re: Sick of the “personnel” excuse.

Defensively

Caden never gets the ball.....so who cares how good he is.

Yup. We have talent but not enough talent. We have too many holes and are thin in too many places.

Baker reminds me of PM his first year. Did everything he could with what he had but he didn't have the talent to get it done. Once he got his players in, he did.

I think Kelly didn't realize how defense works down here nor how important it is because it is not where he is from. Our defensive recruiting is thus two years behind where it should be. No Spears and Marquise Hill recruits to save us.

First need to dispel some false narratives.

1) Overall lack of talent.

Wouldn’t have beaten Ole Miss and South Carolina without a better than average level of talent.

Sure it could be better but it’s far from the worst.

2) Portal

Winning teams do what winning teams do. Refusal to utilize EVERY available resource to improve one’s team indicates an unwillingness to do what it takes to reach the top.

3) Build through recruiting

NIL deals have, for the most part, ended the practice of an elite player beginning and ending his career playing for a single team.

Those players will most likely test the waters each year. Who can blame them? Best to earn as much as one can when one can. Never know when a career ending injury also ends their ability to earn an athletic based income stream.

4) Couldn’t have landed BK without a 10 year guaranteed contract.

No problem. Find someone else. There were plenty of other potential hires from both collegiate and NFL teams.

I’m sure some of the “unavailable” coaches would have entertained a $12M a year, five year deal.

If that hire floundered the buyout would have been considerably less than the one currently forcing LSU to hold onto in lieu of a $70M buyout.

Harry Truman is famous for saying “The buck stops here.”

In this case the buck stops at SW’s and BK’s feet. Both need to geaux.