re: My son interviewed former LSU Coach Gerry Dinardo

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Dinardo had Faulk, Cecil, and Rondell Mealey all in the same backfield at one point

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And still chose to throw it on 3rd & 4.

Coach Dinardo is great...I actually tell the story in my book...as a 12 year old, thats an awesome experience.

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As fate would have it, I was at the student recreation center in 1995 when I read in an article in the Daily Reveille, LSU’s student newspaper, that Gerry DiNardo, LSU’s head football coach, would be the featured speaker at the kickof for Men Against Violence, a new student organization.

A quick story about Coach DiNardo. In 2017, I was in Sandestin, Florida, on a golf trip with my best friend Randy Leindecker and a few high school football coaches, including two who had been my coaches in high school. I was there to cook. On my way to the store, I was riding in an LSU golf cart, and who comes jogging by but Coach Gerry DiNardo. When I got home, just to be sure it was him, I took a picture of the golf cart and tweeted it to him, asking, “Was that you I saw jogging today in Sandestin?” He responded back and confirmed it was him. When the fellows got back from playing golf, I told them I had seen Coach DiNardo.

Coach Moock, my high school football coach, had met with Coach DiNardo during his tenure at LSU, so he said to tell him hey. What I ended up doing was inviting Coach DiNardo over for dinner the next evening. He showed up with two bottles of wine, ate dinner, and hung out, telling stories for three hours. We had a wonderful time.

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Smokin Herb

He got us a W against the evil midget and Spurrier

That shits awesome
Congrats on raising him right

I remember a early Saturday game in TS where Faulk had a great game but showers kept forming and moving over the stadium.

12-6

Those were some fun years, but we also had lower standards then. Getting to the Weed Eater Bowl was a big deal.

That Auburn game where the "magic came back" was the game that made me a fan as a kid.

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Some will disagree, but Dinardo put us on the road to success.

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He set some foundations in place that helped pave the road for sure and are still with the program today.

I have my own thoughts on the reasons for his demise but without getting in the weeds he did himself in.

The Gridiron Club he created was the best version of it, it's declined steadily with every coach since and is now a shell of what it was.

The Recruiting Bash was his brainchild and again, was the best version of itself under his leadership.

He pissed a lot of folks off to improve facilities, but it had to be done and he improved them greatly and again helped start a roadmap that was not there before on how to get it done and made the road easier for future coaches by knocking down those early barriers.

Again, he was his own worst enemy at the end, but he gave me some good memories and I'll always remember them.