re: Take the purple and gold glasses off: Is LSU a Top 5 Job in the Nation? Why/Why not?

Today LSU is a better job and more of a chance to win a National Championship than.

USC, Notre Dame, and probably even Texas!

I think Georgia, TAMU, Ohio St, and Oklahoma are all better jobs as 2 of the 3 as well.

I think the Alabama job is not as attractive as you think it is. It looks amazing because of who runs it, but once Saban retires, the guy who follows him will be under unbelievable pressure. The expectation is championship or bust basically every year.

LSU had an eerie Gris Gris to them. Every four years, when the NC is held in New Orleans, the stars align. 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 (LF7, what could have been), and 2019. 4 out of five of those years we were in the NC, and in 2015, we had the heisman front runner for most of the season.

Ability to win a title HAS to be one of the highest characteristics of "top jobs". Add in revenue, recruiting base, staff salaries. LSU is a Top 5 job without question.

Florida and Clemson are much higher on the list than Texas, SC, A&M and Michigan.

Looks like your list very heavily weights "brand" but then excludes teams like Oregon. Texas, SC, A&M and Michigan? Why not Nebraska, Miami and Penn State?

LSU is a Top 5 school primarily for ONE reason -- it practically owns the recruiting for one of the most fertile recruiting bases in the country. No other school has such an advantage. Most schools in fertile recruiting states have to rely on out-of-state recruiting because they have to share their bases with other schools. Ole Miss/Mississippi State (YES, Mississippi is a fertile recruiting state). Auburn/Alabama. Florida/FSU/Miama. USC/UCLA/Stanford/Cal, etc. At least 8 schools in Texas (plus Oklahoma that gets about 1/2 of its recruits from Texas). About the only other school that has a similar advantage to LSU is Ohio State but even they have to share parts of Ohio with Michigan and Notre Dame.

Sure, LSU has to supplement their recruiting classes with Texas, Mississippi, and other out-of-state recruits, AND, sure it loses the occasional blue-chipper to other schools, but for the most part it doesn't have a ton of competition for in-state recruits. And, year-in and year-out, Louisiana has more NFL players per capita than just about any other state.

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One of the most fertile recruiting states, no other big program in the state, SEC resources.

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This is the biggest reason LSU is a top 5 job. Not only are they the only big program in the state, they border Texas.

The nearest program of any significance is 5 hours away.

I think more fans need to put their P&G glasses on, not take them off!

For some reason, too many fans have an inferiority complex about the program.

The LSU job is a top tier program said and done! There is no doubt.
It’s actually better than Alabama, USC, and Notre Dame. It rivals Texas but even I will admit that Texas is a monster waiting for the right coach. There is some distinction there though.
Other programs that rival us are Michigan and Ohio state. They just have an aweful lot of money and incredible facilities.

We have money, facilities, huge emotional support, naming rights potential, recruiting candy land, conference viability, high profile, and potential to make a mark here without legacy issues.

Alabama has the bear and now Saban overshadowing that program. They have small state with 2 big programs recruiting.
Notre dame is non conference and frankly a shadow of itself.
USC is small program and generally lacks support financially and emotionally. (They do have huge nil potential and that is big wildcard)
Texas has to recruit in crowded state.

Michigan and Ohio state are massive and offer big NIL opportunities so I put them over us.

We can and will pay top dollar for our coach though and isn’t that all that really matters?

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1. Alabama - T-town sux but Saban has built it into a powerhouse and that legacy will last a while)

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Alabama had won ONE national championship in 30 years between Bryant's retirement and Saban's first there. Obviously it is a good job with tons of interests/money. But make no mistake. Saban has made Alabama the powerhouse it is now...not the other way around. It's a program that has needed two demanding HC (maybe the two best ever) to win championships.

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USC - Hollywood, Rose bowl, so-cal weather, incredible brand

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Should be much better given the relative weakness of the conference and the abundance of players in just the LA area alone. However, CFB is just an occasional weekend hobby in LA...not the religion it is in the south and a few spots in the midwest.

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3. Texas - Huge brand, almost unlimited $$ and resources

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With that big money comes a lot of big egos who ALL want their say in how the program should be run. Great spot...lots of "outside interference".

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5. LSU - only school that can say it's last 3 coaches have all won National Championships.

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That, and Louisiana has an inordinate amount of great football players in a relatively small state. A state where LSU is the ONLY game in town. And it is not just that the last 3 HCs won NCs here. It's that ALL three had relatively average to no success prior to coming to LSU and ALL three won a NC within 4 years of their arrival.

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Georgia

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A job I would put much higher. The state has a TON of great football players, and UGA is the only big player in town (Georgia Tech has flashes, but isn't on UGA's level). The downside is that talent gets poached by so many other schools (Clemson, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, etc). If a HC could ever lock up Georgia like LSU routinely does with Louisiana, they would be really, really hard to beat year in and year out.

1. Notre Dame
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Ohio State
5. LSU
6. Michigan
7. Georgia
8. Oklahoma
9. ala. who wants to follow the mad munchkin?
10. Florida
11. UCLA
12. Tennessee
13. Penn State
14. A&M
15. Oregon