re: Which LSU assistant is the most important to his team?

My thoughts are the stature of the baseball and football programs are very different. Both of those head coaches also won NCs without the assistants on the list. If one of those were to leave the programs are positioned to still bring in talent and a comparable replacement, even if the replacement isn't quite on the same level as the one that left. There may be a hit if they left, but the programs could survive.

Basketball on the other hand...much has been made about Jones' relative coaching ability. And would the program, or could the program, be bringing in Simmons type talent without Patrick?