Recently I picked up a copy of Sacked!, the 1987 book by Bob Brodhead. Interesting read to say the least. Has anyone else read this book? I was pretty young while all the controviersies surrounding his tenure as AD were going on so I don't remember much of what was going on back then. For those who have read it, is there any validity in the things that he says about LSU (or anything at all, really)? Also, is he still alive? Maybe I zoned out at some point. I tried searching online and couldn't find anything on him.
Bob Broadhead died many years ago. I haven't read the book, but if you want to summerize a few of his points, I may be able to answer. I was in high school, just entering LSU during his tenure, so my memory is a little fuzzy on some of the details. But from what I recall, my family and I were of the opinion that he was hired to get LSU out of the red, everyone looked the other way while he was accomplishing this (with great success), and he was given the pink slip as soon possible after he did what was asked of him. I didn't think he was a bad AD, and was furious when Joe Dean was hired, as was my family. All of my siblings and I are LSU grads, and none of sent one dime to LSU so long as Dean was AD. Some of us sent the donation requests back with a note that as soon as Dean was fired we'd fork over.
good book. shows you the political side of LSU with the BOS and how they truly hampered LSU from finally becoming what it is today. broadhead was an innovative mind who did things in spite of the BOS yet had no support system and pushed the envelope. responsible for hiring skip, bill arnsparger and a few others. pat henry maybe? he was run out because he was not part of the good ole boy network. somehow emmert infiltrated this network and bailed us out.
I remeber the book well but never read it. I am sure it is good. Broadhead was a good AD, but he and Arnsparger had issues. He made some terrific hires including Arnsparger, but he was a bit of a bull in a china shop in terms of his management style. He had no use for university politics and that probably had a lot to do with his being fired. But he accomplished exactly what he was hired to do.
The good old boy network lost a lot of power after Joe Dean gave us Archer/Hallman/Dinardo. Emmert didn't want Joe Dean or another one like him, but accepted Skip as a compromise between the pro outsider (like Radokovich) that he wanted and the BOS insider candidates (like Doug Moreau). Broadhead was innovative in many ways, made many good hires, but was a former nail company president, not a complete, professional AD. He left a lot of loose ends, made too many enemies, and couldn't keep Arnsparger here.
Well, true that he was in charge of the nail company, but he was also a fairly successful manager-lite with the Cleveland Browns. Let's not forget that he also played college ball. My impression of him after reading this book is that he was pretty cutting edge with the way he wanted to do things, but hampered by the bureaucracy of behind the scenes politics. He very much so makes himself out to be the victim within this network. In his book, he mentions that he believes that he was hired just so to have someone with no ties to LSU fire Stovall as to not face some sort of backlash. He also pretty much makes it seem as if he was betrayed by the chancellor and Arnsparger. That being said, I just wanted to see what his portrayal was versus the public conception of him. Even if it's not exactly a real portrayal (not that I'm saying it is or isn't, since I obviously do not know), I still found it an interesting read.
I have the book with Brodhead’s' autograph. I spoke with him briefly when he signed it at Goudchaux's department store in the last 80's. I agree with what has been posted. He was a great hire & turned things around temporarily, He basically fired Jerry Stovall who was very popular, recruited well but was not head coach material. He signed many good coaches, as posted. Politics were evident throughout his tenure. He ruffled too many feathers & was gone. Joe Dean can personally be credited for the almost 10 years of losing football (late 80's to late 90's). Joe was good basketball player, Converse rep & Jefferson Pilot sports announcer, but a bad AD. Hopefully O’Keefe can keep up with Emmert's inroads into getting results & telling the BOS to back off & let results ($$$) dictate the future. Football is King and the BOS have now realized that. Also Brodhead had a radio show for a while after he was "sacked". He then went to SLU (southeastern) for awhile. I lost track of him after that. Additionally, he has been in the front office of the Dolphins, I believe. Tidbit. He was the quarterback at Duke University that lost to LSU in the 1958 National Championship year.
Man I remember Brodhead but had forgotten about Joe Dean and you all had to remind me of him :cuss: . Was it Dean that Hired Brady B
