December 3, 2021
JACKETS-WILDCATS SERIES SUSTAINED
Prospectively the new District 5-5A will include Denham Springs, Walker, Live Oak, East Ascension, St Amant and Dutchtown. If this does materialize, Denham Springs will continue to play Central, but as a non-District opponent in Week 5 of the season. Yellow Jackets coach Brett Beard asserted this at the most recent Denham Springs Athletics Association meeting.
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TODAY’S COLUMN:
Scott breaks adds some perspective on the hiring of Brian Kelly
Please scroll down below.
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
The art of the spin is amazing. I could start off by pointing out that I knew Woodward would not be able to get Lincoln Riley, and I was right that he would not give Napier a chance while Florida thinks they have the next Kirby Smart. On the other hand, I could admit that predicting Bill O’Brien was not close and Woodward actually got one of the six coaches at elite programs that make the College Football Playoff consistently.
We see that people are somehow trying to spin the fact that Kelly is 60 years old as a bad thing. If Woodward had convinced Saban to return, would anyone complain about his age right now? Of course they would, and they would be ridiculous.
I can play that game with any coach. Ryan Day? He has never had to build a program. Ohio State was gifted to him, and he has not won a national championship. Dabo Swinney? The ACC is a cakewalk. He could not do that in the SEC West. We have already covered Saban’s age. It is all ridiculous.
Let’s get some perspective. Forget hindsight and what these coaches did at LSU. Instead, let’s jump into our time machine to 1980 when Jerry Stovall was hired. Stovall had never been a head coach, but was a great player at LSU. The 2021 comparison would be if Woodward hired Kevin Mawae. No offense to Mawae.
Jump ahead to 1984 and Bill Arnsparger is hired. Again, no head coaching experience. But at least he was well respected in the coaching world and had an extensive college and NFL background.
After he left, Mike Archer was hired. Do you want to guess his head coaching experience? You guessed it… none. He had only been a coordinator for two years.
Then, the glory years. Finally, a hire with some head coaching experience. Curley Hallman only had three years experience at Southern Miss, but they beat Florida State and Alabama with Brett Favre so that was worth something.
Gerry DiNardo was next. He had four years of head coaching in the SEC, albeit at Vanderbilt. He improved their program to 5, 4, 5, and 5 wins in each of his four seasons there, and I am not being sarcastic as that was an improvement. Still, keep in mind that the last game he coached at Vanderbilt was a 56-0 loss to Tennessee (who was really good back then). Can you imagine if Woodward hired someone with that resume?
Now, for the hardest part to imagine. When Nick Saban was hired, he had a better NFL resume than college. In college, he had been the head coach at Toledo for just one year and at Michigan State for 3 years. Their record was 6-5-1, 6-6, and 7-5. Woof! Did that resume forecast the greatest coach in college football history?
Les Miles had the magic three years of head coaching experience with Oklahoma State. In those three years, the Cowboys were 8-5, 9-4, and 7-5. But, he was somehow able to upset Oklahoma a couple of times, so that made him stand out.
Finally, we know how Ed Orgeron did very poorly in his stint at Ole Miss, but did an excellent job as an interim at USC and LSU.
So now, LSU has Brian Kelly. As you are likely aware, Brain Kelly has been a head coach since 1991 (for perspective, remember that Curley Hallman was LSU’s coach then). He won championships at Grand Valley State. He improved Central Michigan from 4-7 to 6-5 to 9-4. In three seasons at Cincinnati, his teams went 34-6 and were undefeated in 2009. I am pretty sure everyone is aware of his numbers at Notre Dame. His resume makes all the other resumes look silly. And it happens to be a resume that only takes a back seat to Swinney, Saban, and maybe Smart.
In the short run, this hire makes LSU look great. Scott Woodward did his job. The how does not matter now. In the long run, Kelly’s resume has no value. Just like Saban’s resume from Michigan State has no value at this time.
Brian Kelly has an extremely difficult job. He must sustain winning at the highest level in the toughest division of college football, and beat Alabama at least as often as Auburn somehow manages to do it. Though, I must point out that in three years the job might be exponentially easier. By then, Saban might retire, Kiffin will surely have moved on from Ole Miss, Mississippi State will likely have soured on Mike Leach, and I am sure Sam Pittman will have realized he has a better chance of sustained success somewhere other than Fayetteville.
LSU hired an extremely successful coach from Notre Dame of all places. The core of an excellent recruiting class is in place and there is every reason to believe the rest of the class will be outstanding. LSU gets to play in a bowl which will help the development of players. The basketball season is going to be fun, and baseball might win a national championship if they pitch just a little. My advice to Tiger fans is to please, after what feels like months of bad news, just enjoy the moment and what should be a bright future.
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