frankenfish

It really does feel like Arnette at MS State when the Pirate unexpectedly passed away, And that lasted one miserable season before they brought in an offensive guy; it'll be interesting to see how this plays out at the other MS school.

BK to Northwestern!

Seriously, with all of these openings BK better have some good documentation on his requirement to seek employment...

One Coach Klein won a Natty at a Louisiana University, so you'd expect the 2nd would as well!

Coach Klein

I listen to the College Football Enquirer podcast with Andy Staples, Ross Dellenger and Steven Godfrey on my commute, and Godfrey (who graduated from Ole Miss) says he's hearing there is a fissure with Ole Miss' current staff; some are ready to follow Kiffin to LSU (or elsewhere) and some want to focus on the playoff drive. It will be interesting to see; maybe Goulding wants to stay behind for the playoff run, so Baker would be more likely in that instance? I also wonder which camp Charlie Weis, Jr. might be in.

It's going to be so interesting to see how this shakes out...

I have to assume Kiffin would bring Pete Golding with him; Golding's wife is from LA. I'd have to lose Baker, but it's worth it to get Kiffin (and Charlie Weis, Jr.

It's all a crap shoot. Kelly had the resume and it made sense to assume he'd be successful here, and he wasn't.

So Mullen wasn't successful at Florida, so it makes sense that he wouldn't be successful here either.

The assumption about Kelly was wrong, so who's to say if the assumption about Mullen is wrong as well?

I feel like we can do better, but I do wonder- in this new age would it work to have our GM work to get the best players, and then Mullen's job to just coach them up? Is Texas Tech's success this year due to their coaching, or the players they can buy? Maybe a head coaches recruiting prowess isn't as important in this new era.

I don't think LSU is ready to be among the first to hire for this model, but I do wonder if at some point that won't be more of the normal path.

I know nothing, but if I were him I would stick it out to the end of the season:
-stay in strength and conditioning program
- stay in nutrition program
- keep getting reps in practice


Now what? Is he still on scholarship? If he announces he's entering the portal can he still access the facilities?

I do buy the explanation- our OL is taught to block for the RPO so they can't be too aggressive and get caught being ineligible receivers down field if Nuss decides to throw. But, since Nuss is no threat to run the defense doesn't have to defend him in the RPO so it's the worst of both worlds- The OL doesn't block aggressively and the QB doesn't run. And our OL Coach has only been teaching that.

Maybe more of an excuse than an explanation...

Not being sarcastic, I truly mean this- I'm glad that if we did whiff on a transfer it was on the D line where we're deep. Imagine if it was Braelin Moore who flamed out.... :confused:

I'm not convinced Kelly is the answer, but in context he was the right choice at that time. Way back when the Hat got canned and the hire of Tom Herman fell through, Coach O made sense with his pitch- pay me less as a head coach, I’ll be the recruiting coordinator and use the money you’re not paying me to be head coach to pay the best coordinators. Aranda was that on D and he got lucky with the Slinger/Joe Brady/Joe Burrow combo, but once he won, he decided he needed the big money, and that all fell apart.

So Coach O gets fired and our new AD comes back home from A&M, and says he’s paying top dollar, but wants an established coach (that worked really well with Jimbo, but I digress.) Rumor was it was Riley from Oklahoma, but he went West (to try to avoid the SEC IMO, but what do I know?) So who fits the AD’s criteria?

Saban? He’s not leaving Bama, and just retired, so that wasn’t a possibility.
Riley? Off the board to USC.
James Franklin? Had proven to be a good coach, but not a great one, and had no real motivation to leave Penn State.
Brian Day? Not going to leave The Ohio State University.
Urban Meyer? Please…
Kiffin? Not going to fire Coach O and bring in Kiffin…
Then who? Napier was hot at the University of Louisiana Lafayette, but hadn’t proven himself on the big stage.

So Kelly’s resume was really the best fit for these criteria. Has won everywhere he’s been, three coach of the year trophies, left the program in better shape than when he go there/doesn’t have a history of flaming out. I guess another way to ask, if not Kelly, then who?

Like I said, I'm not convinced Kelly is the answer, but was anyone in their right mind saying at the time, "You know what LSU should do? Give the current DC at Notre Dame, who had only been the DC there for one season, having been at DC at Cinncinnati before that, his first HC gig?"

I mean, subjectively I think not, but objectively maybe it is too much to expect it, every year. Admittedly, this is year one, but it looks like the top 4 SEC teams will get into the playoffs, but maybe most years the top 3?

So coming off of the recent signing day and knowing the impact NIL had that, and that we're losing ~50% of each recruting class to the portal then have to rebuild the team each year also through the portal, LSU would need to be at least #3 in the SEC, currently ranked as:
-UGA (3)
-TEX (5)
-Bama (11)
-TN (7)
-USC (14)
-Ole Miss (13)
-MO (21)
-UF
-Vandy
-Ark
-A&M
-Auburn
-OU
-UK
-MS St

So in order to be at least #3 a team would need to go 6-2 in the SEC. There are a lot of variable listed up there, plus injuries (what if Hilton and Guillory were healthy this year?) So I think I've talked myself into thinking it is too much to ask that LSU consistently be among the top 3 strongest programs in the SEC, year in and out, but maybe I just have low expectations.
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