OK...I admit I don't know my LSU history as well as some of you guys. But didn't D'Nardo follow Curley Hallman? Didn't D'Nardo start bringing in LSU pride (and more wins than they had been getting, almost immediately?) Does this mean D'Nardo was winning with HALLMAN talent? Then everything went to crap. Was he that bad a coach? Must have been because LSU can have a good recruiting year just on rep alone.
Dinardo did well until he hired Lou Tepper.... Everything went down hill from there. Our offense was very productive with Dinardo but most of our games were lost when Our DEFENSE couldn't stop anyone during the Tepper era.
Being out of state through the strange Dinardo years, I alway tried to figure out what happened. Things got better up to our big win over #1 Fla., '97. Then things started going down hill. After talking to a bunch of folks back home, this is what I heard. After the Fla. win, Dinardo seemed to see himself differently, as a better coach than he had previously seen himself. He thought he could win them all if he pushed everyone harder. After a disappointing loss later that season (Ole Miss?), he looked for a the cause of the problem and picked his defensive coordinator, his longtime friend. He rode him too hard, and the guy booggied to Texas to help Mac Brown rebuild that program, and did well at Tex. Dinardo was harder on the players, and they resented it. He brought in Tepper, and that didn't work. It wasn't a happy locker room. This is fifth hand, but what I heard.
The latest talley: Rank Name Wins Losses Ties Pct. 1. Charlie McClendon ---- 137-59-7 .692 2. Bernie Moore --------- 83-39-6 .671 3. Nick Saban ----------- 48-16-0 .750 4. Paul Dietzel ----------- 46-24-3 .651 5. Gaynell Tinsley -------- 35-34-6 .507 6. Gerry Dinardo --------- 32-24-1 .570 7. Mike Archer ----------- 27-18-1 .598 8. Bill Arnsparger --------- 26-8-2 .750 9. Russ Cohen ------------23-13-1 .635 10. Mike Donahue -------- 23-19-3 .544 11. Jerry Stovall --------- 22-21-2 .511 12. Les Miles ---------------20-4-0 .833 13. Lawrence "Biff" Jones - 20-5-6 .742 14. Edgar R. Wingard ----- 17-3-0 .850 15. Pat Dwyer ----------- 16-7-2 .680 16. Curley Hallman ------- 16-28-0 .364 17. W.S. Borland ----------15-7-0 .682 18. E.T. McDonald -------- 14-7-1 .659 19. Branch Bocock -------- 11-4-2 .706 20. Irving R. Pray --------- 11-9-0 .550 21. Dan A. Killian --------- 8-6-2 .563 22. Allen W. Jeardeau ----- 7-1-0 .875 23. Albert P. Simmons ----- 5-1-0 .833 24. Joe G. Pritchard ------- 4-1-0 .800 25. Edmond A. Chavanne ---3-2-0 .600 26. Wayne Sutton --------- 3-5-0 .375 27. John W. Mayhew ------- 3-6-0 .333 28. Hal Hunter ------------- 1-0-0 1.000 29. Dana X. Bible ----------- 1-0-2 .667 30. John P. Gregg -----------1-4-0 .200 31. Bo Rein -----------------0-0-0 NA 32. Dr. Charles E. Coates --- 0-1-0 .000 All Time Football Record --- 683-376-47 .645 NOTE: Bo Rein died in a plane crash before he coached a game. Note: Hal Hunter was interim coach against Arkansas the year Gerry DiNardo was fired.
