re: RIP Bill Arnsparger

I need to apologize. In an earlier post I said Arnsparger won with Stovall's recruits. I believe that to be true but, that wasn't appropriate on this thread. Now.. full story...

I liked Jerry Stovall. Stovall was a wonderful man and outstanding recruiter. I felt like Stovall got a bad rap from Brodhead. Brodhead wanted him gone so he fired him and hired Arnsparger. So, I never bought in totally on Arnsparger because I felt like he helped railroad Jerry Stovall out of town.

Arnsparger was a GREAT coach. He had the "no name" defense with the Dolphins and did very well at LSU.

So, again... my apology.

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So, I never bought in totally on Arnsparger because I felt like he helped railroad Jerry Stovall out of town.

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Some people felt that way about Bo Rein, to be honest, and he had nothing to do with the ludricrous way that Dietzel was brought in to "Help Mac Pack".

And I'm not even taking a side as to whether or not Mac should have stayed or left, but the way he was removed is a stain on the program.

A few memories:

The team he inherited was a little lax on discipline. First game he coached in Tiger Stadium, one of our boys had just fricked up royally and was coming off the field laughing like it was no big deal. Arns was pissed over the frick-up and even more pissed over the player's attitude and literally went up to him and told him to wipe the smile off his face or he was going to knock it off of him. An assistant actually had to get between them. At that point the kid and others knew he was serious. Glad for the assistant intervening, or we might have lost a good coach after one game.

I still remember the old man getting pissed at the refs at one home game over a missed call and actually offering them his glasses. The crowd loved it!

I also remember all the times that he would run around parts of the stadium waving his cap and thanking the crowd for their support.

He was also informally consulted when LSU was looking at hiring Nick Saban, and of course, gave his blessing to Saban.

While he never won a title, he was probably one of the best coaches, if not the best to take the field as HC for LSU up to that point. In my book he is still one of the top three.

RIP Arns. You touched so many lives. Prayers sent for the family and Arns. Many good memories for Arns. Wish we could have kept him for a few more years. I liked that guy.

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I always wondered what would have happened had he stayed for the long term. He was 2-0-1 vs Bama and had NFL swagger.

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Yeah, who knows? He wasn't the greatest fit in Tigerland, but his '86 squad was bad to the bone and should have been playing for a NC that year.

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He was a great coach but he won with Stovall's recruits.

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That's a ballsy post in this thread. Have an upvote, sir.

Funny how for years people say Archer won with Bill's players but now that he is dead, it's time to attack the coach.

Very simply put, Coach Arnsparger was a genius. Tactical adjustments, personnel utilization and nuances made him better than anyone he faced. Having some experience with him and his staff, I witnessed that Coach Arnsparger was one of the few that could call both sides of the ball during a game. Pretty amazing man...

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somehow we shite the bed against Miami of Ohio that year

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Remember the game well. As we were entering the stadium, I remember telling my then wife that we were actually supposed to win the game, but stranger shite has happened. After looking at the Miami of Ohio team through the binoculars I then told her to look at how big those motherfrickers were. They didn't have the depth of an LSU, but what they had was damned good, big, strong, and fast. That game was not an upset. They won it fair and square.

Yeah, everyone was pissed, but not nearly like Arns. The man did not like losing, and his record at LSU reflected that.