re: My thoughts on the Kevin Steele hire

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quote:Thanks Kevin Sumlin!

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It was time for Chavis to go

LSU defenses before Chavis where better in the trenches and I believe with Steele and Coach O we will get back to dominating the middle and along with our stock pile of DB's defense will be our strong suite.
If we do not have better production at QB, opposing teams will continue to stack the box and our offense will sputter.
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The "Talent" at Alabama is no better than at LSU, yet they win the SEC and/or NC with consistent regularity.


Completely false. LSU recruits at a very high level. Alabama recruits at an almost untouchable level. Seriously. Nick Saban gets the best talent on a yearly basis. If anything, his on field results are just slightly underachieving compared to his recruiting rankings.

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And they have lost 2 consecutive bowl games; Saban is 3-5 in bowl games as of now. Ironically, that bolsters the OP's argument of having X & O's issues with our talent level since hands down Bama has the most consistent, highest talent level in CFB. Even more ironically, while it backs his premise it ruins his comparison to Bama.

Yes, Steele has been embarrassed several times. Yes, there's been a lot of revisionist history. But he's never had this much talent to work with. Let's see what he does. He'll never have this good a chance to revise his own history as now.

But Chavis has had his own embarrassments, just not as many. And in some cases (Clemson bowl game, 119 plays?) his D just got put in an almost no-win position. I'm not thinking about the ND game; I'm thinking about MSU last year. That was freaking embarrassing (ignoring the B Harris scores, against mostly D backups mind you).

We stop Bama on that last drive and we go to Atlanta as SEC west champs playing for a spot in the NC game.

We were a few seconds away. Calling that a "decline" is a bit misleading. Now an 8-5 season is a clear drop off from championship contention and something that needs to be improved upon fast.

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Keep everything the exact same at both programs, but just switch Head Coaches and LSU would immediately win the SEC.

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Lotsa problems with this:

1. Saban is not coming back
2. Why must you measure our coaches success against a coach that left us on Christmas Day?
3. Why cant you recognize and acknowledge the level of success that Miles has had at LSU?
4. Name the only LSU coach in your lifetime that has taken the program to two MNC gam

The old saying Jimmy's and Joe's beat X's and O's has some merit. While LSU's defensive schemes of the past were pretty good, there was a noticeable scarcity of talent at key positions on defense since the 2012 season. Chavis was not a dynamic recruiter, whereas Steele has been throughout his career. LSU appears to be getting the Jimmy's and Joe's it wants with the hire of Steele and Orgeron. We will have to wait and see if Steele's X's and O's are as good as his ability to get Jimmy's and Joe's.

While LSU fans have been focusing on the recruiting side of the coin, Texas A&M fans are convinced Chavis will fix their defensive deficiencies with X's and O's. I'm skeptical about that. I'm not convinced A&M has enough Jimmy's and Joe's. How will Chavis instill physical toughness in the defensive players when they practice against offensive players who do not focus on a physical style of play? His schemes can get players into positions to make plays, but if they can't make the plays what good has it done them?

The impact of X's and O's might be more immediately apparent, but over time the Jimmy's and Joe's will make more difference.

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Texas A&M fans are convinced Chavis will fix their defensive deficiencies with X's and O's

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I remember how Tennessee fans warned us about 3rd and Chavis when LSU hired him...they will soon enough learn themselves...they are convinced since it was Chavis' defenses that gave Manziel his two worst games in college that he will be their savior...

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Given this guy's horrible losing record at Baylor and his less than spectacular performance as a DC ... I'm hoping for the best. I'll be happy if he proves my apprehension groundless.

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First of all being a HC and a position coach are two different things entirely. Not all position coaches make great head coaches. Now, as a position coach the game we like to refer to as to how poor a hire this is (vs. West Virginia), but 42 of the 84 scholarship players on that team were either true freshman or red-shirt freshman. Two years later that team beat LSU (albeit in the final minutes) in the Peach bowl.

Goto to 27:30 of the game and hear for yourself

Just putting facts out there. The team they played gave LSU all they wanted earlier (533 yards of offense against) that same year when we went to West Virginia and played them. We just had better athletes. We won that game handily with only 366 yards of total offense.

Though, my concern would be that Steele does like to do matchups like Saban. He like to get certain players on the field at certain times which does not work well against a hurry-up style team. However, that style works to get Alabama past teams they should beat handily. We'll have to see if that ends up working for the Tigers.

Also, the Steele pick had a lot to do with bringing in Orgeron and keeping Raymond, IMO. Again, most DCs want to be able to bring their own people in and Miles did not want to deconstruct the entire defensive unit and the way they were being trained because Chavis left. Steele was someone who might be around for a while and didn't need to bring in his own guys. The hire also provided an opportunity to strengthen recruiting which from the evidence shown so far, it has.

I'm quite hopeful that if these kids understand their assignments coupled with the using their instincts, that we will get back to more of a "Pelini-style" attacking defense with more sacks and turnovers. But it too will have its drawbacks.

[quote]Then why has LSU declined each year since "21-0" to the current 8-5 and "Unranked" status? Talent has been there except at one position last season. The "Talent" at Alabama is no better than at LSU, yet they win the SEC and/or NC with consistent regularity. Keep everything the exact same at both programs, but just switch Head Coaches and LSU would immediately win the SEC. [quote]

I hate that none of this is incorrect...because none of this is incorrect.

Talent is 75% but not 99. They can't coach themselves.

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Talent is 99% of it.
Then why has LSU declined each year since "21-0" to the current 8-5 and "Unranked" status?

Talent has been there except at one position last season.

The "Talent" at Alabama is no better than at LSU, yet they win the SEC and/or NC with consistent regularity.

Keep everything the exact same at both programs, but just switch Head Coaches and LSU would immediately win the SEC.

I can guarantee with 100% certainty that Saban isn't going to be running a "Pro-Set I-Form Offense" that's designed for "Drop Back under Center" QB's with "Spread Shotgun" QB's.

No way the man would force the square peg into the round hole. He's smarter than that.

Talent is important, but it's NOT 99% important. It has to be complimented by some degree of competent game mangement and organization from the head coach.

Enough is enough. Time to finish first in the SEC West minimum.

It could happen if BH "Pulls a Jameis" in his second year and major injuries are avoided on defense and the OL...............

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what does saban's cock taste like?

Talent is huge but it isn't 99% of it.

Pendergast was target #1. He has really sick family in Arizona(?). I think that played a role in his decision to turn down LSU. He wound up heading back to the NFL in SF; closer to home. Not saying LSU couldn't have landed him, but it's possible he didn't want to be taking care of his family while also working 365 days a year trying to deal with 18 year old kids. It's not like he turned us down for a lesser gig or even an equal gig.

Bob Shoop was was choice number 2 (or 1A). The rumor was that he was really interested, but LSU wasn't going to commit to him immediately. James Franklin essentially told him that if he went down to BR at all, he wasn't going to have an office in Happy Valley when he came back (this is also what the story allegedly was when Jack del Rio was interested in replacing Saban). He'll be great at Penn State, but I doubt he turnS down a solid $1million+ offer from LSU, had they made it.

Steele is a good hire, and might very well be great. People are kidding themselves if they think he was target number 1. But Les knew his job past 2016 depended a lot on this hire. He was going to be deliberate during the process (now, should he have had a list already in mind and been ready to open the check book immediately? I'd say so. It seems like the writing was on the wall about Chavis for a while. A back up plan should have at least crossed his mind).

Anyway, getting a linebackers coach specifically was key. Even though Chavis claimed that as his specialty, it always seemed to be a thin area on the squad--a good to great MLB generally, but uncertainty on the outside. Hopefully Steele can Bring the level of recruiting in that area up to par with the D-Line/Secondary. With the way the DLine had been going lately--talent with below average results, Coach O was key. LSU now essentially has the three best coordinators in CFB at their positions. Steele just needs to manage all of the parts. If he can field a top flight defense with the talent presently here, he'll be shown the door quickly.


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Geaux Tigers