re: Refresh My Memory on Why Dinardo Was Hired

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Bill Arnsparger, who had great teams, but had some of the most inexplicable losses in LSU history

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What inexplicable losses?

1984:

1-Notre Dame. They had a strong running game and our defense was riddled with injuries. An upset, yes, but certainly not "inexplicable".

2- Mississippi State. Another upset, but we had started a trend of losing this "trap" game back in the '70s. 1984 was our fifth straight loss to them. Hardly inexplicable.

3-Nebraska. They were obviously a superior team. Nothing inexplicable about this one.

1985:

1-Florida. They were perhaps the best team in the country that year. We hung in there for a long time, trailing 10-0 going in the 4th quarter (their TD came on a trick play halfback pass). Late the 4th, we had to go for it on 4th down deep in our territory twice, leading to their other 10 points in a 20-0 loss that was anything but inexplicable.

2-Baylor. A poor effort on our part, but our offense had been suspect all season, so it wasn't a shock that it got shut down. Again, a surprising loss maybe, but hardly inexplicable.

1986:

1-Miami, Ohio. Yes, this is the one inexplicable loss of the Arnsparger era. They were a better team than they got credit for, and we had a big letdown after the big win over Texas A&M the week before.

2-Ole Miss. Surprised me, but Ole Miss was actually a good team that year. If not for a loss to Tennessee in the 2nd to last game of the year, they would have shared the SEC championship with us that year.

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Then, he goes to Florida where he wanted to be. Then, instead of hiring Steve Spurrier or Mack Brown in 1987, we let Arnsparger's DC Mike Archer take the reigns

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Probably the single biggest coaching hire blunder in the history of a school known for them. Bob Brodhead had resigned and we were in the process of bringing in Joe Dean, but he wasn't there yet, and the interim guy didn't really want to make a big move. They appointed an idiotic "faculty committee" to find the new coach, with predictable results. That committee, and the decision to appoint them, came dangerously close to destroying LSU as a football power.

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always liked Gerry Dinardo. His bravado was needed after 7 years mired in the muck. We beat Saban at Michigan State in our bowl game his first year. We had a 10 win season. Even his first bad year, when we went 4-7, wasn't terrible. Go back and check our scores from 1998. We had an incredibly difficult schedule that year, and every game was tight, except we got blown out by Arkansas at the end of the season. Saban came in with Dinardo's players and won right away.

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I'll agree with all of this, but not this...

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Dinardo left the cupboard much less bare than when he arrived.

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Check out who we had in his first year, 1995. A defense studded with amazing talent, and some real firepower on offense, was inherited from Curley Hallman who, like Miles, could sign them but just couldn't get results with them. The roster had more talent going into 1995 than it did going into 2000, or at the very least, just as much.