re: Why did LSU hire Dinardo

It was a series of things not the least was Sullivan's buyout at TCU and Dean's apprehension at a buyout. It was the Curley and Archer factor as well by some people on the BoS like Charles Cusimano who were not sold on Sullivan. At the time Bill McCartney was the man in college football and DiNardo was one of his guys (so was Les Miles) and if McCartney was high on a person you talked to him. You were not getting McCartney even though he retired at Colorado that year . Originally, according to Cusimano he suggested making a run at McCartney and seeing what his price would be. If he were serious Cusimano and other Board members would find the money but McCartney stopped them cold. He suggested DiNardo who had been on his staff at Colorado and was not happy at Vanderbilt who treated him like an afterthought. Sullivan wanted the job but DiNardo wanted it too. Dean wanted Sullivan, but Andonie and Cusimano wanted DiNardo because of McCartney. The kicker was the buyout. Sullivan said if you want me, you have to pay my buyout....that's the way it works. DiNardo ups the ante and says " If the contract is right, I will pay my own buyout." Everyone jumped at it.

In the end though, I don't think DiNardo paid most of the buyout himself, he had help

Dude, what level of revisionist history are you engaging in? 1) Emmert was not even a wasted cumshot at the time. 2) No one wanted to keep Curley, least of all Dean by the end.

In the end Curley did himself in. There was no Mark Emmert at LSU in 1994 he does not show up until 1999. The real impetus to get rid of Hallman started that summer with Larry Bankston getting all over Dean because he recognized that football could help the University which was suffering from budget issues and declining enrollment.

The legend of Mark Emmert is already overblown without having to add shite in there that could not possibly have happened

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PurpleExile

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His first three seasons in Baton Rouge were winning seasons. Going from Carl Reese to Lou Tepper as defensive coordinator was Dinardo's downfall.
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This post is pretty on point. However, Dinardo’s biggest problem wasn’t Tepper. It was Bob McConnell as the OC in 1999 when Watts left after the 98 season. Tepper was a bad hire but defense definitely improved from 98 to 99. It wasn’t as good as Reese’s still. But McConnell’s offense was so bad the defense seemed to never leave the field. What made it worse, was knowing that we had the chance to get Rich Rodriguez in as the office of coordinator that year. He was the up and coming guy back then

I heard bc of the restaurant.
Mob ties too

You are right I wrote Curley but intended to say Dinardo.

However, Dean was responsible for both which was my true point.

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Tepper was a bad hire but defense definitely improved from 98 to 99. But McConnell’s offense was so bad the defense seemed to never leave the field

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I’m not sure I agree with this fully, although the offense definitely got worse and yes didn’t give the defense much help. But we were still getting run up for 30 and 40 pretty consistently.


I think the shock and awe of how bad the D was had worn off by then though which maybe made it feel like it improved lol.

I remember the UGA game in 98 so vividly. The anger of so many fans walking out of Tiger Stadium was palpable.

Carter just eviscerated us in what was probably one of the earlier “dual threat” type big games from a QB. It was just shocking seeing a true freshman (even though he was older due to baseball career) do whatever he wanted against what was the #6 ranked team in the country.


Then follow that up with the next home game against Kentucky where Couch embarrassed us as well and the verdict was in on Tepper. If the energy leaving the stadium after UGA was bad after Kentucky it was straight up nuclear.


So I think by 99 it was just accepted that the D would suck so we hoped the offense would bail us out, and when they didn’t and got worse it just took the focus off of the D

I believe Curley's base pay on his first contract was 90K a year.

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Moody found Mack and Called me back telling me not interested. I suggested they take a look at Dinardo who was coaching at Vandy.

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Mack would have been a great hire in ‘87 to replace Arnsparger, and if Joe Dean had been willing to spend above market rate and commit to kind needed facility upgrades could probably have reeled Mack back to BR.

Joe “one of us” Dean was every bit as incompetent as the other recent “one of us” hires in O, Smoke, and Johnny Jones.

Cheap hire
Before the big paydays came into play
I don't hate Dinardo
He did do some decent things to help LSU find it's footing pre Saban

Finally someone remembers what happened. Defense definitely improved in year 2.