April 18, 2019
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Apr 18 @Northwestern State 6:15PM BASEBALL
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Apr 20 @Northwestern State 1:45PM BASEBALL
Apr 24 Louisiana Tech 5:45PM BASEBALL
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
In a month, the NFL draft will once again show why Alabama and Clemson played for another national championship this year while LSU is still trailing the elite. The story is in the trenches.
In the first three rounds, Clemson will have four defensive lineman drafted, while three of those players will likely be drafted in the first round. Alabama will likely have three lineman taken in the first three rounds, two defensive lineman and one offensive lineman. LSU will not have any lineman drafted. Maybe late in the draft, Ed Alexander and/or Garrett Brumfield get picked. Maybe.
Meanwhile, the Saints off-season personnel moves have followed the Loomis/Payton free agency playbook. The Saints have not signed any of the “big names,” but they have filled needs without breaking the bank.
The list of needs heading into the free agency were clear.
● Pass receiving tight end. Jared Cook (check).
● Sign Ingram or a quality veteran running back replacement. Latavius Murray (check).
● Don’t overpay for Okafor, Davison, or other good, but not great players (check).
● Sign quality defensive linemen, especially at tackle since Rankins is hurt. Brown and Edwards (check).
● Sign versatile offensive lineman, especially necessary after Unger retired. Nick Easton (check).
● Make a decision Teddy Bridgewater without going crazy. Re-signed with good contract (check).
● Re-sign Will Lutz (check).
● Sign a veteran receiver, but don’t break the bank. The Saints have not signed a receiver, but importantly the Saints didn’t over reach. Cook is practically a wide receiver. Meanwhile, Merideth took a huge pay cut and Smith should make a huge jump from his rookie year.
● Signing a kick returner wasn’t even on the list, but Marcus Sherels should fix the punt returning issues.
So what does that leave for the draft? As is the plan, there is not a glaring need. Surely, another receiver, tight end, pass rusher, or offensive lineman would be great. The fact is, the Saints can take the best player available. With a number of late round picks, it is easy to envision the Saints following another pattern, and trading up a few spots to get a player they really want.
Knowing Payton the way we do, there is a tendency to think it will be an offensive player, but there is no way to know how the draft will go. I tend to believe there is no way for the Saints to know until it happens, and therefore impossible to predict. Though, we can play the odds if we are betting.
After the draft, the Saints will sign another player or two if they still feel there is a need at a position.
If you are wondering why I am writing about the draft when we are a month away, it is because I needed to write about a topic that wasn’t dated since I am writing far in advance of my deadline due to Spring Break plans. Still, I feel guilty for not commenting on what may be breaking news between now and then. Therefore, let me make a few educated guesses, and present my probably reactions.
LSU and Will Wade finally made some progress. I am glad to see he is reinstated. Now he has to put a team together. Unfortunately, after all that has happened, next year will almost be like Wade’s first year. Yet, more challenging with negative clouds hanging over the program.
The baseball team really should have gotten the sweep this weekend. Too bad, the bats were completely silent for that one game. Of course, it was on the road, Missouri has great pitching, and two out of three is all you can ask for on the road in the SEC.
Hopefully, these don’t look to bad in comparison to what actually happens.
HEY REF
I agree there isn’t a bigger happening in the world of LSU sports right now other than announcement that Joe Alleva is “stepping down” as the Tigers’ athletic director. I will spend very little space and time putting in my two cents since the “experts” are busy trying to explain how Alleva’s feelings are hurt because of the bad press he’s been getting. And of course those same experts have blamed Alleva for not being able to elevate LSU’s basketball program as one of the elite programs in the NCAA. But I don’t buy into that theory at all.
I think he’s just tired of the BS that comes with a very high pressure position in which everyone expects multiple titles and championships. And I’ll be honest in saying that his job isn’t a very hard one to pull off. The most stress these guys feel is making sure they get to the bank on time. When you take the time to actually “see” what his job entails you’ll understand the job is one of luxury without an ounce of pressure other than the pressure these guys put on top of each other.
The overall “pressure” of his job is making sure your salary continues to rise and you get more bucks than your last pit stop. And don’t forget you can’t allow anything to get in the way of your next appointment with your tailor. Gotta make sure your closet has the “in” style and color, etc. You don’t want to be caught wearing last week’s fashion for heaven’s sake. And then there is the catastrophic pressure of being sure you’ve bought enough stock in the company that makes the next big mouse trap.
I can see these guys missing hours and hours of sleep trying to keep ahead of the next trend and knowing when to buy and when to sell. If I’m making it sound that his job is a very simple one then I’ve done my job. I know the job of getting to all those dinners and parties is an exhausting one since you can’t be in two places at one time. I know it’s very hard to keep up with the millions and millions of dollars being deposited into any one of the several accounts you must have in order to hide those millions you don’t want the IRS taxing you for.
Right now the only thing I’ve seen or read is that Alleva will stay on at LSU and be reassigned into a position with the fund raising dept. If that’s true then the joke is on LSU’s wealthy contributes. I call it a joke because in that style of a job he’ll be charged with begging for additional funds not only to keep the balance in his own accounts running over with millions of American greenbacks but also to keep millions going to that entry level position.
So what has his successor, Scott Woodward, accomplished that he deserves to head part of a billion dollar industry that is college sports? The news media keeps chiming in that he landed Jimbo Fisher for Texas A&M. Some have pointed out that Alleva wasn’t able to land such a big trophy for the Baton Rouge campus as a reason for him to be demoted.
That has to be a joke, right? The facts are LSU did land a much bigger fish and probably the biggest fish of all time when they had Nick Saban under contract. But we all know the reason LSU failed to keep little Nicky on its sideline was they couldn’t stuff him with enough of those millions of dollars to make him happy. So the next time you hear “Who Dat” just answer Nick Saban.
And how is the signing of Jimbo Fisher such a great accomplishment? Come on people, this ain’t rocket science. The way I look at it any sane coach or person for that matter when offered $700 million dollars to coach any sport would leap at signing a contract. So, don’t think for a minute this new guy has a magic wand since everyone knows if you pay peanuts then you’d better not be surprised if only monkeys show up.
And what do I see happening now? If you want to sit in Tiger Stadium and watch a football game then I’d expect ticket prices to rise quicker than normal because now you’ve got another few millions to spend before you can keep some for yourself. But, who cares if they’ve got to fork over an extra hundred bucks or so a week since there’s another million dollar salary that has to be paid. He did land Jimbo Fisher or did Jimbo Fisher land A & M? You be the judge.
And before I say goodnight sleep on this; should we consider the Alleva decision another “Sabangate”?
Till next week…
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