re: Where does Paul Dietzel rank amongst LSU football coaches?

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Why did Paul Dietzel leave again? Did he retire? Or get an offer elsewhere?



He left for Army, when Army was still a prestige CFB program. Vietnam and the draft took care of that soon after he arrived

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Yeah, Army and Navy were powerhouses at that point. My grandfather went up to West Point with Dietzel, got off the plan in 28 degree weather and said "screw this, I am going back to Baton Rouge". He coached with Mac for the next 20 years.

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What about 1969?

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1973 was after 1969 - they won 9 straight games - losing the 10th game (to Bama, of course) was like Mac's Gettysburg. '74 we went 5-5-1 and the handwriting was on the wall.

I think the time between the Mississippi State game and the end of the Bama game in 1973 was the high water mark because LSU had just won its 45th game in 5 seasons and secure the 5th straight top 13 finish. This was the culmination of his best sustained period of success as LSU's head coach.

For those wanting to argue '69 because it was a MNC-caliber team (and Mac's best team as a head coach), I disagree.

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I was not around for Dietzel and for Mac I remember his seasons from 73-79 very well and I think all will agree those werent his best years. I do think Mac was a great coach and a great man and should be beloved by all Tigers.

I think what may be left out and it was mentioned in the movie Ole War Skule was that many of the players felt Mac was such an incredible teacher of the game and the duties of the head coach limited the amount of time he could spend teaching players versus the amount of time he was able to spend as DC.

From my understanding Dietzel was very good administratively and was pretty good running an offense considering the era and typical offensive production of that era.

So I think LSU possibly would have been better off if Dietzel had stayed and ran the program and Mac had been the longtime DC. Whether Mac would have stayed a DC who knows but I think the Dietzel/Mac combo would have kept LSU nose to nose with Bama from the 60's until at least the early 70's.

Just my thoughts but I do believe Dietzel and Mac if remained together at LSU would have produced some more legendary teams and probably another NC or two.

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One of the few voices of reason in this thread.

I really don't get all the dislike of Dietzel on here, like he was some kind of a Judas or something.

(A) He apparently didn't choose to leave on his own. Army in 1962 was nobody's "dream job."

(B) He clearly got it done his last 4 years, and was great at getting his team prepared to win the big game. In that time period, when Ole Miss clearly had the best football program in the nation, they were 0-3-1 against LSU. Even in 1960, Dietzel managed to give the Rebels' national championship team their only blemish.

(C) To this day, the only conference title won in the history of South Carolina football was won by Dietzel.

(D) He was apparently respected well enough to be named athletic director at South Carolina and Indiana, as well as president of the American Football Coaches Association and the national Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

(E) At the time Dietzel left, LSU was the 3rd most prestigious football program among SEC powers. He left it in good enough shape to be successful in the next few seasons from 1962-64 (just as he left Army in good enough shape to be successful in the next few seasons from 1966-68), but both programs went on a downward slide soon after. That's the sign of losing a great coach. (See Miami & Nebraska.)

(F) When everyone at LSU was apparently too chicken shite to fire Coach McClendon face-to-face, Dietzel came in and did the job that had to be done. I don't see why anyone should begrudge him for this. He faced the death of Bo Rein, and then did a good job in standing behind the short-term replacement in Jerry Stovall. As I recall, there were some NCAA infractions discovered in 1982 that had to do with Jerry Stovall and/or Dale Brown taking recruits to lunch at a local seafood restaurant, but it was not like the more serious sanctions imposed in 1998 due to Lester Earl.


Sentimentality aside, there can be little doubt that the LSU football program experienced an enormous blow by losing Dietzel. The program did not reach the sustained level it was at from 1958-1961 until the 2003-2007 years about 45 years later.

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To reiterate - Mac's defenses gave up less than 6 points per game over those 4 seasons.

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It was Dietzel's team.

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Mac did more for LSU than Dietzel did.

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That's absurd.