quote:
Remember, Saban wasn't a very "hot name" following the 1999 season

This isn’t really true, he already had NFL teams sniffing around him. People here just weren’t as familiar with him as they’d be now with all the information we have at our fingertips these days

That was my impression, too, although I was living in Indiana (Big 10 country) at the time. He was highly regarded and the common belief was it was just a matter of time before Saban ascended. As an LSU fan in the midwest, I was really excited when LSU hired Saban. I remember saying to someone that he was the closest thing to a young Vince Lombardi out there.

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Posted by Alt26

Member since Mar 2010

36162 posts

Posted on 10/20/21 at 1:05 pm to Scoob

quote:
Yeah he was. He and Ferentz were the two guys that were talked about; both were considered strong detail-oriented guys who could become elite coaches.

Saban getting the job seemed to come out of nowhere. And him getting paid over $1 million per year seemed INSANE at the time. Saban's name wasn't mentioned much. The "hot names" that were being thrown around at the time were:

Bob Pruitt - had just led Marshall to an undefeated season
Mark Richt - OC at Florida St.
Glenn Mason - HC at Minnesota who had just led them to their best season in decades...including a huge upset win over #2 Penn St. (there were reports he had met with LSU)
Dennis Erickson - Oregon St. HC (former Miami HC).

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Posted by lsufb1912

Louisiana

Member since Aug 2021

5965 posts

Posted on 10/20/21 at 1:16 pm to GeauxLSUGeaux

As an LSU fan, I agree with you. OU's chances of making the playoffs & winning championships will be much lower once they join the SEC, but I don't think Lincoln Riley sees it that way.

Also, why are we acting like the only good defensive players are in the south? Sure, they're not gonna start stealing recruits from LSU/Bama/UGA, but with their location they will own the midwest to West Coast in recruiting compared to the rest of the SEC.

To summarize my point, I don't see Lincoln Riley "wanting" to come to LSU & he is not this "home run" hire that some like to think he is. He's not gonna magically have a defense if he starts getting Louisiana recruits & I'd rather not lose to Bama 62-51 every year.

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Posted by EasterEgg

New Orleans Metro

Member since Sep 2018

5524 posts

Posted on 10/20/21 at 1:18 pm to jbraua

Actually, Louisiana caught his eye during his NFL days. I've seen an old interview of Saban wherein he said when he was DC at Cleveland, he seen an NFL survey of the home state of all current NFL players, and Louisiana was like number 5 on the list behind the big states of California, Texas, Florida. He thought to himself that if a small state like Louisiana is producing that much NFL talent, then there should also be lots of success at the college level. Fast forward to his MSU days and now you have his budding interest in LSU.

So I believe his initial interest came earlier while at Cleveland, even if that interest was in Louisiana as a whole before LSU.

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