Dale was a great coach who brought Tiger Stadium excitement to the PMAC, but there should be no knock on Chollie Mac.

The in-conference schedules that Mac faced included Fla, Alabama, Ole Miss (when they were consistently good), Tennessee, Auburn,.. as would be expected. The non-conference schedules included none of the directional schools or schools such as Kent or Fuhrman who didn't have the budgets or recruiting to compete. LSU played non-conference games with Texas A&M (ranked), Colorado (ranked), Oregon, Wisconsin, Notre Dame (#1), Southern Cal. (#1),Indiana, Baylor, Miami, TCU, Ga. Tech (ranked), South Carolina (ranked), Florida Sate (ranked), year after year. The only minor school on Coach Mac's schedule was Un. of Pacific in 1970 and 1972. The current schedules which bring in Kent, Furman, ULLNeLa, ULL-SwLa, North Texas, Towson, UAB,Fresno, Appalachian, McNeese etc. did not happen when Mac coached ( or even under Arnsberger, Archer, or Hallman).
Coach Mac's 70% win rate against legit competition is a lot more impressive than Saban's 75% against a reduced schedule. I like Les, his 2011 season was legit, I think he's a good coach, but the jury is not in yet on comparisons with Mac.

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Posted by GeorgeWest

Baton Rouge

Member since Nov 2013

13166 posts

Posted on 1/8/14 at 2:21 pm to CajunPhil

1. Dale Brown was a greater head MBB coach than Cholly Mac was a head fball coach at LSU. Dale Brown put LSU MBB on the national map. I wish he would have retired a few years earlier, but that decision was his not mine.

2. Les Miles is far superior as LSU HC to what Mac was. And during a period when winning against SEC competition is harder, imo. If Les chooses ot coach 'til he is in his upper 60's as I suspect, there will be NO DOUBT that Les is LSU's greatest fball HC. I think he is already, but the day is coming when ALL LSU fans will acknowledge that fact.

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Posted by TigerMike58

Houston, TX

Member since Aug 2010

734 posts

Posted on 1/9/14 at 2:23 pm to CajunPhil

quote:
CajunPhil

The non-conference schedules included none of the directional schools or schools such as Kent or Fuhrman who didn't have the budgets or recruiting to compete. LSU played non-conference games with Texas A&M (ranked)....Oregon....Baylor....Miami....FSU....

Just curious if you looked up schedules and saw TAMU, Baylor, etc. and assumed those teams in the 60's & 70's were the same caliber as today? LSU regularly played Rice, TAMU, & Baylor usually at home, from the mid 60's to the mid 70's. These were considered pencilled-in victories for the Tigers. TAMU was terrible until the mid 70's when Emory Bellard brought in the Wishbone. FSU & Miami were not powerhouses in the 60's / 70's.

Nothing has really changed. Teams played rent-a-win teams in the 60's / 70's just like today. And just like today with Oregon, WVU, Va Tech, Wisconsin, back then we scheduled the occasional Home & Home vs. the likes of ND, USC, Nebraska, etc.