re: The full cost of a coaching reset:

quote:

---

Sloan and Davis have to go

---

Just had a Newsweek article pop up on my newsfeed on this very subject. It said BK is already feeling internal heat to change coaches if the offensive drought continues... No sources named of course.

quote:

---

Harbaugh was obviously a lost cause

---

The only way Harbaugh won a natty is he cheated all the way to the championship

quote:

---

That was in a different era of college sports where coaches didn't have the ability to add multiple experienced starters to quickly fill in holes.

---

It’s also an era when players who aren’t starting don’t stick around waiting their turn. Stamps is only the most recent example of that. That creates a lack of continuity and makes depth an issue for pretty much everyone. It also has leveled the playing field with less talent stockpiling on the rosters of only a few programs. That narrows the margin for error and, when combined with the lack of depth, makes it difficult to overcome key injuries, especially on the road.

quote:

---

Barring a miracle, this will be the first time in 25 years an LSU HC hasn't won a national championship within his first 4 years on the job.

---

You start off by saying it’s a new era, then immediately switch to applying old standards and expectations. Many times the advantages LSU had in the pre-NIL/transfer portal era aren’t there now or have been significantly reduced. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t still be one of the best programs in the country, but expecting a consistent run like they had from 2003-2012 is just unrealistic. No, LSU shouldn’t be at the level they have been the past 4 years either, but everyone is still feeling out what it takes to succeed in this new era. Oregon and Ohio State were ahead of the curve in putting it all together. No one else has established any consistency. Alabama lost 4 games last year for the first time since 2007 and more than 2 for the first time since 2010. They started off this year with a miserable performance against FSU. They seem to have righted the ship, but that seemed true last year as well before debacles against Oklahoma and Michigan. Georgia lost 3 games for the first time since 2018. The other two CFP teams from the SEC last year, Texas and Tennessee, are also 5-2 and have looked just as lost as LSU at times on one side of the ball. Oklahoma and Clemson were consistent programs in the early CFP era, now struggling in the new environment. It’s not just LSU.

quote:

---

This was supposed to be the year the 2023 mistake was fixed. He demanded the donors increase their spending at the end of last season. They did, and LSU signed what was ranked as the best transfer class in the country. That class vastly improved the defense. Yet, just like in 2023, he's been incapable of fielding even an average unit on the other side to complement it.

---

I know most of the fan base doesn’t want to hear it, but key injuries are very hard to overcome in the new environment. If Dellinger and Frazier don’t go down last year, LSU is in the SECCG and CFP. If Nussmeier were 100%, they would have beaten Ole Miss. The offense played well enough to beat Vandy if Gooden and Weeks had not been hurt. This was a team set up to succeed and they would have without the injuries.

quote:

---

He's not going to be fired after this season. But after this season NO ONE will have any level of hope he can at least reach the CFP.

---

We’ll see how the rest of the season plays out, but I do have hope they can reach the CFP next year (and I haven’t given up on this year). Like I said, without injuries they would have made it last year and would be in the driver’s seat this year. He has put teams on the field that were capable of making the CFP at full strength each of the last two seasons. Until they start failing to compete at full strength, it’s an overreaction to decide the program is hopeless.