...and it's a great thing that Saban left when he did too. I think his temper would have made him the next Woody Hayes in not too long! Saban would have been punching players on the sidelines, etc. It would have been VERY, VERY bad for LSU. Whew! Boy! Did we dodge a bullet! Hope you could sense the sarcasim. I tried to lay it pretty thick.
Even though it's been gone over before, there is still alot to be said for this. Even though he did end up recruiting alot of great talent while he was here, he didn't exactly start out with the three stooges out there.
Yes, but in Saban's first two years, he had two bowl wins AND an SEC championship to show for it. Also, in Saban's last two years, he had one bowl loss, another SEC championship and a national championship in another bowl win. We can go all day with this stuff...
Yea I agree with the last couple posts I think people make it out to be like Saben was handed a horrible roster when he took over but I believe we started the season in '98 ranked number 6 in the nation before the free fall that ended with Dinardo's firing the following year. The point is there was plenty of Lousiana talent. Also the great thing about the 2001 year as an LSU fan was we won the sec championship with 3 SEC Losses including a humiliating blowout at home to Florida. Totally not complaining about the chips falling into place that year as an LSU fan but obviously that was a rarity in the SEC that might not happen again for a long time to even make it to the championship with 3 sec losses. I guess basically I'm trying to say I loved Saben as much as the next guy but let's be careful not to overdue the credit to him in an effort to overdue the critism of Miles in his first two years. Remember, Miles is the FIRST coach in the HISTORY of lsu to have 2 10 win seasons back to back, that in his 2 years.:geauxtige :helmet:
Coker is an average to slightly above average coach - nothing special, but not that bad. Decent game day coach, but not good at running a program and not a particularly good eye for talent. Coker's flaws just took a little time to come through the program. Miles on the other hand, may not be that great of a gameday coach (debatable, I think he's above average but not one of the greatest), but he can run a good program & bring in top coordinators, plus I think he & the staff have a great eye for talent. I think Les has got all the right ingredients to be a great HC with a consistently successful program. I don't think he'll ever be run off, and he will leave LSU as one of our, if not the, most successful coaches ever.
When people mention "all that talent" or "best talent in the SEC" are they including the OL? In reality, our best O-lineman was injured all season and what was on the field was the team's biggest liability. Miles should be commended for squeezing 10 wins out of a team that had virtually no running game. As for the timeouts, it's not necessarily the object to hang on to them as long as you can. If the situation demands a timeout in order to avoid a catastrophe, a coach should call the damn thing and fix the problem. They're not like sick leave. You can't cash in the unused ones.
Dam right! :thumb: SF, I agree with you and understand your point but we did have to use some timeouts after penalties several times (I don't remember which games, but it was early on). That is usually attributed to game management but not that it can't happen to any coach but the frequency with which it had happened over a two-three game span is probably what brought it to light. To Miles' credit, it was early in the season and I don't recall it happening later on in the season.
I agree that the O line was probaby our most significant weak link during the season. Having written that, I think they did improve as the season progressed. Stats don't tell the complete picture but we only gave up 17 sacks for the year and our yards per rush average was a respectable 4.6
Definitely agree on both- our young line was the weak link and they did improve. But pass blocking wasn't bad, it was the run blocking. The 17 sacks were in part due to the inexperience and missing assignments on blitzes- Like yesterday, a defensive player came in untouched from the left side...it was a blown coverage.
