re: LSU coaching staff hire grades

I'll give you Cooks but nothing about House hire screams anything lower than an A. That's as close to a homerun hire as we're going to get. I don't think Cooks by himself is a viable replacement for Raymond but with Steeples in there you have a real X factor that could be boom or bust for us. I think Steeples is a B- or C+ hire with A+ potential. He only gets a lower rating because too many unknowns. He and Cooks probably biggest unknown but I like the Steeples hire a lot personally. Cooks is whatever for me. I'll trust BK there.

My ratings:

Wilson - A+

Cain - A+

House - A

Pollian - A

Hankton - B

Sloan - B-

Denbrock - B-

Steeples - C+ (A+ potential love the hire)

Cooks - C

quote:

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Riley as HC: A+++++

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A rather important "blemish": Fears SEC competition

Milk duds for balls.

Pass

No one will succeed at Texas until they fix other internal issues within that program. I really don't think Herman did a bad job all things considered. Plus, Herman went from G5 to P5. Different situation with Riley.

Riley will have similar challenges at USC, but it seems like they're ready to make a commitment to getting their program back up and running. If Riley has the full support of the administration and a big budget he will do really well there. There's no real competition for him every year except Oregon. He is also a really good recruiter and if he can lock down California USC could blow up quickly.

He will likely have an easier path to the playoffs than he did at OU. Definitely an easier path than if he was at LSU. Glad he isn't here though since he was obviously scared of the sec.