IMO it will not hurt us much because his replacement will more than likely have ties to LSU or one of the coaches on staff and with CHIEF at the helm we will be fine. We have had back to back thorpe winners and a Heisman candidate the last couple of years (PP7,HB7). We are in great shape DB wise next year and whoever we get for a coach they will make look good. For these reasons I say we will be OK.:thumb:
Cooper was not a hard worker in the recruiting scene. He was never late to get an award, great position coach no doubt, in fact probably the best position coach for LSU. The bas news is that Cooper was not active on the recruiting trail. Numerous recruits were awaiting to hear from him, or from LSU, and he never returned the call, or visited their school as promised. The other coaches on staff were not too pleased with this. Keep this here by the way.
As with any coach, depends on the hire. One thing, a number of coaches have thrown in the resumes. Good coaches, Les will have a great group the make his choice. As a staff, many will have some input.
As for coaches moving........... 19 coaches have accepted 2 different jobs this off-season LSU has been one of the more stable programs in the nation, they pay as good as anyone.
I heard that Jeryl Brazil was pissed off that Cooper is leaving and said that he was the reason Brazil wanted LSU.
LSU will get a better recruiter than Cooper no doubt. They likely have nowhere to go but down as far as coaching goes though. To me, coaching and talent evaluation is more important and Cooper did that. Who cares if you don't recruit OOS or anywhere when you can make your evaluations at a camp? Then turn them into 5 star players? Some names have been thrown around. One I really don't like is Slade. He is way past his prime, I don't care what history he has with Chavis. The guy can't recruit and he is old. So he would be a downgrade in both coaching and recruiting. I hope he isn't a serious candidate. Joseph is being thrown around a little too. He is Tenn's recruiting coordinator and their DB coach. He'd be a upgrade in recruiting but highly doubt in coaching. I'm not really a fan of him either. He hasn't really proven much on the coaching front to warrant a job here. I've seen Raymond's name too. He has only been at Neb one year...again, nothing proven on the coaching front. We need a guy WE KNOW can come into the SEC and coach. Recruiting is nice but should be secondary. The good thing about getting a guy who is a better recruiter than coach is he could easily help get elite players at other positions on the team. Something Cooper would never do. If we just get a guy that is established as a good coach and a good recruiter, I'd say that is a upgrade in many regards, IMO. Coaching, talent evaluation then recruiting. Should be LSU's priority in that order. We desperately need another elite recruiter on our staff though, IMO. I think our recruiting has been falling off with some deadweight lately. Haley and Wilson are really our only great assistants for recruiting. Mcgaughey(sp?) seems to be making waves in Texas this year, so we'll see how he does. Too early to say on Henry. It will probably take him awhile before he gets his connections going.
Not true but he was shocked. He was with Cooper's son when they both got the news. He has confirmed he is still 100%
I have also heard this from multiple sources. Cooper was supposed to be a "lazy recruiter" who relied on in-camp evaluations, but did not put forth much work otherwise. I also heard that he was sort of a "loner recruiter" who did not keep the rest of the coaching staff, especially Miles, informed of his recruiting. Even going as far as offering a scholly without Miles approval. He was excellent at talent evaluation, but it seems a lot of his "recruiting hype" was in fact, just hype. Jeryl was upset last night because he formed a very strong relationship with Cooper, he and Cooper's son are good friends and were actually together last night when the news broke. He said many thinings on Twitter, but was actually upset that people posted what he said over on TigerDroppings... so no need to go into full detail, but he was upset. But after some time he said he is still very firm on his commitment and is now excited to see who we hire next. I would say he was shcoked, but nothing that would seriously affect his decision (unless the idiots on TD keep calling him emotional, prima donna etc.) Also, I have seen on a few websites that many 2012 recruits, mainly Corey Thompson, were very upset about Cooper leaving. Again, I don't feel like posting a recruit's Tweet, but Corey Thompson said something like "Sad I didn't get to play for Cooper, but happy for him and good luck in the NFL". That was like his only mention of it last night, so I don't think he has a problem at all. Derrick Raymond was a little upset at first, but then got over it real quick. Chuck Baker was a little upset also because Cooper was his main recruiter, but he too got over it fast. Assistant coaches are always leaving the college ranks, either for promotions at another school or for the NFL. Cooper is doing what's best for him and his family, and the recruits see that. And I, for one, and glad that he is going to the NFL and not going to one of our rivals or something. LSU is a lot more than one coach, and Miles will surely replace him with another elite coach. We'll be fine, especially if we get a recruiting oriented coach to make up for Cooper's "lazy" recruiting ethic in years past.
Brazil didn't need time he was just expressing like most young kids do on twitter. He was confirming his commitment less than an hour later.
