LSU to hire….

romanempire

Well-Known Member
And I still say Notre Dame is a damn good job and I think there is a good case to make it's better than LSUs job. That's my opinion.
ND is a damn good job, I don’t think anyone here has stated otherwise. I like Notre Dame. I just don’t think it’s a better job than LSU in the current era of CFB.
 

Bucknut

Well-Known Member
My gut reaction is that Kelly will be a bad fit at LSU. I have nothing to back that up, it's just a feeling.

Kelly did good at ND playing mostly weaker teams, but the SEC schedule is brutal every year and I don't see him being as successful at LSU as what will be demanded of him.

But, he obviously has something to prove by taking the job, maybe he'll surprise me.
 

Phicinfan

Expert on nothing, opinionated on everything
Administrator
I will admit, I am not a Kelly fan, but that is because I saw him coach at UC and Notre Dame since I am a huge Big 10 follower(Ohio State grad...) and live in Cincinnati area. Never really thought he was all that.

That being said, he probably will thrive at LSU somewhat, as I don't believe LSU has as many restrictions on student athletes such as GPA and such that Notre Dame requires. So talent pool will be much more open.

However, if any of you think he has any shot of giving Alabama or Georgia a run, look at his record vs. top schools.
 

romanempire

Well-Known Member
As an LSU fan, I know of no one inside the program or fans of the program that expects CBK to come into LSU and duplicate what Nick Saban’s done at Alabama. If they do think that, they’re an idiot that shouldn’t be taken seriously.

I’m not at all concerned about Georgia
 

romanempire

Well-Known Member
People who aren’t LSU fans and don’t know the history of the program don’t understand why LSU fans are excited about this hire.

Kelly is the most successful coach the LSU program has hired in its history, on the day he was hired. Given the benefit of hindsight, Saban was the best hire LSU ever made, but no one knew at his time of hiring what type of success lay ahead for Saban. And no one knows what Saban’s career would have looked like had LSU not pulled him into the talent rich SEC to start with.

LSU was a fairly successful program from the late 1950s until late 1970s, winning a National Championship in 1958 and competing again for an NC a few years later. When Paul Dietzel left as LSU’s HC to take the HC position at Army he left it in the hands of his trusted assistant Charles McClendon. ‘Cholly Mac’ as he was known, guided the LSU program for the next 18 seasons. In that time frame he only had one losing season and took LSU to 13 bowl games compiling a 7-6 bowl record. While not National Championship contenders during that stretch, LSU was a very successful CFB program by the era’s standards. Remember, this was the era of Bear Bryant at Alabama so that’s what C Mac competed against on a yearly basis.

When C Mac retired the LSU program went into some tumultuous years and eventually spiraled out of control. LSU hired Bo Rein from NC State to replace C Mac but he never coached a game because he died in a plane crash. LSU hired Louisiana native Jerry Stovall as an emergency hire and he had mixed success and failure in his four years. LSU brought in Bill Arsparnger from the Miami Dolphins to stabilize the program and he met with immediate success, two Sugar Bowl victories in three seasons. Unfortunately Arnsparnger was frustrated with the way LSU athletics was being run at the time and Florida hired him away as their AD. Next came Mike Archer, an assistant on the staff and only 34 years old. Archer was hired over potential candidates like Steve Spurrier and Mack Brown, among other (can’t remember them all). LSU was doing things on the cheap. Archer had success his first two seasons then had back to back losing seasons. After Archer was forced to resign LSU brought in Curly Hallman from Southern Miss. Hallman had had success there with Brett Favre as his QB. Hallman was a complete dumpster fire at LSU. After Hallman was forced out LSU hired Gerry DiNardo from Vanderbilt, again, another cheap hire. DiNardo found success at first and then quickly returned LSU to a dumpster fire again. Finally LSU hired Saban in 1999. LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert directed the AD Joe Dean to pay Nick Saban an (at the time) astronomical salary of $1 million per year to become LSU's next HC. That singular decision changed the direction of LSU football for the next (going on) three decades.

Long rant but it gives you a little background as to why Tiger fans are excited about the CBK hire. Stable program from the late 50s to the late 70s. Up and down program through the 80s. Complete dumpster fire in the 1990s. Some of this was due to pure happenstance but a lot of it was LSU being cheap and hiring sub par coaches.
 

Bucknut

Well-Known Member
Heartbreaker in the first game almost overcoming many mistakes to tie it up. LSU looked like the better team, just too many big mistakes.
 

romanempire

Well-Known Member
Heartbreaker in the first game almost overcoming many mistakes to tie it up. LSU looked like the better team, just too many big mistakes.
A lot of room for improvement but I was really impressed with Jayden Daniels’ effort. The kid never gave up.
 

hikeNbike

Well-Known Member
I must say I'm a little baffled why Texas isn't better. Not trying to be elitist or anything its just that you have one of the biggest universities with seemingly a steady stream of football talent in the state and almost unparalleled financial backing for athletics and yet they struggle year after year. Add to that Austin is one of America's best cities with tons of entertainment, business opportunities, post college jobs. Feels like a bad series of coaching hires has definitely contributed even with recruiting being good. Hoping Chance Manning is the start of something and for that reason outside of Saban I'd keep Sark next year, even though I have major concerns about his head coaching abilities.
 

romanempire

Well-Known Member
I must say I'm a little baffled why Texas isn't better. Not trying to be elitist or anything its just that you have one of the biggest universities with seemingly a steady stream of football talent in the state and almost unparalleled financial backing for athletics and yet they struggle year after year. Add to that Austin is one of America's best cities with tons of entertainment, business opportunities, post college jobs. Feels like a bad series of coaching hires has definitely contributed even with recruiting being good. Hoping Chance Manning is the start of something and for that reason outside of Saban I'd keep Sark next year, even though I have major concerns about his head coaching abilities.
Saban is 71 years old. He’s not coming to that dumpster fire in Austin. He’ll retire as Alabama’s HC and ride off into the sunset.
 

hikeNbike

Well-Known Member
I agree Saban isn't coming to Austin, wishful thinking. But stand by what I say that Texas has the resources and the facilities to be a power house. Whether they will or not remains to be seen. I think the Longhorn Network didn't turn out to be a positive and set them back some. Also think being a lame duck for a couple seasons before moving to the SEC isn't ideal. All that said recruiting has been good lately and Sark got a commitment from Chance Manning so provided he doesn't change his mind I think we will have another banner class. And whether you like Austin politics or not, it's an attractive place for college, great weather, great nightlife including a thriving music scene. They haven't gotten the coaching choices right in awhile and that to me is their biggest issue. All that said I think if and it's a huge if they could find the next Saban like coach, a la Kirby Smart or Dabo Swinney, they could be a perennial powerhouse.

Congrats on LSU making the SEC championship game. A great accomplishment and one I didn't see coming in Kelly's first year. Especially after the debacle on opening night against Florida State. A great call to go for two against Alabama as well and a gutsy follow up win against an underrated Arkansas team.

I'm looking forward to Texas moving to the SEC. They definitely will have some hard knocks to start with but looking forward to adding A&M and Arkansas back to the schedule as well as continuing to play Oklahoma.
College football is better when you play your rivals.
 

romanempire

Well-Known Member
I agree Saban isn't coming to Austin, wishful thinking. But stand by what I say that Texas has the resources and the facilities to be a power house. Whether they will or not remains to be seen. I think the Longhorn Network didn't turn out to be a positive and set them back some. Also think being a lame duck for a couple seasons before moving to the SEC isn't ideal. All that said recruiting has been good lately and Sark got a commitment from Chance Manning so provided he doesn't change his mind I think we will have another banner class. And whether you like Austin politics or not, it's an attractive place for college, great weather, great nightlife including a thriving music scene. They haven't gotten the coaching choices right in awhile and that to me is their biggest issue. All that said I think if and it's a huge if they could find the next Saban like coach, a la Kirby Smart or Dabo Swinney, they could be a perennial powerhouse.

Congrats on LSU making the SEC championship game. A great accomplishment and one I didn't see coming in Kelly's first year. Especially after the debacle on opening night against Florida State. A great call to go for two against Alabama as well and a gutsy follow up win against an underrated Arkansas team.

I'm looking forward to Texas moving to the SEC. They definitely will have some hard knocks to start with but looking forward to adding A&M and Arkansas back to the schedule as well as continuing to play Oklahoma.
College football is better when you play your rivals.
The historic SEC schools will continue to dominate the conference. Arkansas and South Carolina joined the conference nearly 30 years ago and still haven’t won shit.
 

hikeNbike

Well-Known Member
Remains to be seen. I do expect they dominate at first but I think things level out over time. Texas has a wealth of talent in the state. Keeping it in the state, along with competent coaching, looking at you Jimbo Fisher, should help both Texas schools make strides. Florida dominated for a long stretch under Spurrier. When he left they fell on hard times. Since recovered some but not all the way by a long shot. Georgia was good but not great under Richt. Smart has built a powerhouse, but that illustrates how the right coach can elevate a school. Texas has multiple national championships and a rich history. Not saying they will be at the top of the conference but they certainly have a good shot. Resources second to none, rich high school football talent.

Not sure if he will come but Dabo Swinney is who I would be reaching out to. Especially with Clemson sliding a little, it feels like he would be a tough get but not impossible. Again Sark deserves a shot for another two years mainly on his recruiting gains but I must admit I haven't been impressed with his coaching.
 
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