Enter the Dragon. Nick Saban became the 31st Head Football Coach in Tiger history in November of 1999. During his first couple of years at LSU he and the afore mentioned Skip Bertman, who became AD in 2001, committed the LSU Football and entire Athletic program to being a top five program annually and they delivered!
After helping set in motion many of the projects that rank LSU’s athletic facilities among the very best in the nation, Nick Saban brought the Tigers to a new level of success on the field.
In his second year, he lead them to the SEC Championship game as a heavy underdog to top ranked Tennessee, who just needed to beat the lower ranked Tigers to play for the National Title, UT’s championship dreams were dashed, sorry Phil.
Two years later, it was 1959 (2003) and Tiger Fans got their 2nd National Championship!
The true testament however to LSU’s power as a program is the ability to replace Great Coaches and ADs without missing a beat. Sue Gunter became ill, eventually retired and later passed away leaving a legacy that included taking the Lady Tigers to the NCAAs 14 times and to the Elite 8 twice with one appearance in the Final Four.
She was replaced by Pokey Chatman who continued the winning ways by leading the Lady Tigers to 3 straight final fours. When Chatman was forced out due to an improper relationship with a player she was replaced by another hall of fame coach in Van Chancellor, the winning continues!
Likewise, when Skip Bertman retired, Smoke Laval, faced with replacing a legend put in a yeoman’s effort skippering the Baseball team but good is no longer good enough so enter Paul Mainieri. He has the tigers back in the CWS for the second year in a row and is looking VERY much like a contender. (We’ll see how that ends.)
Then we have the football team; Nick Saban decided to bring his totalitarian style to the NFL after the 2004 Season and many a Tiger Fan wondered would the winning ways continue? Skip went out and hired this guy that most of us had never heard of, Les Miles.
He barely had a decent record at OSU but seemed to do well in big games with back to back beatings of OU. We had our doubts. In the off season he picked up a few recruits and kept most of our home grown talent, despite the fact that the state was down that year.
He did have a late start but no one thought much of his recruiting efforts. There was, however, much anticipation and trepidation leading up to the season. Then Katrina.
By all accounts, Les Miles was a stalwart for the team and he encouraged them to take care of family, friends and neighbors. They did, and in spite of the hardships, some critical of Miles said that team underachieved.
From a humanitarian, leadership and spirited standpoint those critics seemed petty. LSU abruptly ended its preparations for the season and contributed to the relief effort. Many students had to bring their entire families into their dorm rooms as some were suddenly homeless.
Tiger Stadium became a relief center and the Tigers early season Schedule was decimated, leading to their first home game being played in the Arizona desert.
But the Tigers then gave Louisianans some much needed diversion and something to cheer for as Miles led the Tigers to an 11-2 record while winning the SEC West and pounding a top 10 Miami team in the Peach Bowl.
The Les Miles era and the third chapter of football’s golden age was well underway. A few top 5 recruiting classes, 2 SEC West crowns, an SEC Title and a National Championship later and it is clear that the man who is currently the winningest coach (by percentage) in school history was indeed the right man to replace Coach Saban.
As Coach Mainieri and the Baseball team go after a 6th National Championship and as the summer burns away leading to what promises to be another exciting and competitive football season, know that all is well in Baton Rouge, the Golden years are just getting started and our future is so bright we gotta wear shades!
We're going to send you the most entertaining LSU Football articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
1 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete