re: Was LSU's hiring of Curley Hallman the worst hiring in the..

There can be absolutely zero doubt to any sane person that Curley Hallman improved the LSU football program, because it was that bad. Despite having 5 consecutive years in which LSU didn't lose more than 1 SEC game (3 of which were SEC championships), Archer had the worst recruiting in LSU history. There were 0 Tigers selected in the spring 1993 NFL draft, and only 7 total from 1991 to 1994. That's just inexcusable. For a good while, the entire team was either all Todd Kinchen or all Eddie Kennison.

The real issue, then, is not whether or not Curley improved the program (since it's so obvious that he did), it's whether or not any other dumbass could have done the same thing given the recruiting base in Louisiana. Curley lost a lot of close games and for the most part was pretty competitive, but still, he was a really dumb game coach. Keep in mind, also, that the last LSU coach to go 0-fer in SEC competition was Jerry Stovall in 1983. Stovall was also an excellent recruiter.