Maybe, but $15M is a lot of money and I would be a little surprised if boosters are going to sack up every dime. The whole thing is just stupid. When boosters get convinced that they should win every game things go sideways fast. LSU won't be relevant for 5 years.I agree accept with the money part; they likely have a handful of boosters who have been pushing for the firing since last October who agreed to pony up the buyout.
Philip Fulmer?But this is a terrible way to fire a coach who won you a national title. Who was the last coach who won a title at a school to later get fired midseason? Even Gene Chizik coached to the end of his last season
LSU will likely be in the playoff in the next five years. Way too much talent.Maybe, but $15M is a lot of money and I would be a little surprised if boosters are going to sack up every dime. The whole thing is just stupid. When boosters get convinced that they should win every game things go sideways fast. LSU won't be relevant for 5 years.
Way too much talent. Great facilities. rabid fanbase and in the SEC. This is an elite job and they will get a top coach for it.LSU will likely be in the playoff in the next five years. Way too much talent.
I don't agree. Now, in fairness to your point, "relevant" may be relative. To me, a team like LSU needs to be in the top 15 3 out of 5 years and in the playoffs 1 out of every five - at least - to be "relevant", because that is the expectation when you spend that kind of cash.LSU will likely be in the playoff in the next five years. Way too much talent.
I went to a Saints game in 2010. I didn't meet one Tiger fan that supported Miles the entire weekend. I've always looked at him as having a crazy short leash since then. They thought seriously about canning him last season. I think being viewed as an outsider and being the guy who replaced Saban (Who ended up returning to coach a rival and win at a historic pace) left him in a position of win like Saban or be viewed as a failure.The Miles firing is hideous. The state of Louisiana is looking through the sofa cushions to fund basic programs and they fire a football coach who has won a national championship because of a weird call at the end of a game. So stupid. At the very least give it until the end of the year.
I don't think you realize the talent and the resources that LSU has; the expectations are to match or beat Alabama and they have everything that Alabama has except Saban; at this point it was clear that Les wasn't the answer so maybe someone else is. I don't find this similar to the Willingham firing at all because the programs are vastly different.I don't agree. Now, in fairness to your point, "relevant" may be relative. To me, a team like LSU needs to be in the top 15 3 out of 5 years and in the playoffs 1 out of every five - at least - to be "relevant", because that is the expectation when you spend that kind of cash.
The Tigers just fired one of the top coaches in the game and they play in a conference where you can't stumble if you want to end the year relevant. This strikes me as being very similar to the Phil Fulmer and the Ty WIllingham firings, where alums have insane expectations and struggle to adjust to the new reality. I stand by my position, they won't be relevant over the next 5 years.
Uhhhh........I do. They don't have as much talent as they think they do, by a wide margin. Every major college program gets top end recruits, and their alums think that they have 3 top 5 recruiting classes in the hopper. But pretty much every year the top recruiting classes don't do all that well while Alabama, tOSU, a few new upstarts etc. all roll on. LSU doesn't have a QB on campus who has ++ potential. They have some decent defensive prospects, but they also have a bunch of kids who are head cases. To say that they have everything that Alabama has except for Saban is laughable. They also don't have the coaching infrastructure that exists at Alabama. This is - much like the Willingham example - a case where a bunch of alums are convinced that their college should be in the national championship hunt every year when in truth, the results have been very good, but mixed in with some bad luck.I don't think you realize the talent and the resources that LSU has; the expectations are to match or beat Alabama and they have everything that Alabama has except Saban; at this point it was clear that Les wasn't the answer so maybe someone else is. I don't find this similar to the Willingham firing at all because the programs are vastly different.
Number one recruiting class in 2016, Number eight in 2015, number three in 2014, they have the talent to compete and recruiting for LSU is easier than at literally any other major college and that pipeline isn't shutting down any time soon. The reason the Willingham comparison isn't apt is because Willingham never got talent that highly ranked at Notre Dame because the recruiting was never that good (because fundamentally, the recruiting process for LSU and Notre Dame are so different), and thus he never had a fair shot at competing with the top ranked teams--not to mention Willingham got three years and Miles has had more than a decade. When you have the top talent, when you have the big money, when you have top facilities and play in the toughest conference, why shouldn't you be able to compete with anyone? An obvious answer is coaching and the failure for Les to win another national championship is what doomed him.Uhhhh........I do. They don't have as much talent as they think they do, by a wide margin. Every major college program gets top end recruits, and their alums think that they have 3 top 5 recruiting classes in the hopper. But pretty much every year the top recruiting classes don't do all that well while Alabama, tOSU, a few new upstarts etc. all roll on. LSU doesn't have a QB on campus who has ++ potential. They have some decent defensive prospects, but they also have a bunch of kids who are head cases. To say that they have everything that Alabama has except for Saban is laughable. They also don't have the coaching infrastructure that exists at Alabama. This is - much like the Willingham example - a case where a bunch of alums are convinced that their college should be in the national championship hunt every year when in truth, the results have been very good, but mixed in with some bad luck.
I agree completely with Yammer. I'll admit to some bias as I really enjoy Les Miles the Coach, but it's not just that. Georgia has always gotten great recruits but I really believe that they, in the next few years, will be the ones up there with Alabama in the SEC in recruiting and then, eventually once it catches up, on the field. LSU is going to start losing talent barring a truly inspired coaching hire and, given their decision on Miles and the accompanying wishy washiness the last two years with him, I don't think they have it in them.I don't agree. Now, in fairness to your point, "relevant" may be relative. To me, a team like LSU needs to be in the top 15 3 out of 5 years and in the playoffs 1 out of every five - at least - to be "relevant", because that is the expectation when you spend that kind of cash.
The Tigers just fired one of the top coaches in the game and they play in a conference where you can't stumble if you want to end the year relevant. This strikes me as being very similar to the Phil Fulmer and the Ty WIllingham firings, where alums have insane expectations and struggle to adjust to the new reality. I stand by my position, they won't be relevant over the next 5 years.
Louisiana produces more talent than arguably any other state, and certainly more talent per capita than anywhere else. Look at LSU's roster and compare it to any other major college program, not even Alabama can rival how many of the players are locally produced:I don't buy the in-state argument you guys are all making as the end-all/be-all, but maybe I'm wrong. You seem to discount Les Miles part in all of these top classes, as if the players have no out of state options? Les Miles, and before him Nick Saban, are manning that wall. Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Charlie Strong, Gary Patterson, dweeb from Clemson, hell maybe even the Chief Marketing Officer at Michigan, assuming the Colts thrilling come from behind victory against the mighty Chargers is a harbinger of things to come, will be scaling that wall very, very soon.
Larry Fedora is my guess for who replaces him long term, as an aside.
I agree with the bulk of your post and agree that LSU has had success in East Texas, but it isn't correct to say LSU is the closest major college program to (parts) of East Texas and certainly Houston. College Station is closer to most of East Texas, and Austin, Waco, and College Station are all closer to Houston than Baton Rouge.I wouldn't be that harsh with him, the quarterback thing has been his biggest bugaboo; but he did turn out Russell and Matt Flynn--plus he may have gotten screwed when Ryan Perrilloux ended up being such a fucking dope. The guy went 113-34 as a head coach, won one national championship and made it to another one while playing in the consistently toughest conference every year. He also has managed to produce more NFL talent than any other coach.
Louisiana produces more talent than arguably any other state, and certainly more talent per capita than anywhere else. Look at LSU's roster and compare it to any other major college program, not even Alabama can rival how many of the players are locally produced:
http://www.lsusports.net/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=27812&SPID=2164
Not only is LSU unique in that it is the only major college program in the state, but for years it has also capitalized on being the closest major college program to East Texas and the Houston area, although the rise of Baylor in recent years has drained that flow a bit. Like you said Georgia is their closest rival, but do we really want to compare Georgia's success over the last dozen years to LSU's? While players from Louisiana certainly leave and go to Alabama, Ole Miss and MSU, but not that many notable recruits. When you grow up in an area that worships LSU football and absolutely despises Saban and Alabama, it isn't that hard to recruit the top local talent. Top recruits want to do two things: Play at a big time, winning program and increase their chances of making it to the NFL--with or without Miles LSU has as strong of a pitch as any other program in the country in those two areas, and throw in the caveat that the players can play close to home and for the team that they have probably idolized throughout their childhood and it is pretty much a slam dunk with local recruits.
The choking to a 4-7 version of your most hated rival with the NCG on the line was pretty special.Is that really an exercise with any merit or is it just a reflection of your avatar being sad? You could say that about literally every season in every sport and, for that matter, everything in life.
It's grown more slowly but hasn't gone down.LSU was a pretty pedestrian program before Saban and Miles, and the state's population has shrunk in the past 15 years, as many of those displaced by Katrina never returned. I don't buy that any competent coach will automatically bring in top-10 recruiting classes most seasons.
This year's squad is underachieving, so I see the upside in this move, but there's also a ton of downside.
I understand there is luck in any championship season. I was just pointing out that for LSU to even play in that game took some incredible luck. On the last day of the season WVU lost to a massive underdog and Missouri lost to Oklahoma. That opened the door for a 2 loss LSU to play for the national title.Is that really an exercise with any merit or is it just a reflection of your avatar being sad? You could say that about literally every season in every sport and, for that matter, everything in life.
They also lost both games that season in triple overtime, so there was some luck on that end as well.I understand there is luck in any championship season. I was just pointing out that for LSU to even play in that game took some incredible luck. On the last day of the season WVU lost to a massive underdog and Missouri lost to Oklahoma. That opened the door for a 2 loss LSU to play for the national title.
He can't leave after this year; Les Miles is available.I realize that it is irrelevant to this thread, but man are the Colts struggling with some really good talent and a QB who was coached by Jim Harbaugh in college, who played for the Colts.
Sub-Pop was the label out of Seattle that drove the grunge movement.I don't know what sub-pop is, but I do love me a good Spike Lee joint.
Obviously kidding about D'antonio getting fired, but I do wonder if he's close to retirement. Trying to recruit against Harbaugh and Meyer is a young man's game.
This was well done.He can't leave after this year; Les Miles is available.