re: Was the cupboard really bare when Saban got here?

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but he knew that LSU was a sleeping giant

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He will never accept a job anywhere that is not a sleeping giant, access to superior talent is what Saban is all about.

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Absolutely not. I just get the impression that a lot of people here seem to think Saban built this program from scratch. He did do some great things but he knew that LSU was a sleeping giant. As a matter of fact, I believe that is actually a quote from him. I'll hang up and listen.

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You can hang up. But YOU DO NOT LISTEN....


For the LAST time. STOP starting threads about USELESS shite.................

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He will never accept a job anywhere that is not a sleeping giant, access to superior talent is what Saban is all about.

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Why would any coach in his position ever accept a job they didn't view as a "sleeping giant"? Was Michigan State a sleeping giant? How about the team he coached before them? I forget exactly whom it was... I believe it was some mid major team in Michigan. Were they a sleeping giant? You make it sound like Saban didn't work to get to where he is at.

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Not at LSU he isn't..

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Maybe for the delusional fans he isn't.

You mean to tell me that you wouldn't trade Miles for Saban? Tell the truth.

The cupboard's never been bare in Louisiana. Per capita, it's got more football players than any other state in the union.

When LSU won the 1958 national championship -- and I've heard Billy Cannon say something like this on television -- it was a time when LSU had just about every ballplayer of any ability (who was white) that lived in the state of Louisiana. I may be wrong here, but it seems that I have checked this out years ago, and there was hardly a player to be found on those three platoons (White, Go, and Chinese Bandits) who was not from the state of Louisiana.

This was what was so great about the 1959 game when Cannon ran his RUN against Ole Miss. Why was LSU #1 in the country and Ole Miss was #3? Because not only did LSU have its state's prospects cornered, Ole Miss had the state of Mississippi cornered also. Ole Miss had three platoons just like LSU did -- just no catchy name like "Chinese Bandits."

I have to wonder if that 1959 night in Tiger Stadium (and in the Sugar Bowl a few months later) may have seen the greatest collection of white football players on any one field in the history of college football. Names like Jake Gibbs, Charley Flowers, Bobby Franklin for Ole Miss -- and those only scratch the surface -- Cowboy Woodruff was another, Doug Elmore. Cannon ran through the whole team -- those on the punt team, that is.

This was all before Bear Bryant came to Alabama in 1958 and began to change the landscape of Southern football. But I think that the account is true that has Bryant saying that if he were at LSU he'd never lose a game, what with all the talent in the state of Louisiana.

A similar situation existed in Alabama at that time to that in Louisiana and Mississippi. Alabama probably has never had quite the number of blue-chippers that Louisiana has had, year in and year out, but Alabama, I believe, is annually in the top 6-8 states, sort of like Ohio. Georgia, with its large population, is closer to Florida, then there is Texas and California.

When Bryant came to Alabama in 1958, Shug Jordan had just won a national championship at Auburn in 1957. Sometime if you want to take a minute, just get the Google Images photograph of the 1957 Auburn team picture. You will understand immediately why Bear Bryant referred to "those big fine Auburn boys." But it was no time at all before Bryant started harnessing the state's top recruits -- in spite of Shug Jordan.

In my opinion, Les Miles is to Saban sort of like what Shug Jordan was to Bryant -- Les may be a little better as a coach than Shug was. Had Bryant never have come to Alabama, Shug Jordan might have dominated that state for another decade and a half. Shug Jordan left a great name and tradition at Auburn, anyway.

Les Miles can coach football. He probably is a whole lot like his Michigan mentor, Bo Schembechler. Michigan, to my mind, is a lot like the state of Alabama. Michigan is historically blue-collar. Those people know the hardships of a northern winter and how the wind comes off the Great Lakes. Alabama has been historically poor, but the steel industry helped shape the state's blue-collar character.

Like Schembechler, Miles seems to believe, first and foremost, in lining up and "three yards and a cloud of dust" -- which saying to my mind was original with Schembechler's mentor, Woody Hayes.

Miles' strength is what Schembechler's seems to have been -- an ex-lineman's tough-as-nails approach that appeals to big, fine athletes and can win at an 80% clip. That's something to be proud of. Schembechler probably saw himself in Miles -- there is a photograph in which the look on Schembechler's face seems to say this, as he stands next to a seated Miles in uniform.

I was here in Alabama when Bryant was winning three national championships in the early sixties, and I've been here (again) since Saban came. I stayed loyal to the program during the not-so-good decades in between. I was proud to see coaches of varying ability come in and, sometimes, win ten games a season at a place that always had the potential to win more.

If you love college football, you will stick it out, no matter what comes your way. I like it because I like the education scene. The fans seem to be more sophisticated than pro football fans are. There is more room for divergence of styles of offense, and the turnover of players presents a different situation every year, whereas pro football teams remain much the same from season to season. The NFL draft system keeps the talent level much more uniform than in college football, where a good recruiter can make a big difference in his team's talent.

I will say this for Miles. I think he loves Louisiana, and he loves the challenge of playing in the SEC. He knows that Louisiana is a talent-rich state. He is a great recruiter, and he is determined to do what he can to keep Louisiana's blue-chippers at LSU.

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For the LAST time. STOP Lulz

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REALLY??????????//

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SouthernRabbit

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That was probably one of the most well thought out posts that I've ever read on TD, and I can't disagree.



Sadly, I bet less than 1% of the people that come across it read the whole thing.

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LSU made Saban a much as Saban made LSU.

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Goddamn, wonder what we call what Alabama has done for him then?

Corey Webster, Ryan Clark, and Trev Faulk also on that roster.

Yet another thread about the Saban days at LSU.