re: Blueprint to Become Institutionally Elite

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This…and creating a culture where kids want to come.

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And stay. That is a huge part of why Georgia, Bama, and Ohio State are on a different level than everyone else. Huge brands with historical success—I’m know Georgia won their 1st couple of titles since Hershel recently, but they were always good and won a bunch of games—and huge sustained recent long-term success. Those schools have been competing for titles almost annually for most of the current players and recruits’ lives.

And a winning culture so entrained and established that it can withstand coaching changes. And preferably, those coaching changes didn’t come from firings. Mark Richt built an incredibly good/great program at Georgia. In the 15 years he was there’s they won 2 SEC titles, won the East 6 times, finished in the AP or Coaches Polls final top 10 8 times, won 10, 11, 12, or 13 games 9 times, and had 2 9-win seasons, including his final one where he went 9-3 before the mutual parting of ways. So he had already built a sustained winner. Kirby just elevated it to elite and has stayed there.

DeBoer inherited the best built program in college football history. And though he’s no Saban, he has won everywhere he’s been. And after a few bumps and bruises his 1st year of transition, he seems to have Bama back to where they should be in the NC conversation yearly again. Not that they weren’t for too long—they did make the playoffs last year in his second season.

And Ohio State has always been good. Had a lot of success with Jim Tressel who went 14-0
and won an NC there in ‘02 against a stacked Miami team and lost in the BCS NCG 2 other times, to Florida in ‘06 and LSU in ‘07. He was incredible in his 10 years there. They were 106-23 under him, with 9 of those losses coming in 2 seasons. His 1st year when they went 7-5, and his 4th season when they went 8-4. Those were the only 2 seasons they didn’t win at least 10 games—the others they won won 14, 11, 10, 12, 11, 10, 11, and 12. Had a 10-3 season, so he only lost more than 2 games 3 times in 10 years. Won 6 Big 10 Championships, and had final AP rankings of NR, 1, 4, 19, 4, 2, 5 (that ‘07 season was drunk. They made the Championship Game as the only viable team with 1 loss, but finished 5th in the final polls when they were BCS runners up), 9, 5, 5. Played in 8 BCS bowls in his 10 years there.

So Tressel’s last 2 seasons they went 11-2 (7-1), 12-1 (7-1), won the Big 10 both years, won the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl and finished 5th in the polls both years. So he had that program humming when he resigned after the Pryor ridiculousness. Luke Fickell gets promoted as interim, wasn’t ready for the gig, and they go 6-7 in 2011, their 1st losing season since 1988. Urban takes over in ‘12 and promptly gets them right back on track, going 12-0 (8-0)—they were ineligible for postseason play due to sanctions from the Pryor thing. Still finished 3 in the final polls.

Then Urbs goes on a nice little run, going 12-2, 14-1 (won the NC), 12-1, 11-2, 12-2, and 10-1.(Was suspended for 1st 3 games due to the Zach Smith crazy shenanigans). Played in a BCS bowl the 1st year he was eligible, 4 times overall, and made the CFP twice. Went 83-9 (54-4) in his 7 seasons there. In the final AP polls, finished 3, 10, 1, 4, 6, 5, and 3. Then bolted for Jacksonville.

So maybe Ryan Day actually inherited the better built program at Ohio State than DeBoer at Bama. They didn’t win as many NCs in Columbus, but had longer sustained success and under 2 different coaches. And he kept it rolling right along.

So stability in a program and a culture of winning for the past 2 decades, able to maintain it through multiple coaches, none of whom bottomed out and were fired for losing, is what really separates Georgia, Bama, and Ohio State from the rest of the country. And that’s not just getting lucky with hitting on the right coaches. Though that’s certainly part of it. But the coaches have to be good evaluators and coaches of the coaches underneath them.
That’s how players get developed and sent into NFL at the rate those 3 schools do it. And that culture of excellence, winning, competing for championships, and developing into NFL players is why guys stick around. Even in the NIL and transfer portal era. And that culture transcends the football ops, AD, and even the university buildings. They have complete buy in from their towns, and their entire states. Every day buy in. Sustained for decades. Not just in years when they’re winning NCs or hiring new coaches.

And they have some built in advantages that most, if not all, other schools don’t have. Geography is a huge one that’s not talked about enough. Look at where Georgia is and their recruiting footprint. Right next to Atlanta, all of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, etc…With no real instate P4 rival (sorry GA Tech). And look where Bama is. Sure they have Auburn in state, but unless they have ties to Auburn, Bama isn’t missing out on Bama kids they want. And they have Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, even Texas as part of their recruiting footprint. Look at Ohio State. Big state with the most populated different cities than any other state in America. Play great high school football there. And Pennsylvania and Michigan are right there. All these schools can go get studs from anywhere in the country, but they don’t have to go far for the guys that provide the rest of the depth. That matters. Not only in getting them, but keeping them. And I’d throw in the college towns they’re located in as part of their geographical advantage. Athens has always been considered one of the best college towns in America. Columbus has a lot going on. Tuscaloosa has been completely transformed since Saban started PAC-Manning up NCs.

And then school size matters. Because that means alumni base. Ohio State has double the student body as LSU. Those turn into graduates, which turn into boosters, which turns into not having to shake the same damn 5 trees every time you want to do something. All that matters. LSU has built in advantages too. Geography is great for us as well. But not like the other 3. Louisiana produces a ton of talent, most per capita than any other state. But we’re a small state. So we have less capita than Georgia or Ohio. It helps that we also don’t have another in state rival school to compete with and for. But we also have less overall players. And we dip into Texas, Florida, Georgia, Bama, Mississippi on occasion. But not often enough to sustain a full roster every year. We have to rely on a bunch of Louisiana guys with some other ones sprinkled in. Some cycles we’ll be amazing. But others we’ll either have lesser rosters on the back end, or will have to pay more for more guys further away. And again, we have less trees to shake.

Tl;dr—LSU has a ton of advantages over other schools. But not Ohio State, Bama, or Georgia. You might not want to hear it, but I don’t think it’s possible for us to have that kind of consistent, decades-long behemoth of a program. We will have ups and downs. We’ll win some NCs, and we’ll go 7-5 and fire some coaches along the way. Which is fine by me. I wouldn’t trade our 3 NCs (and the ‘11 season) in my life, for Bama’s 8. The sweet just isn’t nearly as sweet without the sour.

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And stay. That is a huge part of why Georgia, Bama, and Ohio State are on a different level than everyone else. Huge brands with historical success—

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Correct. And this is why LSU has the potential to get back to that elite status like we were from 2001-2011.

All of the upcoming recruits know the LSU brand. And unlike Texas and Oregon, they also know we are capable of winning at the highest level consistently and also putting players into the NFL at a rate as high as anyone.

Yeah it’s been 15 years since the slide began but we also have greatest CFB team of all time 7 years ago when today’s recruits were first starting to get into CFB and realizing the potential they had as well.

There isn’t a recruit in the country that doubts the value of LSU when it comes to winning and going pro.

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And a winning culture so entrained and established that it can withstand coaching changes.

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Three NCs with three consecutive coaches. OSU is the only other program that can say that.

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And they have some built in advantages that most, if not all, other schools don’t have. Geography is a huge one that’s not talked about enough

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Nothing needs to be said about this and Louisiana.

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Geography is great for us as well. But not like the other 3. Louisiana produces a ton of talent, most per capita than any other state. But we’re a small state. So we have less capita than Georgia or Ohio. It helps that we also don’t have another in state rival school to compete with and for. But we also have less overall players. And we dip into Texas, Florida, Georgia, Bama, Mississippi on occasion. But not often enough to sustain a full roster every year. We have to rely on a bunch of Louisiana guys with some other ones sprinkled in

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I disagree here.

I think you’re overstating Alabama’s advantages there.

They proven for almost two decades that they couldn’t do it without an all time coach coming in and whipping the into shape. And even then he had to raid LA and FL and other states to subsidize his roster outside of Alabama.


So an elite coach matters substantially, and LSU finally has our version of that. We have easily the best Xs and Os coach we’ve had since Saban, and one that is also equally as adept and driven on the recruiting trail as any of the ones we’ve had before. Bar none.


Not only that, the coach is a brand all his own. Players want to play for him, the media can’t go a segment without bringing him up one way or another, and the program has proven that money will not be a factor that will limit our ability to compete, despite your valid point about our alumni base not being on a level numbers wise as OSU, Bama, or UT. Motivation and ability to keep up is not a limit for the base that we do have.

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You might not want to hear it, but I don’t think it’s possible for us to have that kind of consistent, decades-long

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I just don’t see how anyone can doubt the potential we are looking at with Kiffin in his absolute prime unless you’re one of the ones that buys into the myth that he’s a perpetual job hopper.

If Kiffin has found the place where he wants to build his legacy, and everything he has done including making the decision to leave a team going into the playoff shows he absolutely is, there is no reason to think he won’t be here well over a decade.


There is just too much history pointing to elite competitiveness given what he brings to the table at a program with the history LSU has shown in modern CFB since the BCS era to think he can’t or won’t succeed in doing it imo.

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We will have ups and downs. We’ll win some NCs, and we’ll go 7-5 and fire some coaches along the way. Which is fine by me. I wouldn’t trade our 3 NCs (and the ‘11 season) in my life, for Bama’s 8. The sweet just isn’t nearly as sweet without the sour.

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I don’t even disagree with this.

I’ve loved every second of LSU football going back to Dinardo (maybe with the exception of 2016-17 )



I’m loving this season even though yeah it looks like Kiffin didn’t pull off a miracle in two months and built a playoff team in year 1.


But I certainly feel better about the state of the program than at any point that I have since 2008.

It’s going to be an incredible time to be a Tiger fan, of that I have very little doubt

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Tiger Voodoo

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We disagree very slightly, but are mostly on the same page. I’m super optimistic about the present and future the of the LSU football program.

No worries. Honestly I don’t know why it gets so high strung around here. I know we all have that competitive streak that wants LSU to be successful but it’s tough to have decent conversations at times. But….we keep coming back!