Going cheap or “sure” thing

LSU has a choice

We can go the governors route of hiring a cheap coach who wants the job because it’s prestigious, high profile and they don’t have a lot of options OR go with the “sure” thing which brings high salary and usually a steep buyout. These are the whales. They have options. They’re vid to the highest bidder.

I’m not opposed to going cheap. I actually like the idea but it devalues our program. It’s mid tier behavior. But it could work. Usually when it works, the coach shops around and wants more money in subsequent years. Saban was somewhat in that category but times were different. What we paid Saban at the time was in line with the top dogs of the time- bowden, spurrier and Fulmer. It was a big splash at the time because we hadn’t paid anyone close to that beforehand. We announced to the world that we were going big.

We know now that Saban was worth it of course but we paid him considerably more at the end of his run here and he eventually left. So in a way he was an up and comer and we were a stepping stone for him.

I don’t see us as a stepping stone anymore. We have shown our willing ness and ability to pay big numbers for our coaches.

Kelly has shown us that this doesn’t always work out. So maybe we switch course and revert to a more frugal model.

So if you were making the decision- which route would you take?