re: Which LSU football coach left us the greatest legacy?

I'm 53. I started at LSU in '88, but my folks were taking me to games since I was a baby (so literally longer than I can remember).

So much of the world in general has changed dramatically since those old days that comparisons really lose most of their meaning. The whole approach to LSU football as a fan was just so much different. The vast majority of people almost never got to actually see a game. So few of them were on tv that you really needed to find a ticket and actually go sit in the stadium to see the Tigers play. That made attending the games at all a genuine privilege, and an experience to be cherished every second just because you got to be there at all. The notion of leaving early or complaining about the quality of the opponent would have seemed alien to us back then.

Also, there was so much less coverage, especially nationally. We followed what LSU was doing, what Ole Miss and Tulane were doing, usually what the rest of the SEC was doing, and you always heard about what happened with Notre Dame, Oklahoma/Nebraska, Ohio State/Michigan, and Army/Navy. Beyond that, it was largely hit or miss on whether you would find anything about a game beyond the score. So there was a lot less of the "grass is greener" bs. We were LSU fans and we loved LSU and LSU's coaches and players. And when we lost, we hated the bums. And if we made a bowl game, that was great because only a handful of teams earned that honor. We were never "disappointed" with a "lesser bowl bid", and we always appreciated a win, even if it was against Rice.

Don't know if any of that made sense, but it's hard to explain. Things were just different, and presumably because that's how I was introduced to LSU football I think it was better. That seems to be how emotional attachments often work.

Tl;dr: I'm old.