I'm not sure if it happened or not, but from my fairly in-depth following of the post-Saban coaching search (which included having a handful of contacts close to the situation who are nothing to sneeze at), we never officially offered for any huge name coach who turned us down. And the only coach who said 'no' outright was Ferenz, who says 'no' to everyone. We interviewed a very small group of coaches, and only one was offered the job (and, quite frankly, none of the coaches interviewed were top caliber, and a few we put feelers out to were Black Friday at Cortana Mall honey quality). And we might have been hiring an LSU coach, sweetums, but we were shopping on a budget...especially given the fact that we were one season off of a national championship. We weren't throwing Bama-to-Saban moola out at anyone that year...and Bertman didn't want to pay anything more than someone like CLM would require, which was why we were talking to 'up and comers' from second tier schools like Petrino and, you know, CLM. Are you seriously saying that Bertman was willing to pay more for a quality coach that year, but CLM was the only one we could reel in? If we'd put up enough cash, we could have had our pick...Bertman got Saban for a relative bargain, he wanted to see if he could strike gold twice.
you listed him as being above Miles. doesn't sound like he was. obviously. still doesn't change the fact that we hired Miles pretty quick after the interview. your link even has him listed as a leading candidate the day before Petrino removed his name. So apparently we wanted Miles over Petrino, regardless of which order they were interviewed.
I had a handful of contacts close to the situation who are nothing to sneeze at, Miles was our last choice. Did grad let you off early?
So, the whole point of this thread is to show that LSU could have had whomever they wanted, but instead went after whomever Skip wanted. Well, times have changed, money shouldn't be low-balled, and I think the pool is better these days, anyway.
That was actually from a friend of Del Rio cause Del Rio WAS contacted about coming with SS. Even though no one will believe that (Miles phucked that up too) I know that for a fact. But my comment flew over your head- you clearly missed it. Why you keep avoiding my other question?
Saban came to LSU from a mid-tier school and had a less-than-stellar record. He wasn't payed out the azz to come here (as he was when he went to Bama)...though he was paid very well when we hired him. He went on to win a NC, which propelled LSU into a rather elite group. When Saban left, rather than go after other 'elite' coaches (as many fans expected we deserved at the time), Bertman went back to the same trough. He shopped around at mid-tier schools and was offering a good but not money-out-the-azz salary. He struck gold in an up-and-coming coach in Saban, and he was hoping to get another, rather than go after a proven commodity (i.e., an already 'elite' coach).
No, just that Miles was not nearly our first choice. Something that hasn't come up is that in such a crunch with the timing, our hands were kinda tied anyway. Had we had control over the timing there would have been a much longer list.
