re: Where does Paul Dietzel rank amongst LSU football coaches?

I think you have to give Dietzel a lot of credit for the platoon system from '58 and the physical conditioning of his team. (This is back when Alvin Roy out of Istrouma was a huge deal in terms of putting Baton Rouge ahead of the curve in terms of strength & conditioning training.)

The morale of the football program seems to have been sky high too, and Dietzel fit the clean cut, pro-military image of the times, back when LSU was still a huge ROTC school requiring 2 years of training for all undergrads.

Then again, some of those stories I've read recently about Billy Cannon have made me cringe. What a weird scene that must have been with Billy choosing to practice only when he didn't feel like going off around town drinkin' & thuggin'.