Dinardo Hiring Process

I would be interested in the answer as well.
Though it went South, I like what he did here.

he was a disciple of Bill McCartney who turned Colorado into a power in the early 90s. He was their offensive coordinator when they won the NC

Then he basically made Vandy pretty respectable after that.

LSU saw him as the next hot young coach

back when LSU hired Dinardo, and Mike Archer and Curley Hallman for that matter, they were cheap (well Joe Dean was cheap) and didn't understand the necessity of spending money to hire good college football coaches. It was to our own detriment. But Dinardo was an up and coming coach who had moderate success at doormat Vanderbilt, going 19-25 over 4 years as well as being the OC for Colorado's national title team in 1990. And Dinardo did do a lot of great things here. I don't think he was a bad hire, he just ended up being far too loyal to Lou Tepper. But if Dinardo is not hired, or someone like him, to change the recruiting culture in Louisiana, then the past 17 years play out much worse for us IMO.

I remember listening to Buddy D on WWL and he played TAPS when LSU announced Dinardo. Wasn't a popular hire

quote:

---

Every one says this but Tepper was only D.C. here for the last 2 years.

---

well, LSU went from having a good DC in 1997, to a preseason top 5 team in 1998. Our defense gave up 275 passing yards a game in 1998. It was the sole reason we were 4-7. There's no excuse for that team not winning the SEC West. Dinardo had the opportunity to fire him after the 1998 season but chose to stick with him and followed up that 1998 season with an even worse 1999 season. He had back to back top 15 finishes in 96-97, and Saban benefited greatly from the talent Dinardo left behind.

quote:

---

quote:
far too loyal to Lou Tepper


Every one says this but Tepper was only D.C. here for the last 2 years.

---

Keeping him after 98 definitely still qualifies as being "far too loyal".

Tim Couch and Quincey fricking Carter


Whatever the factors that went into the decision, keeping Tepper over Watts, who interestingly went to Michigan State with Saban, was the final nail in his coffin.


And I'm a huge Dinardo fan that thinks he doesn't get nearly enough credit for where we are today from the idiots that think Saban birthed LSU football from his golden vagina.

quote:

---

Just curious what led LSU to hire Dinardo.

---

Real names (and we had real names interested in the job when Hallman was hired, BTW) weren't really interested in the job. LSU had come to terms with Pat Sullivan (Heisman winning QB from Auburn, who was at the time coaching TCU) - something happened - this was pre-internet, so it was leaked through conventional means but then something happened with his buyout - assurances that had been made were withdrawn - something made him stay at TCU.

Then, Joe Dean, in typical Joe Dean fashion, went with Dinardo. Dinardo catches a lot of crap - some of it deserved by his final 2-year collapse - but the rebuild job he did was tremendous. You kids don't remember how bad it was.

Dinardo literally and figuratively brought back "The Magic" and laid the foundation upon which Saban and Miles won championships.

LSU actually agreed to hire Pat Sullivan but backed off because they refused to pay the buy out. They basically settled for Dinardo because everyone else had turned us down and he said he would take care of his buy out (600 thousand dollars ) himself. Carl Reese didn't leave over money. It was a falling out between him and Dinardo and it started with the 36-21 loss to Ole Miss one week after beating #1 Florida. Dinardo wasn't on the staff that stole a national championship at Colorado in 1990, nor was Kordell Stewart the QB.

It was actually better than our most recent process, where NO other coaches were vetted or interviewed. Alleva did the lazy thing and just gave the job away to O.