re: Saban did not build LSU into a powerhouse. Mark Emmert did.

Here’s how it went down and I know from folks who were involved

LSU had been a graveyard. All the talent in the world in state but they left every year. Our football program simply did not take it seriously.

@1994 lsu decided to get serious and work on the program without concern for money. Dinardo was first step and he was good about keeping players in state. They thought that was all that was needed. It wasn’t.

They needed more. They needed infrastructure, recruiting, and more staff.
They searched for a new coach and found Saban who was at mich state and wanted bigger things. LSU approached him and he came in for a look. He told them that he’d take the job but massive changes were needed in addition to a massive staff he wanted to bring in. LSU said whatever you want.

He took the job and reformed the entire program. A lot of what he did is still in place.
The big differences are in the AD which changed after Saban and new presidents.

Saban did a lot of the same things at Bama.

Saban is the reason why we started winning again.

It’s not debatable and folks who were around at the time will tell you how different things were before he got to lsu.