re: Looking at other candidates for Ed O’s replacement vs. Kelly

You should edit to clarify you’re talking about Kiffin and not Kelly

If we were paying Kelly 2 million a year I wouldn't complain. At his salary I expect zero defects. You can't fix lack of talent immediately but the coaches had better be dialed in and the players had better play hard and be fundamentally sound.

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His quality recruiting early on was due largely to Orgeron.

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He had one commit before July lol

ETA: ah, this is in regards to Kiffin. Ignore the post above lol

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. At his salary I expect zero defects.

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That's on you for having ridiculous expectations.

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Nobody is mad that we lost to a #8 Tennessee team.

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You really believe that? That should be true but based on some things I saw before the game there were plenty of folks who thought LSU should and would win that game, not that they had the talent and could potentially win but that they absolutely should.

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. But how the team, specifically the offense and special teams have looked at times is concerning.

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That is typical of a rebuilding team, though, isn't it?

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Throw in some bad coaching decisions this past weekend, and people are going to complain.

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I can see this but the tone and volume of the complaints is far worse than it aught to be, IMO.

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Only one on that list that I liked was Riley. Other than him I think Kelly was the best choice.

It hurts to say this, but the LSU roster both in terms of top of the roster impact players is below, or at best comprable to every team on that list.

In terms of overall depth of P5 level talent, we might be close to a few on the list, but are at the bottom.

The good news is the rules around both transfers and allowing signings past the prior 25 "cap" to the overall scholarsip limit should expidite improving the talent level.

Will be a "young" team, but by year 3, if the staff does their job, the talent will be there.

Now what does irk me is the penalties, the miscues, and the poor execution of fundamental skills and concepts. Part of this can be chalked up to a team with a lot of new parts inexperienced as a group... but it needs to get better between now and a$T$m. It is one of those foundational culture aspects that we are supposed to be establishing.

Also I will say that out of that list:

Fisher's 2021 extension makes it almost impossible for a team to sign him away, or for Aggy to fire him.

Tucker's name coming up for jobs was mostly about negotiating an extension. I dont think he seriously entertained leaving.

Riley wants nothing to do with the SEC. Zero.

Stoops was possible, but I there was no splash there. It would have been a "meh" hire.

Napier was possible, was a hot name, and displays the charteristics of a successful coach. He is also unproven as a bigtime coach and could easily flame out if not immedieatly successful. His hire would have probably been met with equal parts excitement and outrage.

Kiffin splash hire, big name, big personality... controversy though. Given the already public shitstorm around athletics in general, and the under the radar stuff that has emerged since, I dont think a guy seen as a loose cannon was going to be the hire. He exudes "underdog" coach to me anyway.

I also liked Matt Campbell and even with Iowa State clearly down this year I like what he is building. That said his insistence on valuing the development of successful young men over win at all costs mentality, and building a program on that foundation as being more important than championships... he would be booed off campus at his first post-loss press conference.

Dave Aranda... I will admit my dream was having Aranda as HC/DC. Him bringing his old friend (the deservedly humbled)Tom Hermann as OC, with Joe Brady as passing game coordinator(and assorted honorifics to add some shine to the job title). Alas, I dont know if his thin HC resume kept him from being our first choice, or if something in his time here soured him on LSU... or if he just really likes Waco. Either way his name being out there just served to get him a lucrative extension.

Kelly has all the traits needed to be a NC coach at LSU. He will need to adapt, he may eventually need to replace Denbrock, but at the very least he needs to get a fresh voice in the room. He has said before that he and Denbrock work together on the O and adapt and change it as needed... well IMO they have worked closely for so long that their line of thinking is unlikely to diverge enough to come up with novel solutions... so they need a talented offensive mind, with enough confidence to challenge their POV and inject new concepts or at least differing strategies into the conversation.

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We need to have patience with this process.

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Other than winning every game, I’m not sure Kelly could realistically be doing a better job than he currently is given what was left for him to clean up.

The wins will come.