attention — K-12 teacher salaries, support for disabled students, truancy, higher-ed capital projects and infrastructure, building high-school-to-work pathways and more.

Accusing college athletes of disrespecting our national anthem and our flag — and demanding that they make a formal show of "respect" — reeks of mandating patriotism, which never turns out well. Just look at the former USSR and other failed totalitarian regimes.

Louisiana's governors wield a lot of power. They must be careful how they use it. A more effective approach would have been a discreet conversation with higher-ed leaders that began with a question — "Is it normal for teams not to be present for the anthem?" — rather than a directive tied to a threat based on an uninformed observation and conclusion. 

It's ironic that Iowa, whose women's basketball team kept the Tigers out of the Final Four, recently dealt with the same ginned-up patriotism controversy. Hawkeye lawmakers made national news for considering a bill that would have forced public school students and teachers to sing the first verse of the national anthem EVERY DAY — and all four verses on patriotic occasions. The bill's sponsor said students need to learn more about our nation's founders, the armed forces “and how to love, honor and respect the national anthem.”

Fortunately for Iowans, that proposal was deferred for further study.

Think about that: pausing to consider all options, and the people who would be most impacted, before making radical changes to education policy; using deliberation and data, rather than knee-jerk reaction, to drive a critical decision.

Not every emotional, social media-driven outrage deserves a public response by our governor, who apparently paid more attention to who was on the court for the "Star Spangled Banner" than how LSU's team played their hearts out.

Former Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, a big Tiger fan, proud LSU alumnus and longtime public servant, told me that what Landry did was "contrived," "reactive" and "very disrespectful of Coach Mulkey and her team." Dardenne, a Republican who served as commissioner of administration under Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, said Landry's threats against Mulkey and her players were "not a carefully thought out policy comment."

Dr. Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, offered a different take. Sullivan understands why people are upset about Landry's move, but he sees this as an opportunity to review policies and procedures at colleges where sports are secondary to creating work paths for students. He cautioned people like me to not look at this as an overreach because governors should weigh in on education matters. "It's early yet," he said. 

I hear ya, Dr. Sullivan.

But this move was not wise. Worse, it appears this is how Landry wants to wield power. 

Our state needs and deserves a different approach — before it ruins education AND higher-ed athletic programs.