HOF LSU Coach Charlie McClendon: disappointment or not?

I've been thinking about starting this Charlie McClendon thread for a while now (part of my inspiration was when I saw StaceyO compare Coach Les to Coach Mac... talking about how great it was to have a coach like Les that actually wanted to stay here at LSU instead of going to Michigan, just like Coach Mac stayed with us that whole time).

What are your thoughts on Coach McClendon? Loser? Winner? Hero? Zero? Someone to be proud of? A disgrace? Etc?

He was coach of LSU for 18 seasons: '62 to '79. He is now in the College Football Hall of Fame.

During his 18 seasons at LSU, he was 203-137-59 (69.2%), #15 in the NCAA during that time, behind the likes of Michigan, Arkansas, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Texas, Nebraska, Southern Cal, and Alabama.

In SEC play, he was 60-41-3 (69.3%)... and he only won one SEC Championship in 18 years (1970). He never won a National Title.

His yearly record as LSU coach:
9-1-1
7-4
8-2-1
8-3
5-4-1
7-3-1
8-3
9-1
9-3 (SEC Champs)
9-3
9-2-1
9-3
5-5-1
4-7 (MSU had to forfeit their win to make it 5-6)
6-4-1 (MSU had to forfeit their win to make it 7-3-1)
8-4
8-4
7-5

During his first 5 seasons he was 37-14-3 (71.3%), #18 in the NCAA during that time.

Compare to Saban during his 5 seasons at LSU: 48-16 (75.0%)

Compare to Miles during his first 5 seasons at LSU so far: 46-12 (79.3%)

My thoughts:

Especially over these last couple weeks (but it has been going on since Saban left), I see all these people disappointed with Les, that have lost faith in Les, that want Les gone, etc. And I see people talk about how we aren't going to accept mediocrity at LSU and yada yada yada. And I love Coach Mac, and I wonder what the people whining about how we aren't going to accept "mediocrity" thought about Coach Mac.

A lot of people and I love Coach Mac. And I wish it was like that with Coach Les as well (like some LSU fan on another LSU forum was saying, LSU fans always think the grass is greener after the grass all blows away... and he was talking about how after Les is gone, we will all be talking about how "the Trusty Hat could do no wrong").

My point:

1) Charlie Mac was a great coach, and I'd think that most LSU fans agree with me on that.

2) Being that Les has done better than Charlie Mac did at this point in Coach Mac's career, what is with the loss of faith in Coach Miles, the talk about Les like he is a disappointment to LSU?

What do I mean by saying that Les has done better than Coach Mac at this point in Coach Mac's career?

Well, let's compare the Saban-to-Miles transition to the Dietzel-to-McClendon transition:

LSU had very high expectations when McClendon took over.

LSU had very high expectations when Miles took over.

A) the Dietzel-to-McClendon transition

In the four seasons before McClendon became LSU head coach (1958-1961), LSU was 35-7-1 (82.6%), #5 in the NCAA during that time...LSU won one National Title ('58) and two SEC Championships ('58 and '61).

Then McClendon took over and LSU went 32-10-2 during his first 4 seasons (75.0%), #12 in the NCAA. During McClendon's first 5 seasons he was 37-14-3 (71.3%), #18 in the NCAA during that time.

B) the Saban-to-Miles transition

In the four seasons before Miles became LSU head coach (2001-2004), LSU was 40-12 (76.9%)...LSU won a second National Title ('03).

Then Miles took over and LSU went 42-11 during his first four seasons (79.2%)... LSU won a third National Title ('07).

82.6% to 75.0%/71.3% with Dietzel to Mac compared to 76.9% to 79.2% with Saban to Les. Do you think Miles will continue to do better than Coach Mac? Or do you think Miles will end up doing worse than Coach Mac?






Louisiana State coach Charlie McClendon on sidelines during game vs Texas A&M. Baton Rouge, LA 9/21/1968

 

He was a great coach, but never really seemed to get over the hump. The Bear was his nemesis for sure.

We played in some major bowls early on, in the 60's, he upset both Texas and R-Kansas, both in the Cotton, and we beat Syracuse and Wyoming in the Sugar Bowl.

In the early 70's we then played in the Orange and lost to both Penn State and Nebraska when they has powerhouse teams.

IMO one of the things that turned his career for the worse was when Mike Miley (RIP) decided to play major league BB instead of take over as the starting QB for the 1974 season.

We had a decent D, but the O never could score. Sound familiar?

He never really turned the corner on that and finished his career on a skid, never appearing in a major bowl again, which is why he was forced out eventually.

Sadly, his best team, the 1970 squad that went 9-1, was squeezed out of the Cotton because Notre Dame decided to end their 44 year self-imposed bowl ban. The loss? To Archie Who.

RIP Chollie Mac. You were a good man. :thumb:

 

He only had a 2-14 record against Bear Bryant's Alabama (1958-1982), and Bama was the only team in the SEC that had a better win pct than LSU during the McClendon era. In fact, Bama had the #1 win pct in the NCAA during the McClendon era.

From 1962-1979:

SEC
#1 Bama (84.4%) -- #1 in the NCAA
#2 LSU (69.2%) -- #15 in the NCAA
#3 Tennessee (66.1%) -- #19 in the NCAA
#4 Georgia (65.0%) -- #23 in the NCAA
#5 Auburn (63.8%) -- #26 in the NCAA
#6 Ole Miss (60.5%) -- #33 in the NCAA
#7 Florida (59.6%) -- #34 in the NCAA
#8 Vandy (31.7%) -- #109 in the NCAA
(Arkansas and South Carolina didn't join the SEC until the early 90's)

 

Cholly Mc beat the Bear twice in the late '60s. No SEC coach had a winning record against the Bear that I know of that coached more than several games.

 

This poll is an insult to Coach McClendon. He was a winner. No he never won a national championship but there are tons of good coaches that didn't. Disappointment, you have got to be kidding.

 

LSU had very high expectations when McClendon took over.

A big reason why McClendon was made head coach was because he was an LSU assistant coach since 1953. In the four seasons before McClendon became LSU head coach (1958-1961), LSU was 35-7-1 (82.6%), #5 in the NCAA during that time...LSU won one National Title ('58) and two SEC Championships ('58 and '61)... and LSU was undefeated vs. Bear Bryant's Alabama.

Then McClendon took over and LSU went 32-10-2 during his first 4 seasons (75.0%), #12 in the NCAA. During McClendon's entire 18 seasons as LSU head coach, LSU only one 1 SEC Championship and zero National Championships... and was only 2-14 vs. Bear Bryant's Alabama.

 

For that day and time, i would have to say Cholly Mac was indeed a Great LSU Tiger. 1 for did LSU proud.

 

Beat me to it. I was going to say that I find this poll offensive.

 

How so, exactly? Again:

LSU had very high expectations when McClendon took over.

A big reason why McClendon was made head coach was because he was an LSU assistant coach since 1953. In the four seasons before McClendon became LSU head coach (1958-1961), LSU was 35-7-1 (82.6%), #5 in the NCAA during that time...LSU won one National Title ('58) and two SEC Championships ('58 and '61)... and LSU was undefeated vs. Bear Bryant's Alabama.

Then McClendon took over and LSU went 32-10-2 during his first 4 seasons (75.0%), #12 in the NCAA. During McClendon's entire 18 seasons as LSU head coach, LSU only one 1 SEC Championship and zero National Championships... and was only 2-14 vs. Bear Bryant's Alabama.

During his first 5 seasons he was 37-14-3 (71.3%), #18 in the NCAA during that time.

Compare to Saban during his 5 seasons at LSU: 48-16 (75.0%)

Compare to Miles during his first 5 seasons at LSU so far: 46-12 (79.3%)