Swish: Legendary LSU basketball coach Dale Brown will join seven others, including one of his greatest players—former LSU standout and NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal—in being inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday in Kansas City. As The Kansas City Star reports, other players being inducted are Grant Hill, Darrell Griffith and Zelmo Beaty (deceased). Along with Brown—who posted 17 straight non-losing seasons, reaching two Final Fours, winning four Southeastern Conference championships as well as a league tournament and amassing 448 career victories—others being inducted are coaches Gary Williams and Glenn Wilkes and contributor Howard Garfinkel. Read the full story.
Paper pushers: LSU head football coach Les Miles slipped two spots to No. 7 on USA Today’s latest ranking of the highest paid college coaches in the country, released today. Miles total pay is listed at $4,369,582 in the report, with a maximum available bonus of $700,000 per year. At $7,160,187 in total pay and with an available bonus of $700,000, Alabama head coach Nick Saban is again listed as the nation’s highest paid college football coach. On last year’s list, Miles’ 2012 total salary of $3,856,417 and bonus potential of $700,000 made him the fifth-highest paid coach in the country. See this year’s complete listing of the highest paid coaches.
Done deal: Baton Rouge-based Lamar Advertising Co. says it has received the necessary shareholder approval to complete its reorganization into a real estate investment trust, or REIT. With approval, Lamar has completed a merger with and into its wholly owned subsidiary, Lamar Advertising REIT Co.. By becoming a REIT, effective Jan. 1, Lamar will be able to avoid paying corporate-level income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders in the form of dividends. As a REIT, Lamar says it will be allowed to treat its outdoor advertising displays as real property for tax purposes, noting some of its assets and operations will continue to be subject to state and federal corporate income taxes.
