re: CJJ Saving Scott Woodward

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What am I trying to say?

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That you're a dumbass?

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The worst thing that could happen to our fanbase was for him to take the team to the SEC championship in year 1. Everyone had already come to terms that we would have to rebuild, but that gave everyone unrealistic expectations.

But yes, in year 4 he is expected to produce.

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Agreed. People often fall into the mindset that progress is a linear endeavor when the reality is that it's not. By LSU making the SECCG in year one, people assumed that year 2 would feature the next step of a CFP birth and year 3 would be a national title or something close to it. Now, this coming season, LSU has all the pieces you'd want to be a nationally relevant team come playoff time and if it still doesn't happen, I think you have reason to be super skeptical. Expectation drives satisfaction and I think that combined with linear progress theory has caused people to sort of miss the big picture. FTR, I think LSU is a playoff team and legit title contender this year. We'll see.

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The only Woodward head scratcher for me is O extension.

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Wut?

In hindsight it was wrong, but at the time we had just won a title with a team that had talking heads saying that it wasn’t even a debate that it was the best team ever assembled in the history of the sport.

I was on TD reading it for years before making an account. I'm familiar with the lingo and how the site works.

Your reply probably sounded a lot cooler than it really was. Swing and a miss

BK still up in the air. We are all in this szn, let's see how it turns out.

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Not really. It took longer than expected but we're back to being a preseason top 10 team again. Expectations are back. If he falls on his face this year, I'll agree that it probably won't ever work but let's not pretend the landscape around LSU hasn't vastly improved since 2021.

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Pre season top 10 doesn't mean jack. BK was a good pre NIL/portal coach, but the landscape has changed dramatically. He may just an average coach in this new Nil/ portal world.

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but on paper he was a grand slam hire.

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So was Jimbo at A&M.

Football moves the needle. Thus far BK, while not "bad" by any means, hasn't been great either. If he doesn't win the NC this year he will be the first LSU HC in 25 years to fail to do so within the first 4 years of his tenure. That may be an unfair standard to hold him to, but that is the standard. If this year is another 8-4 or 9-3 season ending in some minor, irrelevant, bowl game, then the screams at Woodward of Jimbo 2.0 will be even louder. That is, Woodward will have hung another school with a massive, lengthy contract that they can't get out from despite mediocre results.

That's been somewhat the case in men's basketball. While the circumstances in which McMahon was hired were different, he too got a long term contract. However, unlike BK, his results have been absolutely awful (worst in the SEC over the last 3 seasons). Unfortunately, the length of the contract has made onerous to bail out of despite the bad results.

Johnson has been great. Still, I don't think that is, in isolation, enough to "save" Woodward. It's important to LSU fans/donors to be great at baseball. But baseball doesn't override the importance of football.

The minor sports, namely women's basketball and gymnastics have been great as well. But those are mostly quick dopamine hits for most fans. Them being great is not enough to override disappointing results in football and (to a lesser extent) men's basketball. No one is going to say "it's alright that the football team is not championship caliber. Our women's basketball team is great!"

IMO, this upcoming football season is big for Woodward. This is an "all in" year where LSU should, relative to the rest of college football, have the pieces to compete for a national championship. If they don't, the fans/donors will be looking for someone to take the fall. BK will have ~$60M reasons why it likely won't be him. It would be much cheaper to get rid of the guy who saddled the school with BK. If LSU is getting ready to play in the Citrus Bowl come January not that many fans will be excited to waive off that disappointment just because LSU baseball won the NC in June.

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BK has underwhelmed a bit, but on paper he was a grand slam hire.

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LSU making BK start seasons without a Week 0 game, after supplying him with only 39 scholarship players to start his tenure, borders on fraud.

I’d tell you to go frick yourself but you’re so goddamn dumb I don’t think you’d know how.

Agree 100%