What went wrong with our coaching search

and a parallel question is "how difficult is it to get an established successful HC to coach in the SEC West"

before you attempt to squelch my first amendment rights I hope you read this and think about it

it is very difficult to get a successful head coach to change jobs. most successful guys are already making millions; fairly close to the the 5 million or so we would pay. if said coach is happy and likes where he is and makes close money (esp. if he can use us as leverage to get more by staying) a smart guy isn't going to accept the risk of coming to LSU right now and having to compete in the brutal SEC west, esp against Saban. LSU has high expectations of success.

I think we didn't just lose Fisher and Herman, but Fedora as well. Fedora and his family are very happy in Chappel Hill and I can see why. he turned down Tennessee not long ago. in today's Dandy Don interview with mike Detillier he iterated that coaches from "other regions" did not show great interest in the job.

for some that view this LSU HC job in a vacuum, their are some very good jobs at other schools. my point is that LSU was going to have to hire a guy not yet proven at the top level (a present coordinator or small school HC) until coach O came in and, facing the most brutal 7 game schedule in the country, had success. and he won over a lot of fans and big boosters in the process. one can view this either as a good thing or a bad thing (and that is certainly being done).

HC coaching searches really are about timing and luck; not just at LSU. our timing was just not conducive to hiring a big name guy. hell, we offered Fisher to be the top paid coach in the country and it didn't work.

sure, coaches are extremely competitive people and want to play the best, but not at the expense of their careers. I just hope coach O works out; his story would be a great one and he's a guy that people pull for (underdog, etc). if not, we'll be out there looking again.