I think Saban is a great coach, and his hire was one of the red letter days in the history of LSU football. BUT He took over a bad football team that was not very talented and didn't believe in it self. He lost an average of three games per season. I think the new coach will have a better win-loss record after five years, because: 1. We will get a proven top coach to take over. 2. We are one of the most talented teams in the country going into next season. 3. They might move to a permanent twelve game season. I don't think we'll win another national championship in the next five years, but I think we have a better than average chance of winning another SEC Championship soon. Of course, this all depends on how well the next coach performs. Thank you Nick for bringing LSU football to its highest position as a program in its history. Good luck. I am now a Dolphins fan when they are not playing the Saints. Considering that you wanted to take the Dolphins' job, I think you handled the situation well. There will always be these negative people ready to jump on Saban. I think that you are misguided. There is an old Chinese saying that goes, "May you live in interesting times." These will certainly be interesting times for LSU football fans. I think that who is hired, how he finishes this recruiting class, and how he does with the veteran, talented team that he inherits next year will tell us alot about the future of LSU football in the next twelve months. If we hire the wrong person, we could certainly sink back to where we were over the next few years. Though, I don't expect that to happen. It should not be difficult to finish with a top ten recruiting class, and if we are successful next season, he should be able to recruit well for 2006. I think we might lose Farr, Anderson, and Keys. Perrilloux and Harris may look in another direction, but this all depends on who we hire. The good thing is that the coaches and team are out of Baton Rouge for most of the rest of the dead period. Skip's committee can pick a coach and that coach can decide on most of his staff before the dead period is over, so we can hit the ground running on January 5th. I don't think that we should worry about the next coach being able to keep Nick's assistants. The next coach should get the staff he wants. Most of Nick's staff is new and the staff works well for Nick but may not suit the style of the next coach. If we don't keep many of Nick's assistants it might cost us a couple of commits, but that is all short term thinking and those commits can be replaced with commits of equal caliber if we have the right new coach. I think the smart money is on Butch Davis to be the next coach unless he makes a definitive statement that he is not interested. There are big questions about Butch, but there are big questions about whoever we bring in. I will take a guy who could recruit the most talented team in the history of college football; has been a successful head coach in college football; and, a successful NFL coordinator. He didn't work out as an NFL head coach but neither did Spurrier and does anyone doubt that he is a great college head coach. Pat Hill may be my dark horse, because of the job he has done with Fresno State and his Belichick history. There are many candidates who could do a great job for us (perhaps, Crennel, Tedford, Petrino, Chow, Childress) and there are many candidates who could mess it up. It may be worth it to buyout Spurrier for the guarantee that he would bring in my opinion.
Since TAF wanted to increase Saban's contract by $1 million, then perhaps they could take that money and use it to buy out Spurrier's contract at South Carolina?? Then we could pay him $2 million ($500K more than South Carolina, but less than Saban--so we save money) :thumb:
Spurrier is not going anywhere after just going to South Carolina along with a inclusion into Augusta. Ya Ya, he has not gotten into Augusta yet but trust me...he will quite soon.
Great post MAX and I agree with you, except for how Saban handled the transition and I thought the old Chinese saying was, "Cursed is the man who lives in interesting times." A bit of uncertainty is good, to much is a curse. We'll never know for sure, but I don't think that Saban was honest with us. I did not hear the PC. Was there any heart felt remorse? How torn was Saban between the two jobs or was Saban just playing a game to get the best contract he could by building up the doubt to fatten the pot? Any rate, LSU is much better of than before Saban. Time will heal this hurt. Winning the bowl game will help. Winning with an interim coach would be great!
Finishing with a top 10 recruiting class... very unlikely. Saban has already used the in-home visits up for our prized recruits. We could lose the assistants that were recruiting these kids too. Having a whole new coaching staff would be the equivalent of an entirely new school just trying to start recruiting him. Not a good chance. If we get a good coach, we may be able to get a few of them but most of them will look elsewhere. I expect a mediocre recruiting class, we should be able to still lock in some die-hard LSU fans that were coming here for the University and not the coach. Also, Butch Davis the smart choice? I'm not sure about that. You'll find a few who completely disagree, but I think a lot of people are very uncertain about him.
Come on, heads up fellas and gals ! The only thing constant in life is change. Whats done is done, lets all get excited about what the future has in store for our LSU Tigers ! Frustrated and disappointed ? Absolutely. Look on the bright side. Has our program ever been in better shape with a coach departing ? Gerry Dinardo, yes, Gerry Dinardo "brought back the magic" with far less talent than the new coach will. Further we WILL get a coach that is better than Gerry D. Players and coaches want to come to LSU. I know many are smarting now re Saban, but all other issues aside, he helped put LSU football back on the map ! Things will be dicey until we sign a coach and then the coach and his staff can work on salvaging the recruiting class and calming the current young players. We will be loaded next year with a favorable schedule. I know it will take many of you some time to get over what just happened, rest assured WE HAVE NOTHING BUT A BRIGHT FUTURE AHEAD OF US !
With a win next Saturday, Nick Saban will leave LSU having averaged approximately 10 wins a year. That's kind of hard to top. A guy who averages nine wins a year in the SEC is about as good as it gets, usually, so that's what I expect---someone who can be in contention, year-in, year-out, for a conference crown.
I would be extremely disappointed to hear of any efforts to get Spurrier. IMO, it would be quite classless of LSU to go after a coach who just signed with another school. Besides, I don't think we would WANT someone who shows so little loyalty that he leaves a job before he even gets started!!! :dis:
