Old Dennis Dodd article (good for several laughs)

ChineseBandit · Jan 12, 2004

Old Dennis Dodd article about LSU (good for several laughs)

Feel free to remind good ole Dennis of this masterpiece. I already have.

Saban-LSU bond the best each could manage at the moment
Nov. 30, 1999
By Dennis Dodd
SportsLine Senior Writer

The story of Tuesday's hiring of Nick Saban at LSU was
actually written 11 years ago.

In Everybody's All-American, Frank Deford's 1988
brilliant book-turned-movie traced the career of
fictional running back Gavin Grey trying to relive his
football glory at LSU. Real life never replaced Grey's
fleeting fame as a collegian.

Dennis Quaid's "Grey Ghost" made bad investments, had
marital problems, drank too much and eventually became a
pitiful, aging figure of another era.

Cashing in on the last shred of his fame, we see a
humbled, bloated Grey being hired as a pitchman for
artificial turf.

Switch off the projector and welcome to the state of LSU
football in 1999. Talk about life imitating art. The
Grey Ghost deteriorated from All-American to chump. LSU
football is a ghost of its former self, having
deteriorated from elite program to one that has posted
only three winning seasons in the last 11.

After an exhaustive search, it hired Michigan State's
Nick Saban to wake up the echoes on Tuesday. Impressed
yet? This is not to rip Saban, a 48-year-old who
seemingly has a constant roaming eye on the next best
job to come along. It is to rip LSU and what happened
to a once-great program.

There's only a handful of states with more high school
football talent than the Louisiana-Texas area: Florida,
California, Pennsylvania. There's no more loyal
following than the 80,000 who pack Tiger Stadium on
Saturday nights.

That's why it's hard to figure out what went wrong. The
state's best high school players have left the state for
better programs. The administration made bad hires.
Really, there's no one reason why LSU is no longer a
power. It just isn't.

It had to deal with that image when it went on the road
looking for a replacement for Gerry DiNardo. Two
accomplished coaches -- R.C. Slocum at Texas A&M and
Miami's Butch Davis -- quickly pulled their names out of
consideration.

LSU finally interviewed three people -- Saban, Kansas
State assistant Phil Bennett and Minnesota coach Glen
Mason.

Mason has a career record below .500, Bennett has never
been a head coach and Saban? His career record at
Michigan State (34-24-1) is exactly two victories better
than DiNardo's at LSU (32-24-1).

This is the best LSU could do, and they overpaid for it
to boot. For Saban, LSU is paying up to $1.5 million
per year which is the first, best and only reason to
take the job. Never mind that Saban has never won a
conference title unless you count that Mid-American
Conference co-championship with Toledo in 1990.

If Saban fails, he's set for life with a contract worth
$6.25 million over five years. If he succeeds, he
enhances his NFL profile. Get it? LSU probably wrecked
two programs on Tuesday. Given his track record, Saban
is not going to be a lifer.

After LSU's 3-8 season, it might take Saban four years
to get his first recruiting class to pay off. In
addition, Saban will coach for an athletic director who
didn't hire him. Current AD Joe Dean will retire in
June. Saban has been promised a hand in the hiring of a
replacement by chancellor Mark Emmert.

There's a potentially uncomfortable situation: the
coach hiring his boss.

Meanwhile, Michigan State's bright future is suddenly
clouded. It was projected to land a top 10 recruiting
class. It already has a commitment from Pennsylvania
blue-chip quarterback Jeff Smoker.

Who knows now? The Spartan assistant coaches went back
out on the road Tuesday after getting the word from
Saban. The assistants didn't know if they'd have a job
next month; how much can their heart be in recruiting?

Yes, this is about a school trying for years to capture
the magic of its past. And failing miserably. It has
been 20 years since the legendary Charlie McClendon
retired and a succession of six coaches passed through
LSU's revolving door.

That's an average of a new coach every 3.3 years. Some
didn't have the right personality. Some were too old.
Some were too young. A few were so scarred by the LSU
experience they never became head coaches again. All of
them didn't win enough to satisfy the powers at LSU.

DiNardo finally got the ax earlier this month. When
asked to stay on for the final game against Arkansas,
DiNardo said thanks but no thanks and cleaned out his
desk. What was the point?

New LSU coach Nick Saban has
had 11 jobs in 26 years, never staying at one more than
five years.(AP)

That's exactly what someone should be asking Tuesday as
Saban becomes the latest coach to attempt to ascend to a
shaky throne. What was the point of subjecting another
decent coach to the ruin that has become LSU? What was
the point of making Saban the third-highest paid coach
in the profession?

Apparently Michigan State missed the exact point in time
when Saban became Knute Rockne. It saw LSU's offer and
waved goodbye. Saban deserves credit for lifting the
program out of the malaise of NCAA sanctions. He
doesn't deserve a deal that could reach $1.5 million per
year if he achieves incentives.

With that offer, LSU is setting Saban up as the new Rick
Neuheisel -- a youthful nouveau riche millionaire who
hasn't earned it. Also consider the fit. It isn't a
good one. Saban is a quiet, well-spoken child of the
Rust Belt. As a college coach, he's never coached south
of West Virginia and that was 20 years ago.

Did anyone at LSU check to see that the man has had 11
jobs in 26 years, never staying more than five? Saban
made his bones as a defensive coordinator with the
Cleveland Browns from 1991-94. His time in East Lansing
was peppered with various reports of Saban's interest in
NFL jobs.

Until this season's breakout 9-2 season, Saban's best
record at Michigan State was 7-5. True, Michigan State
is going to have few seasons like 1999 when it beat
Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State. It was
a good time to get out.

But welcome to the real jungle, Nick. The SEC, as the
Brooklyn-raised DiNardo found out, is a different
animal. Not only do you have to beat Gators, Gamecocks
and Wildcats, there are lower forms of life always
biting at your heels.

Saban was speaking directly to them Tuesday at his
introductory press conference.

"We need to pull those things together in terms of
support and tradition," he said. "The thing that kills
more organizations is the vision from within."

LSU is not unlike a lot of schools with unreasonable
expectations and an unbelievable number of assistant
coaches disguised as boosters, donors, fans and
chancellors. Mike Archer went 10-1-1 in 1987 in his
first year at the school. He followed that with seasons
of 8-4, 4-7 and 5-6.

It degenerated into three years of unholy hell. Archer,
now the linebackers coach with the Steelers, was on a
national radio show recently. He spoke of driving
through the hills of Pittsburgh, barely able to pick up
a Baton Rouge radio station on a Saturday night after
another LSU loss.

The subject was familiar: Callers were ripping the
football coach to shreds.

Archer listened for about five minutes until the bad
memories all came flowing back. Then he turned off the
radio, the ghosts and the past.
Click to expand...

SabanFan · Jan 12, 2004

What a chump. Someone really needs to email that to Dodd and ask him, politely, to shove it up his ignorant a$$.

TwistedTiger · Jan 12, 2004

Well he was half right, Mich St did go down the toilet but he missed real bad on LSU. He shouldn't feel too bad though almost the entire bunch of AP voters missed this year too.

Mule Skinner · Jan 12, 2004

this potato head should have to reread this crap and see our new #9 all-time ncaa record and tell him to choke on lsu tradition.

he'd probably say something smart like nick hasn't stayed for five years yet and five years is the longest nick has ever stayed in one place. what a dork.

dirty white boy · Jan 13, 2004

I remember:

" Saban has never seen speed like he will in the SEC".
" He will bring a Big 10 approach, and it will not work in the SEC".
" His defensive schemes will not work aginast the SEC speed & size"

They were all wrong I guess.

Ellis Hugh · Jan 13, 2004

What is the current status of R.C. Slocum, Butch Davis, Phil Bennett and Glen Mason?

HatcherTiger · Jan 13, 2004

Here is the link to e-mail Dennis

http://cbs.sportsline.com/columns/writers/dodd

I have already e-mailed the article to him and politely told him things turned out differently then he predicted. I wonder if he will respond ?

MobileBengal · Jan 13, 2004

Originally posted by Ellis Hugh
What is the current status of R.C. Slocum, Butch Davis, Phil Bennett and Glen Mason?
Click to expand...

Glen Mason is still at Minnesota and doing a pretty darn good job. He just led them to their first 10 win season ever. Before Mason, they only had a handful of winning seasons since the 50s.

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Old Dennis Dodd article (good for several laughs)

ChineseBandit Founding Member

SabanFan The voice of reason

TwistedTiger Founding Member

Mule Skinner Freshman

dirty white boy Freshman

Ellis Hugh Space Wrangler

HatcherTiger Freedom Isn't Free

MobileBengal Founding Member

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