re: Today's Tiger Baseball Fans don't know the true greatness of Skip Bertman.

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True. But you can't discount the fact that he could not have timed the rise of the program any better. When LSU won the NC in 1991 the football program was a disaster and the basketball program was beginning it's decline. LSU fans were desperate to feel proud of SOMETHING and baseball provided it. Had basketball and football been rolling in the 90's it is very likely LSU baseball would have a following/local interests more similar to Florida than leading the nation in attendance year after year.

That's also why interest has exploded at places like Arkansas, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Vanderbilt. Those are generally the bottom feeders in SEC football and their fans (like LSU fans in the 90's) just want something to cheer about. That interest led to greater resources being pumped in which led to greater success.

Skip is probably one 3 or 4 greatest coaches in college baseball history. But he was also the right man at the RIGHT TIME to make LSU a juggernaut

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Here is the correct timeline with no baloney.
Skip’s first season at LSU was 1984. That’s when he went to work. 1991 was the culmination of those early efforts, not the beginning.

Skip got LSU into a regional in his second season.
Skip got to the CWS in 1986, 87, 89 and 90.

Football won the SEC in 1986 and in 1988 and went to the Sugar Bowl both years. Football was not down when Skip first started and didn’t hit the skids until 1989. Skip had LSU in the CWS in 1989 and twice before then.

Skip making LSU a baseball power had little or nothing to do with the decline of football. He put LSU on the baseball map when we were winning SEC titles in football.

In the late 80s LSU basketball was elite. There was no lack of hoops interest. There was the final four in 86 the year Skip first got to the CWS. They went to the ncaa tourney every year until 1993. We saw super stars like Shaq and Chris Jackson in the PMAC.

Skip built his program ftom the ground up. He was way more than a coach, he was a marketing genius and a master motivator. He set up family plans for tickets, built playgrounds for toddlers, brought in the San Diego Chicken and beat junk cars with sledge hammers. Baseball became a destination place fir a family of four in BR. It had nothing to do with football or basketball. Skip competed against these programs when they were both good snd carved out a rock solid baseball fan base.

Your entire posts ignored reality. Skip started with nothing and built LSU baseball into the greatest baseball program in the US in a fee short years. There was no perfect storm or unique circumstances, there was only one great man, Skip Bertman.

Okay Karen.

Watch what one new womens basketball coach can do for a program that hasn't had much success in years. I promise you it won't take her long either. Great coaches adapt, others like a Miles or CPM grow stale and stubborn til the end.

WHO YA GUNNA GIT??

signed,rantards.

Lol.

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Your entire posts ignored reality. Skip started with nothing and built LSU baseball into the greatest baseball program in the US in a fee short years. There was no perfect storm or unique circumstances, there was only one great man, Skip Bertman.

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NO ONE is saying he didn't build a tremendous program from the ground up. The point is that it did not explode in terms of significant fan interest until the early/mid 90's. In 1989 LSU averaged about 1,800 fans per game. And they had already been to the CWS twice by that time. It wasn't until the early 90's that they really began to lead the nation in attendance and never looked back. In the 80's it was still very much a minor sport at LSU in terms of fan interest even though the program was having great success.

The point is not that he didn't build a great program from the ground up. It's that he had the great fortune of peaking at a time when LSU fans were STARVING for national success. That catapulted fans from people looking for a fun spring outing to die hard status. That tremendous success coupled with tremendous fan interest led to more resources being pumped into the program than almost every other school in the nation. Which, in turn, allowed LSU to maintain itself as one of the preeminent baseball programs in the country. That may not have quite been the case if they starting winning championships in say 2003 when Football was back to being a national contender once more.

So again, Skip was the right guy, who reached the pinnacle of his program at the right time

Even Skip will tell you about the evolution of parody that has occurred... He talks about it quite often. Not cutting Paul any slack, but it's a different environment.

Did you help write the script for the upcoming documentary on skip?

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You know it's true. His resume speaks for itself.

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This is too stupid an idea to even make a recruiting joke about.

Just stop.

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The difference was the genius of Skip Bertman.

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Which is very much like the genius of Nick Saban.

Neither are x's and o's savants. They are both decent enough at understanding the game. But their real genius is they always know exactly what buttons to press, in what order, to get the most out of their team. They also know when a team needs to peak.

Skip had some very meh regular seasons... but when the South II regional kicked off, they were ready to go.

I have no doubt in my mind we can get someone who will perform better than Maineiri, but if you think there’s a coach out there that can bring back Skips level of success you aren’t paying attention.