HOF LSU Coach Charlie McClendon: disappointment or not?

That's where you're getting confused. The expectations were high, yes, but mananaging a top 25 team and keeping the fans happy is different than managing a top 5 team to keep the fans happy. Yes CD got us to an upper elite level, but it wasn't the expectations of the fans back then. Being a top 5 team is our expectations now.

 

I'm saying that LSU was a bigger powerhouse when Coach Mac took over for Dietzel (who left LSU for Army) than it was when Miles took over for Saban (who left LSU for Miami).

 

i haven seen anyone in this thread say miles is a zero.

seems to me you are trying to twist what people say to fit your own agenda.

people can think highly of both men, and that is no offense to either one of them. i agree that you are comparing apples and oranges. and trying to turn them both into bananas.

 

This is all many years before my time, but....LSU only played Bear Bryant once between 58-61. And that was Bear's first year at Bama when they were pathetic in the previous years. I don't think LSU played them again until like 1964 when the Bear train was rolling.

Also, Charlie McClendon was a defensive coach for LSU's first national championship team ever. I think they gave up less than 5 points per game. There's a reason he got a shot at the head coaching position.

Lasting 18 seasons at LSU should be enough for anyone to get HOF consideration. God knows it ain't easy. Also, to have only one losing season in that stretch is pretty awesome. And they likely should have played for the NC in 1969 as someone basically mentioned already. Notre Dame got invited instead even though they had a tie and a loss compared to LSU's one loss. It was like the first time in decades that ND decided they would go to a bowl game if invited.

He coached at a time when Bear Bryant and Johnny Vaught were in the same league. Stadiums are named after those guys. Of course, Bear is considered by many to be the best of all time. And Vaught, well, he managed to make Ole Miss a contender. But still, the guy took LSU to 13 bowls in 18 years when there weren't 721 bowls like there are today (could have been more but I know LSU declined after being snubbed like in 1969).

And from all accounts, he was a great man. And that is part of the reason he is a Hall of Famer besides his great record.

You're the one who is talking about a hero and a zero...I'm not sure why you're putting question marks behind your own statements.

 

That's where you are incorrect. You can't compare the expectations from then to now. The fans are different, we are more informed and educated. Back then most college sports fans knew very little about teams outside of their conference with exception of the super elite teams.

 

Really, nobody in this thread is saying Miles is a zero? Imagine that, being that I kinda made it hard for people who think that to say so here, didn't I? That was my whole plan here.

Would you like me to go through the posts on Tiger Forums over the last couple weeks and start posting all the people who think Miles is a zero to this thread so that you can see them here in this thread? I can do that.

 

How do you figure that? We aren't taking about the 1800's, we are talking about the late 1950's/early 1960s.

 

My own two cents is that I don't think you can compare any contemporary coach with the likes of the grand old names in this thread. Papa Bowden and JoePa may have had a similar relationship with their University as Charlie Mac, but Miles, Saban, and Mack at ut-austin do not have the historical relevance to even pretend they belong in the same sentence.

I am sure many coaches loved their school but never will become synonymous with the institution. How can one even ask this question of disappointment when it concerns someone who has reached that stature?

Time will tell, but as mentioned above, times have changed. Now the measure is having a coach who has a name like a rock star. Rock stars go on tour and schools act privileged to say so and so once was here.

Relationships of convenience instead of marriage. That is what I consider a disappointment.

 

im well aware of what people have been saying, thank you. more of your cut and paste is not needed.

so your "whole plan" was to use charlie mac to fit your agenda. we get it.

 

No, you don't get it. Go ask a friend what he/she thinks.