re: Help needed to restore old/worn football (LSU memorabilia)

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How did you determine which LSU coaches got to sign it? It looks like all of those listed were BCS/NCAA title winners or at least NCAA regional winners (well, except Emmert...who as a non-coach eventually still one day managed to take over the NCAA himself).

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Had nothing to with their on-field successes necessarily, moreso jus wanted to capture/time capsule the LSU "staff" at that moment in time that coincided with my senior year/graduation.. So during my last semester, spring 2003, when I had a lot of free time since I was only taking 6 or 9 hrs I just got the idea in my heAd and set out to get all the major sports LSU coaches and along they way thought "hey, what the heck...might as well get Bertman and Emmert too" ...I actually had to schedule an appt with Emmert lol, and we chatted for a while....I always liked him. Don't forget he was the guy that truly brought LSU football "back" IMO with his commitment to football and insistence on spending the money and bringing in a Top-notch coach. I remember Girouard and Brady laughing about signing a football. I Dont even remember getting Laval and Gunter, but I obviously did at some point along the way. It only took me a few weeks that semester and I had all their signatures..or at lleast the ones I was wanting....pat Henry was a big oversight on my part, I was just never into following track as a sport which is probably why I didn't go get his. Hate to say it, but I likely didn't even know his name at the time.

Of course, I didn't know then what we know now....I never woulda thought Emmert - a guy no one outside Baton Rouge would have even known - would go on to be NCAA head man and also become known as one of the founding fathers of LSU's football resurgence....I never would have known Saban would go onto to become a college football God/rock star, hell he hadn't even won a national title at LSU at that point. Saban was certainly in the process of turning LSU into a competitive program, but we were nowhere near the power then that we eventually became and still are now...at that moment we were a competitive program beginning to put ourselves back on the map nationally, nothing less nothing more, and we were not "there" yet. Saban spring2003 was nowhere near the Goliath that he is today....he was just another good coach that appeared to be doing good things at LSU.

Practically-speaking, at that point in time the only major "national" figure in the group was Bertman, as he was the only one of the group that had won a NCAA title, and he wasn't even coaching anymore, had already moved to AD when Laval took over......Brady was doing okay, Laval good/decent, Saban was coming off a decent 2002 season (cotton bowl loss to texas)but had still yet to win a national title....Gunter was kind of a legend, but she of course had never won the big dance. Soooo....all-in-all, that group of signatures looks A LOT more respectable now than it did in 2003......Saban/Emmert/bertman/Girouard outstanding careers - as well as sueGunter' passing away - have made my little piece pretty unique/cool IMO.

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quote: -greatest college football coach all time

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Every year that passes I get more and more comfortable/able to admit that fact, with the nagging "what if...." fading a little more with each passing season.

I love me some Les, but I think pretty much everyone is in agreement at this point ....not only is Nick one of the best coaches this decade/century, he's probably the greatest college football coach of all time.

I think we - as LSU fans - have to be thankful and feel fortunate that we got to experience in 15-20 years what some college football fans will never experience: two different "larger-than-life" coaches, both winning titles and a shitload of games at LSU, both putting LSU squarely in the middle of national conversation/attention/power, and both doing it and having success with seemingly opposite personalities, two guys that have both become "faces of college football" so-to-speak.....it's been a fun ride for LSU fans since 2000, and it's certainly not over yet, but again I think we are fortunate to have had BOTH Saban and Miles here.....those two guys have made LSU a permanent national icon, and I am proud of them both and thankful they were/are a part of LSU

Yes, Saban is the better coach.... There's no one better, period. But there's also room at the table (and in CFB) for the mad hatter, he ain't so bad himself. He marches to the beat of his own drum, but damn it sure is a fun ride lol.