re: Charles McClendon- Greatest LSU Football Coach?

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Arnsparger had a chance to be great but he didn't want to stay here and build

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It was understood at the time Brodhead hired him that Arnsparger was good for only three or four years. He was not considered a long term solution, but moreso a quick turnaround thing. He did that and then went to Florida to be their AD.

I put loyalty to LSU as one of the chief characteristics of a top coach, along with length of tenure and that all-important w/l record. Which is why I put both Cholly Mac and Les Miles in a dead heat for greatest coaches at LSU in my lifetime. LSU was/is the job they wanted (ok, maybe Michigan was tempting), unlike Dietzel and Saban, who were happy to use LSU as a stepping stone on their way to other pastures.

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What I want to know is what happened after Mike Archer's first two seasons?

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Arnsparger won with Stovall's recruits. Arns did not like recruiting and it showed. Archer won on momentum and the last of Stovall's recruits and the initial crop of Arns' recruits which weren't too bad.

The backend of Arns' recruits were not so good. Moreover, Archer's recruiting was not overly great as he thought that he could get all he needed in the "Golden Triangle" of So Texas. Some talent and a number of thugs. Didn't work out. The pieces just simply did not come together those last two years and things fell apart. Archer himself had a meltdown when he learned that he was going to be fired. Bad situation.

Curley Hallman could do some recruiting but couldn't coach at a big time school and was probably one of the most ill-fitted to take a big time HC spot since Gerry Faust came out of Moelar High School and became HC at Notre Dame. DiNardo actually had a better collection of talent to start with than did Hallman. Hallman was simply not a big time HC, nor much else for that matter. Archer was a good DC but not HC material.

Mac was a great coach in the area of the respect of his players. I have spoken to a lot of the old LSU athletes, Mac was revered as a man, I've heard a lot of the same about Dale Brown and Skip. I don't personally know any of Les' players but, I wouldn't be surprised if he was held in high esteem also. He always has his player's back.

LSU did not exactly have a glamorous budget back then for HC's, assistants, or recruiting. It took them awhile to wake up to "why" Alabama was kicking their arse.

Saban and Miles are working under very different circumstances.

Dale Brown made it a point to keep enough shite on various BOS that they weren't going to frick with him.

Yes, former players speak well of Mac and Brown and for very good reason. Had the pleasure of meeting both coaches myself at various times and could certainly understand where the former players were coming from.

I have a soft spot for Cholly Mac because he wes the coach when I was 6 and started my LSU football addiction. However, if Miles stays a few more years he will easily eclipse McClendon.

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Charles McClendon- Greatest LSU Football Coach?

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Hell no, I was a student at LSU when he was the head coach and was tired of his 8-3 record and losing to Alabama;not to mention he wouldn't let the soccer team use football fields.

Cholly Mac was from a different era when there wasn't nearly as much scrutiny as there is now. The records of coaches are there to compare but as far as loyalty to LSU, Les and Cholly Mac are very similar.
I got to meet Mac once at a golf tournament long after he retired and he was still one of the most genuine people I have every met. I surmise Les is the same way.
I respect them both.

I'm old enough to remember, also. Mac was getting heat for not winning the SEC title, but the only one winning was Bear Bryant. Bad timing for a good man.