re: Who was the better Coach, Dinardo vs. Archer, my first post

Archers recruiting was not bad. 1987 class was decent and the 1988 class pulled in almost every top talent in the state of Louisiana and rated the 4th best class in the nation by Emfinger and top 10 by a young Tom Lemming.

Remember, the poor development by coaches of those recruits had a great deal to do with them being labeled failures.

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Did you not see the list earlier of Hallman talent?

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I did. I was in school during that time. We had about 12 legitimate ball players when Dinardo was hired.

I'm looking at the 1994 list...

I see Cleveland, Faneca, Raion Hill, Arnold Miller (who had to resign with GD, anyway), Richey, Eric Smith and Troy Twillie as guys that leap out in a good way.

1993, I see Kennison, Kessler, Mixon,(ETA Rogers), Stansberry, Denard Walker and Wiley

To heck with it, 1992, Gillyard, Tory James, Northern, Toomer, Sheddrick Wilson

I'm sorry, I just don't see it - I watched those guys play a lot of games. They are my boys. And I love every LSU player, but just Dinardo's 1999 class is qualitatively as good as perhaps Hallman's last three. His 1996 class was loaded with talent, but very little of it actually panned out. 1997 was very, very solid (and better than all of the Hallman classes, as well), and formed the senior nucleus of the 2000 team that ultimately turned everything around.

1992 was arguably Hallman's best recruiting class - and it was perhaps on par with Dinardo's worst classes, 1996 and 1998.

Guy couldn't recruit, couldn't coach, couldn't talk, couldn't think and couldn't win a game to save his life (but won 1 to save his job - that one time).

Glad he's gone.

(ETA: And Faneca, Kennison, Northern, Rogers and Stansberry are some of my very favorite players of all time.)

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Dinardo could recruit. Remember, LSU had the WORST defense in its history under Tepper.

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He could recruit and was not a liability in helping coach the offense. Losing Carl Reese to Texas ultimately cost Dinardo the job.

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Faneca

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WE only got him because the OL coach Hallman hired, Larry Zeirlien long time coach with U Houston and had coached HS in that area. 1 of his sons is HS coach that coached in that area as well.

Hallman did recruit some decent talent but not as much as DiNardo.

DiNardo. Not even close. In all respects, but most especially in long term impact on the program. Gerry DiNardo literally saved LSU Football from the abyss. Hands down better than Archer, who tipped us towards that abyss in the first place.

Anyone who suggests otherwise either wasn't there for the Archer years or is too scarred by the last two DiNardo years to consider the question objectively.

What makes hallmans recruiting more impressive is that he signed those guys while going 5-6, 2-9 out of the gate and they were just as bad before he got here. Dinardo went 9-3 and 10-2 in his first 2 years. That had to have helped recruiting those early saban teams.

No doubt Dinardo was a better coach ( I still like him a lot) I'm just trying to give hallman credit for possibly the only thing he did do well. He left enough talent on the team that Dinardo could win quickly. Dinardo did the same for saban but that is more than you can say for archer.

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Dinardo did the same for saban but that is more than you can say for archer.

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Archer was a better coach than Hallman, though. I hope you're not arguing the opposite here.

Dinardo had a better restaurant?

LSU vs UF 1997!!! Huge game after the Hallman years! I give nod to GD just for that win!

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scarred by the last two DiNardo years

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well it did do some damage i'll never recover from...

in hindsight i'm not sure how i came back every week when we could hang with any team in the nation (even in 99) only to lose seemingly every sec game on the final drive..

the horror:

Oct 3, 1998 #12 Georgia 28, #6 LSU 27 ("stick with the run!")
Oct. 17, 1998 Baton Rouge, La. Kentucky 39, #21 LSU 36
Oct. 31, 1998 Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss 37, LSU 31
(this is my vote for worst, since we looked like we had come back the week before when we crushed a ranked MSU 41-6. in oxford, my ole miss buddy told me "yea, y'all might really kick our arse", then asking me "what happened?" at halftime b/c the rebs went up 28-10 against tepper's d, only to have us score 21 in the 4th and lose in OT.)
Nov. 7, 1998 Baton Rouge, La. Alabama 22, LSU 16
Nov. 21, 1998 Notre Dame, Ind. #10 Notre Dame 39, LSU 36

Oct. 2, 1999 Athens, Ga. #10 Georgia 23, LSU 22
(was at this one too, although it seemed like a moral victory b/c josh booty was gonna be our new star qb)
Oct. 23, 1999 Starkville, Miss. #12 Mississippi State 17, LSU 16
Nov. 6, 1999 Tuscaloosa, Ala. #12 Alabama 23, LSU 17 (throw it, josh, throw it)

8 1-score games in 2 years... 0 wins

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Archer was just too young IMO. He also had this crazy idea that he couldnt compete with the Miami's and florida states of the world with Louisiana talent. So he went to houston and signed a bunch of players who didn't pan out for whatever reason.

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This, plus there was a guy named George Eames, if I remember correctly, who was trying to make his mark as a civil rights leader, who did everything that he could to destroy LSU's recruiting at the time. That was too big of an obstacle for a green coach to overcome when recruiting against Bowden, Spurrier, and Miami..