re: For the old-timers...when did Cholly Mac first get on the hot seat?

He was fired after my freshman year, 1979, and it was known during much of the season that it was his final season. His seat got really hot in the mid 70's, but I don't know if it was 74, 75 or 76. It just got hotter each year with each successive loss to Bama.

quote:

---

where did the heat come from back then? was it mainly talk radio?

---

Setting the stage...No talk radio in those days...social networking was talking to someone face to face....

Believe it or not, one of the biggest social sites in that day was.....Barber Shops....yep, the local Barber heard and imparted opinions that were carried across the community.

Newspapers were the main source of information and a few columnist (Sam King and a few others whose names escape me just now) provided the only 'opinion' that was widely known. I'm sure Cholly's demise would have been speeded if these guys hadn't been 'gentlemen' sportswriters.

It's kinda hard for today's younger fans to understand the concept of limited information. We never thought of it that way....heck, we thought we were much more informed than our previous generation. Today there is much more information AND opinion available. We held opinions also....we just weren't allowed the chance to make a 'public fool' of ourselves because of the technology of the time.

Some things today are much much improved from those days......Some, not so much.

Most every post I have read on here about Cholly's reign are pretty spot on....

Heat built slowly starting from day one.....then accelerated around '74.....'77 was IT...

Speaking of parallels.....how long would Miles be here....if Saban came back as A.D.????????????
(Just to stir discussion.....LOL)

quote:

---

He was fired after my freshman year, 1979, and it was known during much of the season that it was his final season

---

I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that before the season Mac's contract was under review at a Board of Supervisors meeting being held on the LSUNO (now UNO) campus and that the coach sat in his car and waited. Apparently, Dietzel came out and said "They want to give you one year so you can serve as President of the Coaches Association. If I were you, I would just tell them no."

But, the story goes, Mac thought his '79 team was going to be very good and that they would win enough to earn him an extension. So he said "I'll take it." That team was good, but lost the famous heartbreaker to USC-w, lost by 3 in a rainstorm to Alabama, and lost a close game to FSU, all ranked in the top 5. They ended up 7-5 for the regular season and won the Tangerine Bowl over Wake. Mac then became President of the Tangerine Bowl (later Citrus, now CapOne Bowl).

The sportswriters back then also refused to tweet!

This is very close to what happened. Coach Mac was never fired. But, he knew that his contract wasn't going to be renewed along with everyone else in the LSU administration. Had LSU beaten USC and either Bama or FSU then there's a very good chance he would have been offered an extension but when LSU couldn't pull any of those games out then that sealed his not getting an extension and thus retiring from LSU.

quote:

---

LSU started off the season #9 and then jumped to 7th after beating Colorado soundly

---

Man, that brings back memories. I attended LSU in the mid-1970s. The 1974 team would have been a NC team except Mike Miley, the LSU starting QB, turned pro in baseball. Mac had installed the VEER offense just for Miley's skills as a dual threat QB. With Miley gone, Mac had to use Carl Otis Trimble, a converted WR, as QB. It worked against Colorado, but the team went downhill fast after the loss to A&M.

I'll never forget the Advocate headline after the Colorado game "Colorado - Veered Today, Gone Tomorrow!".

Sadly, both Miley and Trimble died young - Miley in a car accident when he was just getting started on a promising ML bsaeball career, and Trimble in a drowning accident not too long after he left LSU.

It is my understanding that the program became too 'soft' during the past 6-7 years of his tenure.

LSU struggled mightily against the better teams with winning records on their schedules.

By today's standards he would have been gone much sooner due to fan pressure.

The slippery slope began with Mike Miley choosing pro baseball over LSU football at the start of the '74 season. LSU had implemented the veer offense to fit the talents of both Miley and Carl Otis Trimble. It just wasn't successful. The '77 recruiting class was the class that many felt would put Coach Mac back on top...it was a talent rich group. But losing both Tommy Wilcox to Alabama and John Fourcade to Ole Miss in '78 was the precursor to his dismissal. Thought the '77 and '78 years were reasonably successful,Coach Mac could not lure new coaches to LSU because of his lack of job security. The BOS did Coach Mac no favors his last 2 years at LSU. He moved coaches around on the staff to just fill holes of those that had left...Coach Randall, the DL coach, Barry Wilson, the OL asst. coach and Lynn Amedee, the QB coach and OC...his last staff,('79),was a shadow of what it once was. The BOS bringing in Mr. Dietzel just insured the inevitable.

"Help Mac Pack"


ahhh, those were the good ole days