I asked Chat GPT to find me some reactions from when LSU hired Saban in 1999

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“The Advocate is reporting that Nick Saban will leave Michigan State to take the job at LSU.”

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“Nick Saban will be the perfect coach for LSU… which is baaaaaaaaad news for the Bayou Bengals…”

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“He’s crazy. MSU has gotten better, … and this one [the recruiting class] looks good too.”

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“No way. Nick Saban is the best coach around to carry on the glorious LSU tradition… of hiring mediocre, underperforming coaches. They offered over $1 million to a coach who in six years (?) has never come close to a conference title…”

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"1. Weaker conference = more victories
2. A lot more money
3. LSU doesn’t play Michigan every year
4. More job security — he could go 8-3 there and they’d call it a renaissance.
5. Better recruiting ground
6. No snow
7. No Michigan media
8. Golf all year round
9. Food’s better
10. Because he can."

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“Everybody knows that the SEC is the best conference.
I think this is the real reason Saban went south — not because it’s weaker, but because he’ll get to recruit and play against the best.

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2. A lot more money Couldn’t help noticing in an article the other day that among the top 4 college football coach salaries, all were in the South — Spurrier, Bowden, Saban, Fulmer. Money talks.”

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You see, that's the problem right there. I sleep with one of these
LSU-types, so I feel qualified to comment on what a horseshite myth this
really is. Saying LSU is a once-great football program is like saying
Poland was a once-great sea power. It sounds good, but it just doesn't
jive with the facts.

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Yeah, loyal to booze. That's the most sobriety-challenged fan base on the planet. If you ever want to see a glaring example of why LSU sucks, just take a tour of the SEC pregame festivities. The Ole Miss kids dress up and try to get laid. Georgia and Florida hold a cocktail party. Auburn has the Tiger Walk. The Million Dollar Band serenades the tailgaters at Bryant-Denny. The Vols fans sail down the Tennessee River in a floating parade. And then there's LSU. At LSU, all you see is a bunch of pickled ninth ward cajuns draining their Winnebago crappers in the Tiger Stadium parking lot with a can of Dixie Beer in one hand and a flyswatter in the other. And NO, sticking your drunk dick in between the bars of Mike's cage doesn't count as a tradition. Clearly, LSU is the Cousin Eddie of the SEC. Saban is so screwed. They need to pay the guy $1.2 million to coach that rag-tag football team and double that just to put up with those backwater hayseed swampfreak fans. I give him two years tops.

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He could have at least waited until the Spartans' bowl game was over before going to LSU. I have no problems with coaches going after better offers, but they should at least coach their old teams through their bowl games. LSU is staying home, so it wouldn't hurt them for Saban to stay at Michigan State to coach them for their bowl.

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It would have hurt MSU, tho. I just don't think Saban's good at prepping his teams for bowl games.

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Despite the Spartan success this season, I don't think Saban's a very good coach. Let LSU have him.

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Saban left Toledo after one season and a championship. Now he's bolting MSU after a fine season. Perhaps he's afraid of the heat if he can't repeat performances. One things for sure. No one at LSU will expect much for the next couple of seasons. By time they're tired of him he'll be a multi-millionaire.

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Mark my words: This is one of the dumnest career moves ever. Nick Saban's stock will plummet like Kate Winslet's inhibitions around donuts.

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