Did O really say he doesn't expect to win championships?

It was normal coach speak, focus on one game, blah, blah.

Not a big deal and I hate Joe Alleva and his farce of a coaching search more than anyone.

For this year, right?

Not really, he was just talking in coach speak about one week at a time.

That being said, the about face by his supporters has been astonishing. We went from a pretty uniform consensus that we were firing Les because we wanted to get to Bama's level, or at least win 9-10 games with a fun offense.

After saturday night the narrative of the O's has shifted to "As long as O can win 7-8 games in the worst SEC in recent memory by any means neccessary then he's done a good job."

Didn't see it, but that's not how it's being quoted.

He said, something to the effect, they didn't impose championship expectations on the team (players).

Still bad, but not quite the same thing. This isn't UAB, La Tech, or even SMU (all due respect) - LSU players come to the school and the coaches are hired to compete for SEC and National Championships in football. Even in the darkest days of Curley, that was the mindset - we have a talent-rich recruiting pool, no real in-state competition for that pool, a football focus in the state, a football emphasis in the AD, a top-tier stadium and, on good days, fanbase, etc., etc.

So, it is a verbal gaffe at the very least. Warrants a talking to by the AD, if we had one.

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That being said, the about face by his supporters has been astonishing. We went from a pretty uniform consensus that we were firing Les because we wanted to get to Bama's level, or at least win 9-10 games with a fun offense.

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Meh - I respect your take, but I don't think this is what's going on - at all. The negas just wanted Les gone - they wanted him gone since 1/9/2012 (many before that) - the wanted the team to lose to get Les gone. ANYBODY would have pleased them - forgetting they should have wanted the AD fired first.

Then, when the dream choices (Fisher and Herman) fell through and they got what you get when you fire a 77% HC without a good plan - a fallback, and not even a particularly imaginative one. Listening to folks express that it was a mistake for USC not to retain O after his interim stint, couple with some petty overreactions by Alleva to having to do the dirty work of hiring a football HC - and that's how you get to here.

But, the negas were all for firing Les at all costs. Even O.

What has happened is the "posis" (I'm a certified positiger, BTW) were, "Well, O's the guy. We'll see."

And we're supporting the team like we always do. There has been no "turnabout" by O's supporters - he can't have really had all that many loyalists to begin with - just negas that wanted ABL (Anybody But Les) and posis who back the team and the players, regardless of the coaches.

What has happened is - as they always due, once we lose a game, Negas turn on the coaches and root against the team until they get another coaching change. It is their role in life. The rest of us just have to deal with it.

Don't impose championships on the players?


Whatt

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Like I said - didn't see it yet - that's what's being quoted. "We don't impose championship expectations on the players" - or equivalent language. May be out of context or not quite exact. Others who've seen it draw the inference this is a "one game at a time" coachspeak. I defer to that broadly until I can actually watch it.

Still bad optics, no matter how you diagram it.

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Agreed

Soon basically, the "building championships" binder was all a lie.... ?

I supported Les for the longest time, really until the Wisconsin loss. But the Orgeron hire I was against from the beginning, it's just an insane move. Then I let myself suckered in by narrative and optimism and just the excitement of college football...only for every worry and concern I had to come flying to fruition during this game. If you read about his Ole Miss tenure, they're almost identical so far. I don't think he's learned anything.

If we had hire any sort of up and comer, or someone who had their own offensive style or whatever they wanted to implement I would be all for waiting. But that isn't the case. This is a man who failure has followed anytime he has risen above position coach, and who only got the job through a confluence of events and fan guillibility that would seem unbelievable if you saw them in a move. It is a unique situation where strident concern and a short leash from the fans isn't just warranted, it might save the program.

And you seem very rational my friend and I respect that. However, there are definitely numerous fans who love O purely he's from Louisiana and he's one of them and he says all the right things. And there has already been a shift in expectations that would not occur were it not his unique hold on a certain segment of the fan base. I would love nothing more than to go 11-1, and certainly there is a narrative one can spin about last night where it's injuries and bad luck and a young team on the road against an elite opponent. But that's not the narrative I'm buying. Not when our coach has history has having one of the most infamous disasters of a tenure in college football history.