Where did Dinardo go wrong?

Drop

Linebacker

I actually remember the first season I watched, the QB battle was between Josh Booty and Rohan Davey. I know Booty was there when Dinardo was the coach, I guess he just never got the full handle on the starting job. Then again, Rohan Davey was excellent all around, so that worked against Booty.

He started with a good coaching staff and had some early success. As coaches and coordinators left, he replaced them with people who were not so qualified. That was his downfall.

Lou Tepper

He allowed Morris Watts (offensive coordinator) and Carl Reese (defensive coordinator) leave for the same jobs at Michigan State and Texas, respectively. I believe if they had both stayed, the Tigers could have won the natty in 1998, instead of imploding. Why did those guys leave?

It’s a bit more complicated that this. The 1997 season was a huge success. Beat # 1 Florida at home and finished #10. The three losses (Auburn, Ole Miss and Notre Dame) left a bad taste in Gerry’s mouth. Auburn best us in a 2 minute drive at the end of the game to take the lead. Ole Miss was an 11 Am kickoff the week after beating Florida. Tigers were flat. ND was at home in 35degree weather , daytime, and they ran right at us. He complained that the defense “ran a new scheme” every week and he wanted a consistent scheme that worked without being changed. The reality is that we were still a year or two away in the D line and LB’s and that Carl Reese schemed up a solid defensive plan week in and out. We just didn’t have the D line and LBs to consist Lt execute it. He pushed Reese out (goes on the Texas’s and guides them to their best defensive teams in 30 years ). He hired Lou Tepper, who was the hot name bc he suddenly had Illinois playing great defense and out two LB’s in the first round. Lou, however, schemes against Bug Ten teams week in and out.

LSU replayed ND at the end of the 97 season in he Indy bowl. Tepper drew yo the scheme for the game. LSU stuffed the ND run game and won big. It was fools gold. Mid way through the 98 season LSU had a losing record, giving up several 300yd passing days to unproven QBs in a row. There was a stretch in there where four QB’s in a row were “offensive player of the week” bc if the production they had against LSU. His corners lined up 7-10 yds off of the receiver every play. In a three receiver or more set, he refused to play nickle. He dropped a linebacker over the slot for coverage. Everyone exploited it. Everyone. Calls to fire Tepper started mid season and rose to a fever pitch by Late November. Gerry dug in and said Tepper is my guy, the scheme is just complicated and take 3-4 years to learn. The fallout of that statement still leaves a bad taste in Tiger fans today. Gerry kept Tepper. 1999 ended up worse than 98, culminating in a home loss to a average Univ of Houston team. They fired Gerry and Lou after that game. LSU best Ark with an Asst coaching for its ONLY SEC win of the season. They hired Saban 10 days later and the rest is history. Firing Gerry was difficult but necessary at the time. Totally different era. LSU has 6 losing seasons in a row prior to Gerry. He stabilized both recruiting and the ship. He got fans back to Tiger Stadium. Most importantly, he made money for LSU and LSU likes money. We saw the money flow reduce to a trickle by mid season of 99 and knew we could never go back to the 93/94 seasons of 25 thousand season tickets being sold and 40 thousand in the seats.

Pelini won’t get O fired. Non renewed season tickets , less game day tickets sold and crowds of 75 thousand or less will get O fired. I am not saying it will happen, but if we start to see those things then the writing is in the wall. The machine needs grease to work. Just look at the impact COVID of COVID on the Athl Dept and imagine that for 2-3 years in a row. Also imagine that the impact is only at LSU while, your rivals experience success and no money problems. This is what happened in 98 and 99.

He allowed two members of his staff, one of whom was butt hurt he did not get the DC job, to totally undermine his staff and they team. They were actively doing so, and it showed when DiNardo was relieved of his job before the last game of the season and they embarrassed the SEC West Champ Arkansas.

He went down with Lou tepper. Hope we don’t witness history again

Member of S.A.L.T

Failure to fire Lou Tepper