The Bonnettes are, simply, the first family of sports information in Louisiana.
Louis Bonnette retired three years ago after 46 years as the sports information director (SID) at McNeese State. His youngest son, Matthew, replaced him. Even his daughter worked for him while she was in college.
His oldest son also worked for him for one school year, but after his freshman year at McNeese, Michael Bonnette transferred to LSU. That move in 1989 put Michael on a path he could never have imagined at the time.
Bonnette started as a student worker in the sports information department at LSU, and by 2000 he had claimed the SID title as well as becoming LSU’s sports communications director. Since then, he’s continued to climb the ranks, named assistant athletic director in 2004 and, still working as communications director, ultimately reaching his current position as senior associate athletic director in 2013.
He’s been front and center on national TV countless times. His job has taken him all over—exciting for a kid from Lake Charles who grew up “a Brad Wing punt from Cowboys Stadium.” Bonnette is a regular on the ESPN campus in Bristol, Connecticut, and knows New York City—think Heisman Trophy ceremony, NFL Draft and other football functions—better than most. And he’s been well compensated in a job that gets a bonus for football success.
“The things that I’ve been able to do because of LSU football,” Bonnette says with a smile and a shake of his head. “I count my blessings every day. The cool places I’ve been and the people I’ve met—it’s all because of LSU people … the doors that have opened.”
Many of those doors have also opened because of coach Les Miles.
“I’m known as the guy who’s always following Les. So wherever he goes, I go, because he’s getting in a good door,” Bonnette says.
As LSU heads into the 2016-2017 school year, and more specifically the football season, Bonnette will start his 16th year as the school’s sports information director and (more or less) the guy who keeps Miles in line with the media.
The quirky Miles can be a challenge.
“But it’s a fun challenge,” Bonnette says. “He wants to win as bad as anybody, but he wants to have fun. It’s OK to have fun, and he realizes that. That’s what refreshing in this day and age.
It’s not all about saying the right thing all the time. He’s going to say things, and that’s why people love him.”
Conversely, Bonnette has one of those jobs where not everyone loves him. There are the obvious tugs of war with the media, and the business has changed considerably with the advent of social media and LSU sports having a website to put out its own stories.
“For the most part, Bonnette walks this tightrope extremely well,” says Glenn Guilbeau, who covers LSU for the Gannett News Service. “The best thing about him is he has kept his sense of humor, and he returns calls or texts—most of the time.”
Scott Rabalais, a sports columnist for The Advocate, says, “I’ve known Michael since he was a student worker in the LSU sports information office, and I’ve always known him to be a passionate guy. Passionate about his family. Passionate about LSU, which when you think about it is his family as well.
“There are times when we’ve been and are going to be at crossed purposes with each other. That’s the nature of our professions. And it’s as it should be when you think about it. But in the end there is always mutual respect,” Rabalais says.
That’s something Bonnette has learned along the way. When he got to LSU, the sports information director was Herb Vincent, who now works for the Southeastern Conference.
“I always admired Herb. Even though he was young, everyone looked up to him and respected him,” Bonnette says. “I tried to take everything I learned from my dad and emulate Herb as much as possible.”
Bonnette’s first assignment at LSU was handling publicity for swimming and diving, and the next year, he picked up tennis.
When Bonnette was a senior, Vincent took a big chance and gave him SID responsibility for the women’s basketball team.
“That would never happen today,” Bonnette admits.
It paid off for Vincent and Bonnette, who got to work with the late, legendary women’s basketball coach Sue Gunter. He stayed with women’s hoops after graduating and putting in a year as a paid intern before being hired full-time to a staff that already included baseball SID Bill Franques and men’s basketball SID Kent Lowe.
“Michael has continued on the Bonnette family name in sports information in excellent fashion,” Lowe says. “His abilities and his love of athletics helps make our office a special place to be a part of.”
In 2000, Vincent left the first time for the SEC (he came back to LSU but has since returned to the SEC), and Bonnette was promoted.
“I was hoping and praying I would get the job,” Bonnette says. “And I felt like I’d done everything I could possibly do, but it was if they were going to take a chance on a young guy. And that was Nick [Saban]’s first year, you might recall.”
Indeed it was, and being Nick Saban’s SID is not for the faint of heart.
“Nick was tough,” Bonnette admits. “But he was driven to win, and I learned a lot from him.”
But there was more.
“It wasn’t just working with Nick. It was running the whole sports information department,” Bonnette says. “There was a lot of change in a hurry.”
Guilbeau says, “He survived Saban, and became a better SID for it.”
And then began the Miles era, now in its 12th year.
“You step outside this footprint, and he is a rock star. I have been with Les on the streets of Times Square, and people will stop, point, take pictures and say, ‘There’s Les Miles.’ And he loves it. He’s very approachable,” Bonnette says.
Bonnette and his wife, Robin, have three sons, all of whom have grown up purple and gold. Payton will be a freshman at LSU this fall, and his two younger brothers, Grant and Max, have been able to take some great trips and be part of big things because of LSU sports.
Despite all the perks, a few years ago, Bonnette was thinking it might be time for a personal change.
“There was a time when I was getting kind of worn down and thought I was missing too much at home. Maybe I was having a bad day, but I was talking to Robin and saying maybe I ought to try something else, and one of the boys heard me, and he was screaming, ‘No! You can’t leave! Don’t do that to us!’“
Bonnette laughs.
“I’m going to ride this as long as I can,” Bonnette says. “I’m having a blast.”
This article was originally published in the August 2016 issue of 225 Magazine.
