quote:
But yes, there are actually some folks dumb enough to advocate for Napier to be the hire. They’ve been fed by the Gump trolls and have eaten it up.

I’ve seen very few who’ve advocated for Napier as the #1 choice.

The truth some of you want to ignore is that Napier has been or is still in the running for the job. That’s not because Woodward’s reading a message board thinking to himself “hmmm, I should look into this Napier guy these anonymous message board coaching gurus are high on.”

It’s because those that know in the college football industry consider him to be a terrific coach with a bright future in leading a major college football program. That’s not me saying it, it’s those that know way more than you or I know.

It doesn’t take long once you get past the Lincoln Riley’s of the world that names like Napier and Campbell come up. It is what it is. And if you’re not aware of the standing Campbell has had and still has in the way of young, up-and-coming coaches then I don’t know what to tell you.

Both are well-respected coaches who run two low resource college football programs with historical success during their tenures. Hell, ULL finished the season ranked 15th last year and will likely finish in a similar spot this year. Are you kidding me?!

It would be much better for us all if the debate consisted of making valid and CONSISTENT arguments for and against the coaches we THINK are the finalists. The ones calling people “stupid” never seem to offer well-defended positions for who they’d like to see hired and typically shallow arguments against the coaches they know nothing more than what they read on Wikipedia.

Seriously, who’s your pick? What are your specific beefs with Napier and Campbell?

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Posted by DocBugbear

Arlington, Texas

Member since Mar 2008

8140 posts

Posted on 11/20/21 at 3:59 pm to SportTiger1

quote:
Riley
Aranda

Napier

Campbell

quote:
Switch Campbell and Napier and this is a solid breakdown.

I say switch Riley and Aranda at the top two.

Edit: As well as Campbell and Napier.

This post was edited on 11/20/21 at 4:09 pm

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Posted by Carter

Member since Nov 2003

3667 posts

Posted on 11/20/21 at 4:00 pm to McCaigBro69

Dude, Campbell is a tier 1 candidate.

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Posted by LSUChamps03

S. Louisiana

Member since Feb 2006

3306 posts

Posted on 11/20/21 at 4:09 pm to jrodLSUke

quote:
I’m still waiting for Napier to win the Sun Belt.

How about he took over a losing program and in ALL FOUR seasons he’s taken his team to the conference championship game?!

In the first two he lost to a much more well-established program in Appalachian St. A team his obliterated this year. Progress!

Last season he won a co-championship by default because the conference championship game was canceled. And this year, hell, UL is going again!

It works both ways. What I meant in my prior post about CONSISTENT arguments. You can’t use no Sunbelt championships against Napier then not criticize Aranda (who I really like) when he’s in year 2 with no conf championship game appearances.

It goes deeper than “he’s only a g5 coach”, “he’s only talked about because he’s from ULL”, or “Campbell doesn’t prioritize winning!” when the man expressed the same philosophy about building a culture and program that Nick Saban has touted for 30 years!

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Posted by DocBugbear

Arlington, Texas

Member since Mar 2008

8140 posts

Posted on 11/20/21 at 4:19 pm to LSUChamps03

I don't think Napier's a bad coach or a bad choice for an LSU coach. However, I think he's got a lot more question marks than a number of our other options.

I think you'd have to agree that the level of play and players in the Sun Belt is not the same as at the P5 schools. We can't say that his success in the Sun Belt will produce the same results at the P5 level. That's the biggest concern with Napier. Most of the coaches from the lower tier schools don't replicate their success.

And technically, there's only one season where Aranda hasn't won or competed in the Big-12 championship game (a much tougher conference than the Sun Belt) as he's still in the running this year.

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Posted by Bjorn Cyborg

Member since Sep 2016

36529 posts

Posted on 11/20/21 at 4:29 pm to McCaigBro69

I’m cool with winning the press conference, but the truth is no one knows who would be the best hire.

NO ONE KNOWS!

So you can act incredulous that anyone would disagree with you, but you don’t know any more than the people you are calling out.

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Posted by LSUChamps03

S. Louisiana

Member since Feb 2006

3306 posts

Posted on 11/20/21 at 4:31 pm to DocBugbear

quote:
think you'd have to agree that the level of play and players in the Sun Belt is not the same as at the P5 schools. We can't say that his success in the Sun Belt will produce the same results at the P5 level. That's the biggest concern with Napier. Most of the coaches from the lower tier schools don't replicate their success. And technically, there's only one season where Aranda hasn't won or competed in the Big-12 championship game (a much tougher conference than the Sun Belt) as he's still in the running this year.

I agree the level of play from Sunbelt to SEC is light and day for the most part. I don’t think Vanderbilt could win the Sunbelt, and NO Sunbelt team would win the SEC.

But Napier is beating teams with similar resources to his. Obviously you can’t expect UL to compete with SEC schools with 10x the budget, facilities, etc. that he has at UL.

Going against his peers at that level, however, he wins. And like all teams at all levels sometimes he doesn’t win pretty or as by as much as his critics would like. But he wins - he’s a winner.

I suspect if you put him at a place like LSU, with the resources, assistant coaching budget, recruiting footprint (which, by the way, he’s infinitely knowledgeable of), etc. his abilities translate up to the next level. Admittedly my opinion, but also the opinion of people who evaluate coaches for a living.

And you are correct, Baylor may still be in the running for its conference championship. I was mostly using Aranda as an example of how people give one coach a downvote because of something they don’t dock another coach for. I mean LR is 0-3 in the playoffs. I don’t really hold that against him because there is more at the surface than that simple fact.

And thanks, this is the kind of friendly discussion I like to see.

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Posted by Mid Iowa Tiger