re: How do you replace Craig?

Most of those names are underwhelming imo. Gotta fill NOLA need, RC need, NELA need and that's just the recruiting standpoint - nothing to do with coaching.

I ask again - how do you replace him? Who do you replace him with.


You get a coach that is great on teaching technique and fundamentals and has put receivers in the NFL and is great at evaluating talent, then you sign him up. There are coaches out there that meet those criteria. If he does a good job, the recruiting will follow.

I just can't put the failures all on him - I just don't know that to be true and not sure anyone here really does. It also flies in the face of this other recruiting successes at other places. I can't believe he was lazy there too.

I'm not pretending he is more than he is - he has a track record of being a great recruiter.

It not about DC, its about what you lose for LSU in the process of DC exiting. I think needing a good recruiter and a RC are not easy things to get.

Maybe they could have shuffled the deck a bit. Keep DC, replace the RC with another coach - most likely incoming because the few top candidates on staff don't want it. I would focus on RB coach/ RC on the same hire due to the odds of success - higher than others. Also with O and AT on staff, can't see why they can't help/ tutor the RC if he was lacking in some organizational capacity.

Again - I just don't really get the move.

Maybe its just me, but this "lazy" criticism of Craig is new and it does not fit his reputation. I have not seen this said about him outside this thread and don't know of any facts that support this conclusion.
can anybody help me with this ?

It sounds like we are going to get some really good news tomorrow.

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Yes his on the field coaching might have been lacking, but losing an ace recruiter at position of RC is important. I ask again - how do you replace him? Who do you replace him with

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you have a valid point and our recruiting could suffer a little, esp in south Alabama. replace him with a very good coach and a fair to good recruiter and you should still be in am improved position. Louisiana has always produced and excess of top receiver talent and we should get our share. the position of WR is very technical and a position where skills are every bit as important (or more so) as speed. you have to admit our receivers underperformed this year. we need a real teacher at that position. hell man, our QB's need as much help as they can get.

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Can Thomas be titled as 'recruiting coordinator' to allow himself to recruit, even if not an on the field coach?

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I don't know the rules, but I don't see why Austin Thomas couldn't be the recruiting coordinator-- even if he wasn't allowed to recruit. Recruiting coordinator is more like being a sales manager than a sales rep. The role itself is about gathering intel on quality prospects, assigning territories and responsibilities, coordinating efforts to maintain contact with prospects via letters, email/text/calls/social media, organizing the board of priorities for who should get offers, coordinating times when coaches can visit recruits and when recruits can visit LSU, and so on.

A good recruiting coordinator doesn't even have to be a good recruiter. They just take the burden of the administrative and planning/coordinating efforts off the shoulders of the coaches, so everyone on staff is on the same page and the other coaches can do the real sales/recruiting work and coach their positions. And I think sometimes earning that title can be a way that the head coach rewards good assistant coaches with greater responsibility (read: promotion and raise) to keep them from moving on... not entirely dissimilar to assistants getting associate head coach type titles.

As I was reading this thread, I was curious when Thomas' name would come up. It was my understanding (from this board... I'm as far as can be from an insider) that Thomas was Frank Wilson's right hand man and helped Wilson a ton with regards to his recruiting coordinator duties. If true, he likely already has a good idea of how to run that facet of the program.

I agree with you.
The recruiting coordinator is someone who should be keeping up with which recruits have been contacted by which recruiters and when. He should have record of concerns and impressions about each recruit and have a strategy for dealing with that. These are administrative duties, not recruiting activities.
For example a good recruiting coordinator should have known if Mathis had been contacted by Jenkins, his position coach. if not, an action plan for someone should have followed. A recruiting coordinator should have had contact with and a solid contingency plan for Travis Etienne in the event Cam Akers went elsewhere. There are other examples. A good RC is not necessarily a recruiter, IMO.

As RC how do you not know that the top receiver from JUCO and a committ does not have the grades and you supposedly find out on NSD. Also thought we had a real good shot at Smith from Amite and he seemed to change over the weekend. Agree he was an asset but somethinng had to happen for him to be let go just that fast.