re: To all the Johnny Jones haters..

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If 2014-2015 season was the start of a 15 year run of 80% NCAAT, multiple Final Fours, multiple Elite Eights, multiple Sweet 16s, with the chance to not replicate Dale but maybe one year is all works out, who wouldn't take it? Oh I know. These guys. They would have championed their idiocy to fire at least half of the HoF coaches I mentioned above.

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It is ridiculous. Us "pumpers" have all criticized Jones at 1 point or another, but we are also able to realize that his strengths have this program rolling in the right direction with his prize class just coming in.

So far, he's exceeded expectations. Now the job is to build upon it and become consistent

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don't have a problem with someone saying that we should have been better with our talent( I personally believe this), but this statement is idiotic.

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I guess we will see this year, yes it was good to have those two guys, but after 3 seasons you have only 6 players worthy of minutes in the biggest game of the year? We def will have more overall talent, but we still need other players to improve to be a more complete team and finish more games out.

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I was as frustrated as anyone with some of our losses and some of Jones' in game decisions throughout the year, but we finished almost exactly where I and countless others expected.

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I will say the record we finished with both overall and in the SEC was about where I expected it would be and should be.

It's just watching the inconsistency and lack of discipline was maddening at times. The end of the Auburn game was a clinic in poor bench decisions. Did we really lose twice to Auburn?

I like Johnny, hell...everybody likes Johnny. That's how he got this job. All of his old buddies with stroke at LSU bugged the administration till they finally gave in and hired him.

His recruiting has exceeded my expectation and he hired a coach in Trealor who I have a tremendous amount of respect for.


I just hope he gives him the input he'll need to be as effective an assistant and he can be and I'll hope and pull for the best.

I'd just like to see more disciplined and consistent play from our team with some accountability sprinkled in. If we get that we could make a lot of noise with the talent at hand.

Geaux Tigers!

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Reading the article on his lack of coaching ability, you have to really wonder just how stupid a writer can be. Even if Johnny Jones is one of the worst tacticians of all time, we went out and got an assistant who is known to be a very tactical guy.
The best coaches are the ones who see their weaknesses and adjust. Has he not done that? And has he not consistantly made this team better over 3 years?

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replace 'Johnny Jones' with CLM and it's like you're reading 50% of the threads from the rant

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Even if Johnny Jones is one of the worst tacticians of all time

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He may be one of the worst in game coaches I have ever seen. I think that will continue to haunt LSU basketball as long as cJJ is the head coach.

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College spots are 90% recruiting 10% coaching

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I think I'm on record for not being the biggest Jones fan, but to say that he hasn't improved the program is asinine. Prior to his arrival LSU could not compete in the SEC and was traveling to (and losing) to the likes of Rice and Coastal Carolina! Hell, even one of Jones' NTU teams came in and beat LSU by 20 in the PMAC.

I still have my doubts that Jones is the guy to bring LSU to a consistent championship-competing level program. That's not based upon any personal animus towards Jones (I really would love to see a LSU guy succeed with is alma mater), but rather his lengthy head coaching history. Taking the P&G glasses off for a second shows that he has been nothing more than mediocre HC throughout his entire career. That's not unwarranted hate, just facts

My biggest criticism of him is his teams' lack of on court discipline and attention to detail. It's sickening to watch how many times LSU unnecessarily shoots themselves in the foot game after game. You can see the focus in the "big" games (UK, Ark, @ UF, etc) Hell, LSU even played pretty disciplined against NC State. They just couldn't get ANYTHING to fall for 10:00 and still damn near won the game. The problem is that he doesn't appear to be overly demanding of his team to keep their focus and attention level up against every opponent. It's why you see LSU struggle (and lose) to bad teams as well as have stretches where they allow an over-matched opponent to get back into a game that has no business being close. The play on the court can get sloppy, lazy and just plain stupid, yet Jones just allows it to continue instead of putting a stop to it immediately. You see guys like Calipari, Izzo, Donovan, etc. IMMEDIATELY call a TO when their guys start to make boneheaded plays.

I see Jones as a lot like Leonard Hamilton at FSU. On any given night Hamilton has enough talent and athleticism on his team to beat anyone in the country. On the flip-side, they are undisciplined enough to lose to anyone as well. It's why FSU hovers around .500 in conference play every year despite always seeming to beat some of the best ACC teams.

The best coaches are demanding. Not just here and there, or just during the big games, but every possession of every game. He does the hardest part well, getting the big-time players. But we've yet to see him put it together on the court. Can he ever? Next year is his time to either silence the critics or give nearly conclusive proof to their criticisms

Coach Jones is attracting young talented players to the program.

He is bringing excitement and anticipation to the program.

So far , the program has improved over the past three years.

Johnny is in his final year of his contract. I would say , he deserves an extension.

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To say we haven't improved since he took over might be the dumbest thing I've read on the rant

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Is the argument that LSU has only "slightly improved" because they went 18-14 in '11-'12 vs. 22-11 in '14-'15?

I don't really know what to say. Yes, LSU should have won more than 22 games last season, no question. But to say this program is only "slightly" better than it was under Johnson is ridiculous. If you remove TJ's first season at LSU, the Tigers only won a total of 12 conference games combined in the 3 years following. LSU almost won that many SEC games LAST SEASON. Also, if you look at LSU's results in conference play under TJ you'll see that LSU was routinely getting crushed by SEC opponents (many 12-20 point losses). LSU only lost one game by more than 10 points all of this year.

This program is remarkably better now than it was 4-5 years ago. That's indisputable. The question is whether Jones is the guy that can bring it from an avg to good program to a great program? That's yet to be determined

Yes, and I think your assessment has merit and is probably accurate.