The only problem is that Les Miles IS "The Guy." Saban wasn't, Miles is. He, in the end, will be a legendary LSU coach. Saban will eventually be a footnote, in much the way that McClendon is a legend, Dietzel won a championship (but isn't as revered.)
I know Lavalais should not be on the list because Saban brought him in from his job as a prison guard. I believe he only had 2 years of eligibility.
Unless Miles stays another 5-10 years, wins at least another NC, in addition to 2-5 SECC, and dominates Saban during that time, Miles will not get out of Saban's shadow in the eyes of rival fans. Beating Saban repeatedly after he collects talent at bama will go a long way, but in all honesty you are wasting your time thinking he will get credit. If Miles manages ten wins this year, despite the uncertain qb situation, you will hear (rival)fans say that "it's easy to coach at LSU with all that talent." When you point out to them that Miles recruited most of these players, they will retort with "a monkey could recruit well at LSU, after what Saban built". It's not going to end because sports writers need drama to sell, and the "rivalry" between LSU and Saban is the best storyline in the SEC. These guys write it, and fans eat it up. Bear in mind the average (rival)fan doesn't know a damn thing about our players. The writers will not let it die. Perpetuating it makes too much $$$$$$$. I suggest you just smile, because they all look more and more like the idiots they are, with each passing year under Miles.
Amazing how someone can take a piece of a post and make the quoted piece make the author look like an idiot. Sorry if me commenting on the thread upset you to the point you felt the need to call me out.
I liked ole Hookfin. He was a three-year starter at CB. Remember that potential TD-saving INT he had on the 3 yard line against Eli Manning and Ole Miss when we beat them 14-13? It was in the 4th quarter. Hookfin returned it for 45 yards. Besides, I thought 'Hookfin' was a cool name for a corner. Anyway, all I did was look a list of LSU football signees and picked some of the names that jumped out at me. I probably missed some good ones. The two lists I used were: Dandy Don's list of signees from '97 to '06 http://www.dandydon.com/signees.html This other list of LSU signees from '69 to '98 http://www.ebicom.net/~lsustan/signees.html In Dinardo's '99 class, I was real big on Bradie James and LaBrandon Toefield, I even went down to the state championships in the Superdome to watch them both play one year (and to scout whoever the big Evangel QB prospect at the time was, I want to say it was Brock Berlin). In Dinardo's '98 class, I was real big on OL Brad Smalling and DB Damien James. Brad was a three-year-letterman at LSU, but not as good as everybody thought he'd be and I believe he ended up quitting the team. James was also a three-year-letterman at LSU, but he ended up getting kicked off the team by Saban for missing teams meetings or something like that.
Well I guess you can look at it anyway because he would have been a Tiger no matter who was the coach. Same goes for many of those guys Saban gets all the credit for which was one of my arguments on this subject awhile back. Dinardo should be also credited for the one who actually started locking down the borders of Louisiana but overlooked by Bama fans for self-fullfilling reasons. Dinardo was also the 1st to try to get the University to build an academic center during his tenure if I remember correctly but one of our selling points to land Saban was the Cox Communications Center. Overall, it shows me that LSU did just as much and even more for Saban than the other way around.
Bingo!!! M-O-N-E-Y. Take away the Saban element out of the LSU/Bama game and you'd still have a popular game but nowhere NEAR the stratosphere it is with the Saban/LSU element involved which equates to more money.
