re: Remember when LSU had 39 scholarship players

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Ed gets full credit for '19. His staff, hires, players, etc.

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No.

In 2016, O was NOT a candidate for any major conference HC jobs, nor was he ever going to be. He knew that. When he took over the HC job after Miles was fired, it was an unanticipated opportunity to audition for the now open LSU job. He knew that opportunity was going to be his last and only chance of ever potentially becoming a major conference HC again. So he politicked his arse off.

First order of business: Win the support of the fans. For years the fans screamed about Les's refusal to change his offense. So the first thing O does to excite the fans was fire the OC. The special teams also happened to suck that year as well, so O fired the ST coach for good measure. O needed a campaign manager, so he hired a damn radio talk show host to be his personal assistant. What interim coach hires a personal assistant? Let alone one with ZERO experience in the college football world.

Second order of business: Get the endorsement of the current players. They didn't like Les's physical game week practices. O immediately ended them.

Third order of business: Get the support of the former players. Many of those guys felt Les blocked them out of the program. So what did O do? He had them leading the team into the stadium!

Fourth order of business: Get the local media behind him. Les notoriously limited their access. O opened the gates to all media who want to attend practice anytime.

Despite his best efforts though, O wasn't the first choice for the permanent HC job. He probably wasn't even the second, third, or fourth choice. But he had a decent season and made his pitch with the infamous "Binder." But for LSU having the absolutely laziest AD in America, O wouldn't have been hired. Herman was the choice. When he leveraged LSU for the Texas job, Alleva got pissed and wanted to prove a point. So, he ran to the podium the day after Thanksgiving to hire a HC that he literally could have hired a week before the start of the 2017 season!

For his part, O's "Binder" had a good pitch. O was going to do what Les wouldn't: stay out of the way. The 2016 defense was good with a big name DC. O was going to keep him. The Les offense was antiquated. O was going to bring the "spread," or "pro style," or both. Basically whatever the fans wanted. And he was going to do it with a splash by hiring Lane Kiffin.

Not surprisingly, Kiffin didn't come. But O had a big campaign promise he had to keep. He needed a "big name" OC. Resume, fit, personality, etc, didn't matter. O just needed a "name". He hired Matt Canada almost sight unseen because Canada was named one of five finalists (and the only OC) for the Broyles Award (best assistant coach in college football) for the previous season.

O hired Canada despite the fact that Canada didn't run a "spread" or "pro-style" offense. Three games in to 2017, LSU got embarrassed by MSU and whatever honeymoon O had was over. He blamed the OC and his "weird" offense. O decided he's going to fix the problem (even though he has little understanding of offense) by forcing Canada to change his approach for the Troy game. The MSU embarrassment quickly faded when O stumbled upon the greater embarrassment of losing to Troy. Recognizing he knew nothing about offense, O reluctantly let Canada do his thing for the remainder of the year because he had no other option.

LSU has a decent season, but O wanted Canada out no matter the cost. Any dissention towards O was not tolerated.

With Canada gone, O was going to revolutionize the LSU offense again. He did it by promoting a guy who had already been on staff under Miles tenue, but who had not been a OC in two decades, and DIDN'T EVEN WANT THE JOB!!! Not surprisingly, LSU's offense in 2018 was relatively mediocre. Even though LSU had a solid season, both O and his OC knew they had to change.

Ensminger knew what he wanted to run for 2019, but he also knew that he was not an expert in that scheme. He knew there were details about it, such as specific responses to defensive looks, that he needed to learn. Ensminger started doing more research, and he learned that Brady was a source of that information. Ensminger consulted with Brady about the details of the offense and decided that Brady knew the offense so well that Ensminger talked O in to hiring Brady. LSU hired the consultant.

O had zero to do with the choice Burrow made to come to LSU. Burrow was making a choice between Cincinnati and LSU. The decision there is obvious. Moreover, when Burrow came down to visit LSU, his whole family came with him. Burrow's father Jimmy knew Busch and Ensminger. Burrow's brother Dan also came with him. His whole family was telling Joe to go to LSU. Jimmy and Dan were particularly convincing in getting Burrow to go to LSU.

When you consider that his father, brother, and the rest of his family wanted him to go to LSU, and when you consider that the alternative was Cincinnati, there can be no doubt that Burrow was coming to LSU regardless of the head coach.

The selflessness of Ensminger to give the offense to a young coach, coupled with the presence of what we would soon learn to be generational talent led to one of the greatest seasons in CFB history. One that O mostly fell arse-backwards into because he was essentially just a cheerleader who rubber-stamped what the DC and OC did. O played NO role whatsoever in the overall approach or play-calling on offense or defense. He could have literally been listing to 102.5 FM on his headset during the game.

O won COY and got a big raise. With it comes a massive ego inflation. In 2016 he was humble; knew his previous mistakes; knew his strengths; and knew his weaknesses. He knew he was best suited to be a recruiter and motivator while letting more intelligent coaches handle the intricacies of developing a good offensive and defensive approach. After 2019, O believed his "football mind" was as good as any coach in America.

That's why when Aranda left, O didn't think he need to find a great DC. He just needed to bring someone in to run HIS 90's Miami/00's USC fan fiction "attacking" 4-3 defense. The fact that college football had changed a lot since then and that LSU may not have the personnel to do so didn't matter. O was the COY. Why should anyone question him? He also didn't like the fact that his two (relatively) young assistants left. His solution was to hire older coaches . . . WITHOUT an interview. Who needs to interview a former DC from twelve years ago. It did not matter if those coaches had no market demand whatsoever (for good reason). Did you see the 2019 season? O's football knowledge reigned supreme, and he had the hardware to prove it. 2020 and 2021 set the program back to lows not seen in nearly three decades.

ALL O had to do was stick to the "Binder" approach that even though initially ridiculed, ultimately worked: recruit at a high level; hire the best DC and OC he could find; and let those guys completely dictate the approach and play-calling. Even if that approach may differ from what O preferred. But he couldn't. 2019 proved to him how great of a football strategist he is. That's why the 2019 national championship winning HC hasn't gotten even a sniff for another major conference HC job. If O could have accepted his role, he'd still be LSU's HC today.

Most of this post was copied and edited from Alt26's post.

It was laughably sad how many fans of Kansas St. were bragging on Twitter about having supposedly beaten the team that won the nat'l title 2 years prior to that meaningless bowl. No matter how many times that I pointed out that there were a dozen or so at most players from the '19 squad playing vs. KSU, few to none of whom were starters in '19.

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Lowest point in the program since 1999 before Saban was hired

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I know what you’re saying, but it doesn’t get lower than 1/9