So what I've decided to do here is come up with coaching rankings for all of the sports at LSU.

I did, admittedly give high marks (probably too high) to some of the smaller-sport coaches, but they have a lot of programs that have traditionally sucked that are really beginning to soar.

Feel free to agree/disagree as you wish.

So here goes:

1. Les Miles: Football
This was a fairly easy one. Not even because he won the championship this season, but because of prolonged success over three years. Not many programs win 11 games three years in a row, so to anchor that while having to deal with hurricanes, losing four first-round picks, etc... is amazing.

2. Brian Lee: Soccer
Coach Lee was the "Urban Meyer" of soccer at Furman when he coached. By that I don't mean he was a negative recruiter, but I mean he was the young coach everyone wanted. Since LSU has gotten him, they have kicked everyone in the SEC's butts in recruiting and have won their 1st NCAA Tournament game in the program's history. The team is one of 10 or so front-runners to win national championship gold next season with so many returning players. (not bad for a program that was a laughing stock before his era).

3. Dennis Shaver: Track/XC
I know Elliot is technically the XC coach, but Shaver is the brains behind the operation. And LSU men and women's track is historically a powerhouse while historically having some of the worst track facilities. Is probably No. 2 in terms of "actual success", but I think Lee's soccer teams will catch him eventually, so I put him no. 3.

4. Van Chancellor: WBB
He is a hall of famer. Obviously, he moves up or down on the list if he can or can't get the ladies to finally win the title, but he has a handful of WNBA titles and an amazing class coming in this year, so he has kinda "saved" the program from totally sucking big-time for the next 2-3 years with the class he hauled in. Plus, the team is 9-0 in the SEC, so it's hard to argue that.

5. Yvette Girouard: softball
This season is big because it's the 1st without Emily Turner, but the softball squad has traditionally been one of the stronger programs in the SEC. I also expect them to improve in the coming years with the new stadium.

6. Adam Schmitt: Swimming and Diving
Schmitt is a 1st or 2nd year guy that like Lee took over a program that was not so hot and he turned them into a national Top-25 team.

7. Fran Flory: Volleyball
A consistent Top 15-20 program nationally. I'd like to see them win in the dance a little more, but it's good to consistently be a part of it.

8. Paul Mainieri: Baseball
Mainieri will go way, way, way up this list following this season, because I have nothing but utmost confidence in his abilities to turn around the program. But the team did finish at the bottom-half of the SEC this past year, so it's hard to put someone at the top of the list until some of the success is physically seen.

9. D-D Breaux: Gymnastics
D-D has built the program from scratch and has done so many things to make LSU into one of the nation's best gymnastics programs. But her teams imo seem to traditionally be shell-shocked in the biggest stages, having several regional appearances, but very few Super Six's, despite being ranked in the Top 6 for a lot of the season.

10. Jeff Brown/Tony Minnis: Men and Women's Tennis
Both are middle-pack SEC programs, but both are young and are getting much better. Minnis has the pleasure of having Megan Falcon on his team until she goes pro.

11. Karen Bahnsen/Chuck Winstead: M and W Golf
I don't know enough about the history of the programs to gauge whether the teams have ever had any real success, but both teams are near the cellar in the SEC and have been there for a while, minus a little bit of success for the women this past season.


12. Butch Pierre: MBB
Too little info to judge.


EDIT: To summarize, they have a lot of very, very smart men and women running the programs at LSU.

I'd say if I had to give letter-grade ratings to these coaching, 1-10 would all have at least C+ grades. There doesn't seem to be a squeaky wheel in any sport.

If you were putting this list together a week ago, I'm curious as to where you would slot JB.

Below D-D Breaux in 10th, probably.

You could divide this into different sports and have an all time ranking for each sport or perhaps all time ranking overall. I bet Skip gets number 1.

LSU has a soccer team? :shock:

The women are officially sanctioned. The men are intramurals, brotha'. :grin:

I think DD Breaux has to be alot higher mayber 3 or 4. The women's gymnastics team is a perpetual top 10 program. If Les never won a championship but continued to go 11-2 and be ranked in the top 10 would you have him at 9?

if the men's bball team entered the NCAA Tournament every year as a No. 1 seed and never made the Final Four, would you consider the coach to be doing his job well?

She always fields a team in the Top 5-8 nationally, but rarely gets into the Super 6 when the chips are on the table. No doubt she is one of the best at her sport in terms of program consistency and stability, but she is kinda a Marty Schotenheimer (spelling).

and if Les went 11-2 every year with no titles, I would have him higher, because the parity in his sport is greater.

Nearly every SEC team is ranked in the Top 25 in gymnastics and some of the major conferences either don't have it or don't care about it.

The same 15-20 teams finish in the top 20 every year, just in different order, hence Georgia winning 3-straight national titles and also being the favorites to win it a fourth time this year.