For the old-timers...when did Cholly Mac first get on the hot seat?

I would say when we had Bert Jones in '70 and '71 and he he insisted on playing a 2 QB system with Paul Lyons.
We actually beat the Bear in '69 and '70 but not again until '82.

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Cholly Mac was always on the hot seat, as I recall

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you don't say...even when he was averaging 9 wins a season?

From what my parents tell me who whete in school in the late 60s he was always on the hotseat. Just like today.

where did the heat come from back then? was it mainly talk radio?

1974 was supposed to have been a huge year for LSU. Some publications, including Athlon's had LSU winning the SEC over Alabama. This was "The Year of the Veer". It seemed like at that time a team either ran the wishbone or the veer.

LSU started off the season #9 and then jumped to 7th after beating Colorado soundly and Southern Cal losing. Then LSU lost at home to Texas A&M 21-14. Now, it turned out that Bellard had put his team on sound footing but losing to the Aggies sort of sent shockwaves through the fanbase.Then there was a tie at Rice and then a tie to a good Florida team. LSU did beat Tennessee for only the second time ever,but honestly that wasn't a real good UT team(they did improve,but weren't that good at the time.)

The much anticipated Alabama game that was on ABC (and remember, you could only play on TV twice at the most in that period) was a nightmare with Alabama winning 30-0. LSU wound up 5-5-1.Kentucky and Miss State beat LSU for the first time in 10+ yrs.

'75 was a indeed a losing season with good Texas A&M and Florida teams just crushing LSU at home 39-8 and 34-6.

McClendon seemed to have regained his footing after an upset in game one vs Lee Corso and Indiana in '77 climbing back to 16th, but Kentucky's best team in 25 yrs crushed LSU at home by 20 and Alabama won by 21 at Tiger Stadium.They were the best two in the SEC but LSU hardly laid a hand on them in the 4th qtr at home.

The knock on Coach mac was that he couldn't win the "big" game (read - Bama). The 2 QB system wasn't a real problem, except for the Bert Jones years, but from what I recall, Paul Lyons only got 1 series per half. The parallels between Mac and Miles is really amazing. Both had good/great records, had a sizable portion of the fan base that didn't like them, and had their nemesis in Bama. Hopefully, what befell Mac's successor, won't happen to Mles' when that day finally arrives (RIP Bo Rein).

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The day after he replaced Dietzel

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This.
I remember it as a combination of things. Back in the day Dietzel was handsome and articulate. Cholly Mac was ugly as hell and was the biggest poor mouther in the history of LSU.

Poor Mouther = "I don't know how we will win 4 games this year but we will try."

Cholly did bring in the concept of weight lifting which was rare before him.

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For the old-timers

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Ouch, Chicken. Guess if the shoe fits...

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when did Cholly Mac first get on the hot seat?

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My dearly departed Dad always said that Cholly Mac was hanging himself by not replacing assistant coaches more often. Pop, pop, pop, punt was how I recall he referred to the Tigahs' offensive strategy in the 70s.

Not being able to out-cheat the Bahr was not a problem unique to Coach Mac.

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So did he get pushed out? His bio says he retired. Never fired.

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Dietzel came in as AD and gave him 79 basically as a thanks but you gotta go deal


told to retire if you want

I agree with much of what has been said here. He was criticized from day one. His success his first year was widely attributed to having inherited a loaded team from Pepsodent Paul. He was also doomed to compare unfavorably in the judgment of many fans with his stylish and eloquent predecessor.

Even as he won many games in the sixties, he was criticized for being too focused on defense, too predicable on offense and too loyal to certain assistants. Plus, he had real trouble beating Ole Miss during Johnny Vaught's tenure and Alabama.

After several years of losing quarterbacks to injury (or in the case of Butch Duhe, death), he felt compelled to have a two quarterback system in place. That led to Bert Jones splitting time, even when he was thought by most fans to be the most exciting QB in a generation.

So, when the run of 9 win seasons ended with the extreme disappointment of the '74 season that I59 described quite well, the critics turned quite vocal very quickly.

Lest you think I'm advancing the Miles = Mac comparison that some have drawn, I would point out that Miles already has more SEC titles than Mac ever won, that Mac never won a MNC, that Miles has been very competitive against our top opposition, and has a much better overall record. That being said, if the tough times come, I fully expect the further criticism to mount as it did back then.