quote:
Archer was over his head, but between 1971-2001, LSU only won two SEC titles. One of those was by Mike Archer. Additionally, he was the head coach during a 10-1-1 year in 1987 (we didn't win the SEC that year), arguably the best year LSU had in that 30 year span. Things spiraled out of control, but he brought us to heights we had not achieved since the 60s, and would not achieve again until the Golden era of LSU Football.

oh my word.

some of you people's liking of Archer is just strange. He was the pre-dumpster fire before the dumpster fire that was Curley.

Todd Kinchen correctly said of that 1987 team, "the three stooges could have coached that team to 10 wins." It was loaded, thanks to Arnsparger.

Archer was a terrible head coach. There is a reason he never even sniffed a HC job again. He is not HC material. Yes, he was and is a decent DC, but he failed miserably at 2 of the 3 things you need to be a successful head coach.

1. Recruit well (AWFUL!)
2. Surround yourself with good assistants (he got a pass here because the staff stayed mostly in tact from Arnsparger)
3. Be a strong leader, inspire the program (AWFUL!)

He failed at the last because that's just not who he is. He is not a leader. He's a good guy to have on your staff, yes. To run your football program? Horrible.

Archer is the Program Devastator. Curley was just an extension of that.

Heck, at least Curley got some talent in. He left a little something for DiNardo to win with, including 10 games in 1996.

2 Jump to Post ...

Report Post Jump to Post

Posted by Baloo

Formerly MDGeaux

Member since Sep 2003

49645 posts

Posted on 12/11/12 at 1:59 pm to clamdip

quote:
Todd Kinchen correctly said of that 1987 team, "the three stooges could have coached that team to 10 wins." It was loaded, thanks to Arnsparger.

then why didn't Arnsparger ever win 10 games? I do think Archer was in over his head, but 1986-87 are the two best years LSU had in a 30 year span. Not two best consecutive season, two beat seasons, period. And Archer was the coach for it. He gets SOME credit for that.

quote:
Archer was a terrible head coach. There is a reason he never even sniffed a HC job again. He is not HC material. Yes, he was and is a decent DC, but he failed miserably at 2 of the 3 things you need to be a successful head coach.

And a lot of that was from being promoted too young. It was the Peter Principle in action. Had he gotten the job 10 years later, I think he would have done a far better job. Yes, he deserved to get fired. No, he was not a great coach. But to pretend he had no successes at LSU is completely false. He was the coach for our best two seasons in a 30 year span. He just couldn't sustain a program. He didn't know how to run a major college program and it showed.

Not everything is so damn linear. Archer did have incredible success at first, and ignoring that ignores the full picture of the man. He was completely overwhelmed from being promoted too young. But he did have success early.

He won with Arnsparger's talent? True. But he won more than Arnsparger did, so what does that say about him?

3 Jump to Post ...

Report Post Jump to Post

Posted by Minnesota Tiger

Member since Oct 2005

4414 posts

Posted on 12/11/12 at 2:44 pm to clamdip

I agree with clamdip. Curley may well have been the worst coach in our past, but he clearly did not destroy the program. Dinardo simply had to pick the bike up out of the ditch and begin riding it to consecutive bowl game seasons. Curly left him a lot of talent.

There are programs out the that are really struggling to get out of the ditch- CU comes to mind.

2 Jump to Post ...

Report Post Jump to Post

Tiger Rant - Replies to Post

Return To Board

Page 1

Return To Board