HOF LSU Coach Charlie McClendon: disappointment or not?

No. This has to do with bashing people that bash LSU, just like you are bashing me (which isn't making it look like you give a darn about people bashing people). Get it? It is so unreasonable to expect LSU fans on LSU fan site to be happy being LSU fans? If you're not, then go find some other hobby that makes you happy. It is comparable to some miserable church-lady whining about how unhappy she is to be part of her church.

 

Well, thanks for the good advise. I went and edited my OP to add those questions.

Why didn't I start with them?

For one, I thought it was pretty obvious where I was going with it. Apparently I was wrong.

And two, I didn't realize that so many people respected Coach Mac as much as I do. Apparently I was wrong. 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").

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).

Especially over these last couple weeks, 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. I mean look at this guy:

See how much people loved Coach Mac? And Les has been doing better than Coach Mac did at this stage in his career as LSU coach. :milesmic:

 

Cholly Mac was a solid coach. His teams were tough and excellent defensively, the ND game in I believe '70, was a masterpiece. But offensively they were predictable and not very effective against the better teams. He was loyal to his longtime staff and most fans thought he could have used some new blood with new ideas. Bear Bryant would sing his praises, maybe because of the common Kentucky roots, but a lot of people thought he wanted to see Mac stay in B.R. because he had his number. That being said, LSU was the type of tough team others didn't want to play. They knew they were in a battle to the end. When the Help Mac Packers got their way the Tigers wandered in the Football Wilderness for 25 years.

 

John, really man stop it. Your stupidity is showing. You're really going to use a couple of SI covers to try and prove that college sports was as big back then as it is now. All you did was validate my point. Now there are that many covers in 1 season, not over 5 seasons. Yes I left out OU as one of the more covered teams but your covers just prove my point. The same 5-6 teams covered for the most part with an exception every now and then. Also, show me SI's circulation numbers compared from then to now. I don't need to look it up to know that now is much greater, and now competes with much greater media outlets. Remember to add their internet exposure to your exposure, and yet they still have more magazines selling now compared to back then. Also check out the amt of dollars revenued by college sports now compared to back then. While your at it research they amt gambled on college sports now compared to back then. Bottom line they aren't even close.

 

I had to back and check what I thought I didn't see. I'm surprised you didn't use a cover with LSU on it from back then to at least try and prove we were getting the same national attention. I mean we won a National Champ in 58. Now how is it again that the expectations are equal from then to now, based on the popularity of the sport?

 

McClendon was a good coach and a good person. I didn't say great coach. He had two parts to his LSU career, the first part up to 72 which was good, and the second part from 73-79 which was not good. LSU owned the state of La. in recruiting until the early 70's, but it seemed we lost our recruiting edge. Some of our best players started wandering off to ND, FSU, Miami, Bama, Arky, Nebraska, OK. I heard rumors that Bert Jones was not happy with the option QB role at LSU (would get a great passer killed, mess up his pro career prospects doing something he shouldn't be doing). Seemed like after those rumors, LSU did not recruit another great QB until Mac left. There were great wins, Cotton Bowl over #1 Texas in 63, Cotton over Arkansas in 66, ND in 72, and a good game loss to USC in 79. By the time he left in 79, it was time for him to go. Always balance, he had his good, and he had his not so good, as a coach. He always seemed like a good person.

 

Bert Jones didn't like McClendon because he had to split time with much less talented Paul Lyons, who was at best a good HS quarterback out of Midland, TX. Mac got burned a few years earlier when QB Pat Screen was injured and it screwed up a promising team. He vowed to have two QBs ready after that. BTW, Lyons was said to be Gov. John McKeithen's nephew, which may have also explained much.

 

lsu wouldnt have won the two recent NCs had the system been like it is now.

but the lack of accomplishments under Mac are glaring. only once had a one- loss season, so it wasnt all bama. id like to think that this is mostly because LSU was too good to cheat while others clearly were not. so in a way LSU and cholly mac were #1 in the SEC among the non-cheaters.

 

Settled? We had a choice?

More like accepted. I don't recall the entitlement mentality that exists today. We were fans. LSU was our team and we supported the team and coaches win or lose. Since we won far more than we lost, things were good.

We let LSU run things and it worked fine until the moneyed boosters decided they wanted a say in things.