re: Why do you hate Billy Napier?

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But question... why do you love Billy Napier?

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I don't know if he is the best candidate, but I do think he's a solid one. I have watched a lot of ULL games since he's been the coach. I see a team that is consistently well coached, with excellent fundamentals, a strong defense, punishing running game, and that wins close games.

I haven't seen him do it once but 3 years in a row despite losing a lot of veteran players.

He has won more games in a season than any coach in the history of the school.

He's also consistently recruited above his peers, netting the best recruiting class in his conference 3 straight seasons.

He's already built a relationship with local high schools and coaches which should give him a leg-up in recruiting Louisiana relative to candidates from other regions of the nation.

When I watch this UL team, I don't see the signs of this being a "trap" team like Southern Miss was with Brett Favre. There doesn't appear to be any super stars on this squad making Billy look better than he is against inferior competition. It just looks like well-coached football.

I agree that he hasn't proven he can do it in the P5, but there aren't many available coaches who have which don't also come with massive personal baggage (not that I particularly GAF about that, but I know our AD does). I also think that several of the hot names either aren't leaving their current situation (Lincoln Riley, Mario Cristobal, Mike Tomlin, Chip Kelly, Brian Kelley, Mark Stoops, Jimbo Fisher), are taking another job (Franklin to USC and Fickell to Penn St) or are significant personal risks (Urban Mayer, Hugh Freeze, Art Briles, Kendal Briles, Lane Kiffin, Jon Gruden). I also don't see Chris Peterson leaving retirement for the LSU job.

That pretty much just leaves Napier, Tucker, Malzahn, and Aranda. Napier has shown consistent success at ULL. Aranda has had a pretty unremarkable record thus far at Baylor, but could change that perception if they continue to improve this year. Tucker's team looks like they've improved from year 1 to year 2, but they still have a lot of football to be played. Gus looks pretty mediocre at UCF despite inheriting a pretty stacked program, but we know he can be consistently decent in the SEC.

So you’re saying that people don’t want him because of Saban comparisons? And because other people are loud in wanting him? That doesn’t make any sense. You can be annoyed by those people, but to have that affect who you think would be a good coach here it’s pretty asinine.

I think Jordy is blatantly campaigning for Napier, and I don’t give a shite. That’s not gonna affect my judgment of who I think would be a good coaching hire.

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He’s Tom Herman all over again

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Ive never seen him kiss his players.

I agree that James Franklin is by far the best possible candidate. He was a straight miracle worker at Vanderbilt. I just don't think he'll come here. I think he's either going to USC or staying put in Happy Valley.

The only thing that worries me about Fickel is the fact that he's never coached outside of the state of Ohio. I also think he is eying Big 10 jobs closer to home.

Don't hate him. Don't know if you can give the keys to a major program based on resume which doesn't include success as head coach of a major program.

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that somehow that is beneath LSU

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Yes UL is beneath LSU

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mid week games at a place that has never really had fan support.

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Doesn't matter - the crowd would be the same if they were Saturday night games.

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Because he rushed for like 380 yards and won by one point last night. Because he doesn’t have a philosophy that Buries the other team. Because he strikes me as someone who is having success in a place that hasn’t but I’m not sure when he got to the ranks of the elite he’d have any real selling points.

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This sort of reminds me of some stat I saw about him earlier in the year since he has been at ULL. Now I understand winning is all that matters, but they have a horrible record covering the spread in games they are favored in. Maybe it was a certain amount. Like when they are double digit favorites or something. I don’t remember exactly. Again, I know this is stupid, but it caught my attention. So it is a testament to how good they are considered to be against their competition, but it also goes to show they are often on paper better than the teams they play. Yet they don’t often beat some of these teams as expected.

I am not saying that matters. Winning is all that matters. It was just interesting to me and made me stop betting UL when they are big favorites.

Look, I admit that’s silly of me to bring up. I wish I had the exact stat though.

Napier would be like a 5th-10th option for me. Some like the Coastal Carolina coach over him. I have no idea between the two.

What I don’t like is it feels like people are already quite defensive over him. I think it is cool if we have different opinions. It seems like one coach, who has direct bias towards him, said he is just like Saban. And now everybody is running with that.

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Why do you hate

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I don’t hate the guy. He’s done well at ULL but since when does doing well at ULL or for that matter any other Sun Belt school for a couple yrs make him a top candidate for the LSU job?

Secondary guy or fallback guy, OK, but top choice, I don’t think so

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are significant personal risks (Urban Mayer, Hugh Freeze, Art Briles, Kendal Briles, Lane Kiffin, Jon Gruden)

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I love this group. Makes me sad they are unlikely to be considered.

Ok…

What does that have to do with whether or not he would be a good hire? Isn’t that the question?

Does that mean he would be a bad coaching hire?

Do you not think that if he is hired that it will be because the search was done and he was next on the list? Do you think woody is just going to do the exact opposite of what he’s done for every search? Go after the big dogs and then get to the second tier?