My bad on the name, shows you I have been a "true" Tiger fan for over 50 years in that my brain is lagging at an old age. Apologize for getting he name wrong. And you have been a fan how long? Blind? Maybe but I don't think we have big time talent at this point. Maybe if these guys play together several years they'll get better but I don't think we have the talent major colleges have. You calling me out as not being a true fan, why the hell would anyone get on here and express displeasure if they did not care about LSU athletics? I apologize for having made a fool of myself.
I didn't start bashing Brady until he had clearly overstayed his welcome. That didn't happen until around the Jamie Lloreda days. The random F4 run with Baby and Tyrus saved his job, but the team regressed to being borderline unwatchable shortly after that.
As opposed to: Brady had some nice recruiting which helped LSU to rare runs at the Final Four? Can we say that Brady's seniors saved Johnson's job but the team regressed to being borderline unwatchable shortly after that??
I don't think so. I think Brady got the same grace period when he started that all coaches do. In fact, he got more because of enduring the probation of the Lester Earl business. I was never a Brady basher, but in time it was apparent that he was not the guy for the job. He got beyond probation and still was mediocre. He recruited well, but ran off more players than any coach I've ever seen at LSU. He was publicly abusive to his players. He never tried to interact with the fan community which was especially bad following a showman and people person like Dale Brown. The Trentster is still in his grace period. After losing al that senior talent, he did not go the junior college route, but worked for the long term recruiting out of high school. He'll get another couple of years to win with his own recruits. But if he doesn't, the seat will get hot fast. With proven head coaches like Johnny Jones and up-and coming coaches like Butch Pierre out there with LSU connections, Johnson will not get the extended stay of execution that Brady did.
I think this is right, Red. And, Trent has said as much. He knows that he's in year 3 of a 5 year contract, and he's also publicly stated that by year 4 of that contract, he expects to be judged. I'd say a team with the likes of Stringer, Turner, Derenbecker, Dotson, O'Bryant, White, Hamilton, Courtney, and Isaac (his recruits) mixed in with folks that Brady left but Trent's team had to work with (Green, Harris and Warren), is a reasonably competitive team, and one that is better than say Brady's post 2006 classes. Folks seem to quickly forget that Trent won immediately with a team that was largely Brady's same team the year before. But, then, had to field a team with unproven Brady recruits and walk ons that was just plain awful. That's a baseline that isn't so simple to recover from. I'll be judging Trent starting the end of this season and really middle to end of next season. I think an interesting question will remain, how do folks like Stringer, Derenbecker, Turner, Dotson and Courtney look at the end of the season? How does White, Warren and White look at the end of the season? Are they getting better and buying into and absorbing the team concepts? I think what you can say right now, is that Stringer and Turner are as advertised, young talented freshmen who are not perfect. To average 10+ ppg as a freshman is impactful no matter how you slice it. Dotson is vastly improved. Warren is a little stagnant (remember he was injured and needed surgery). There's a little rust with White. Garrett Green has shown some life. Harris has some catching up to do. Derenbecker also will need a full season to adjust to the speed of the college game. It's a continual improvement process this season, I'm afraid.
What purpose would it serve to protect John Brady's feelings? John Brady was not a good basketball coach. He was an employee of this university and he did not graduate from here. We owe him nothing. It doesn't make any sense to praise Les Miles for doing it the right way and then let Brady of the hook for not graduating players and losing players left and right.
Well, then criticize Johnson based on what he has accomplished and leave John Brady out of it. The only reason any of us are talking about Brady is because you keep bringing him into every basketball thread. There are some things Johnson can do that would make us better right now IMO. I feel like our youth is the bigger factor, but there are things he can do to maximize our team's production.
Graduation rate is up. Attrittion is way down. We have a full allotment of scholarship players on the team, and will next year. Talent is coming in. Give Trent some time.
