re: When we got Saban from Michigan State what stood out about him?

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He had Michigan State on the upswing after they'd kinda faded into mediocrity under Perles.
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Really, it wasn't until his final season at MSU that they had gotten beyond right around .500.

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That's not on the upswing when they had been consistently below .500 prior to his arrival?

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Top three things 1. recruiting 2. recruiting 3. recruiting

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Maybe so, but what stood out to me was how he took our losing players under DiNardo and turned them into winners in his first year. The year before, the first adverse event led to a collapse of the entire LSU effort. That first year the team stood its ground and had a winning record. The second year LSU won the SEC title. All of this was before the effects of recruiting became apparent.
Also, Saban was a Mark Emmert (Chancellor) project. Dean (AD) was sidelined as he wanted to keep DiNardo. Emmert was an academic from UConn. I presume he had seen what the UConn basketball team had done for the University. Emmert went to friends who knew football; these friends suggested Saban after he asked who was the best.

Morris Watts was Sabans OC and was very successful OC at LSU before going back north to Michigan State.

Morris told Saban that LSU was a sleeping giant and it helped sell Saban on the south and LSU in particular.

Saban had brought Mich St. up to the no. 10 ranking in the country at the time of our hire.

This is an important question for people like Woody to consider. The best coaches today were unproven/unknowns when they got their shot. Saban had one good (2-loss) season and 4 seasons hovering around .500 at MSU. Kirby was a DC when he got UGA. Dabo was a WR coach. Day was a co OC.

You don’t have to reset the market and steal someone already established. There are a handful of guys out there that are relative unknowns that are going to be top 5 coaches in a few years. You just have to be able to identify and evaluate them.

Matt Campbell is a great example. ISU is a much weaker program than, say, Michigan State historically. No history and they are in a location that no one that’s not from there wants to be. They don’t have a great recruiting base and are the little brother program. Yet he’s turned them into a serious threat and is winning at an unprecedented level for ISU. Would it translate to LSU? I don’t know, but I’ll bet in 5 years, he’ll be where Riley is today with some blue blood throwing ridiculous $ at him to try and pry him away. I hope Woodward isn’t only head hunting guys that have been to the playoffs at a top 15 type program. There are a few diamonds out there that would win just as big or bigger at LSU and won’t require 12-15 mil a year to get them here.

The only thing I knew about him at the time was that he lost a bowl game to Gerry DiNardo.

Actually, not much as a lot were dismissive remembering his defeat in Shreveport..

I remember nobody really knowing who he was other than dinardo beat him in the independence bowl a few years before.

It wasn’t until about 3/4 through his first season that we knew we had something special IMO.

His interview. Scott Woodward himself states they went to interview Saban, but he end up interviewing LSU. He blew everyone away

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When we got Saban from Michigan State what stood out about him?

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Taking the job evidently. The other 5 before him turned it down