When Kelly was named last week as the new HC, there was a lot of discussion that.both Raymond & Faulk would be retained. Most of us bought in to that because both were great for recruiting and good position coaches. Now Raymond is gone and with the hiring of Frank Wilson, I am starting to think that Kevin Faulk will be the next to go. So what else are we wrong about? Most of us also thought that the defense was improving and developing very well by seasons end and hoped that the defensive staff would be retained. Instead Kelly may be dismantling the part of the team that needed it least.
Man all the crap I am starting to hear makes me think half of you are sorry O was fired. 99% here wanted O gone and complained about most assistants. We haven't seen Kelly and his new staff coach one game or recruit one player yet already some here are ready to run Kelly off. Someone here please tell me how many assistants Saban kept when he got the LSU job. Kelly has built 3 different programs into winners what makes anyone think he can't do the same here? He has already hired Frank Wilson one of the most prolific Louisiana recruiters and well respected coaches we ever had and has retained LA native Brad Davis and hired DB coach Kerry Cooks who's resume is outstanding. Wilson was the best Louisiana recruiter we ever had now hes back. Y'all think Wilson and Davis will lose out to Raymond and Florida over Wilson and Davis at LSU? How many DB's will Wilson get from Florida? How many DB's will Cooks get from Texas his home state? Apparently to some LSU can't survive without Corey Raymond. Maybe LSU should have hired Raymond as HC we could have saved millions. I heard Raymond was not fired but left on his own and will now recruit against LSU. Thanks for your help when you were here buddy but you are the enemy now. We will be just fine without Raymond.
What else were people wrong about? Well, most thought Riley, Fisher, Aranda, or Napier would be definitely be the hire. Lol. @Kikicaca is spot on when he points out that our pass defense regressed over the last few years and that our recruiting of DBs dropped off. We signed zero DBs in 2018. How many of Raymonds recruits over the last 3 years are contributing starters? Bloodletting is a good thing periodically. I admire Raymond as much as most here, but its time to overhaul the staff and culture here.
Found this interesting post about DBU Ron Cooper was the coach at LSU when the DBU mantra started at LSU or at least when it became a National talking point. Yes it was! Patrick Peterson started the talk of DBU around here but it took off in 2010 and 2011 with those defenses. I guess you could say it started with the 2003 team when Webster was here but it wasn’t a big talking point and definitely not nationally, not that I remember anyway. My point is Louisiana is the DBU state. Wilson, Davis and now Cooks will keep 90% of the Louisiana DB's here. Cooks will get us a few from Texas with his connections. Kelly will get us 1 or 2 from his connections.
I checked out when I heard "coached db at Oklahoma " guess kaka has never watched OU play defense. Secondary gets torched routinely
Seriously people, what did we think would happen? Would any coach that takes over a position of this magnitude say "I'll keep 50% of the people from the last guy's staff - who got fired for non performance"? Change is usually uncomfortable, sometimes scary, but always necessary for growth. On Les Miles first signing day when we dropped to #15 class from #4 class the year before and I was wondering if this guy could recruit. The next year we had the #8 and the year after top 5. I'm impressed with the Frank Wilson hire and believe we will be back in the top 5 in 1 to 2 years. Kelly is the kind of guy who has a vision and works toward it. We need that right now. The culture and program were rudderless under O and got a lot worse the last two years. We can't know how this change will work out in a time frame of weeks; it'll be more like years. There is a lot to straighten out and it will take time. Some things can't be rushed. A woman can make a baby in 9 months; but 9 women can't make a baby in 1 month.
