Reading an article on Grantland today, and I came across this paragraph about the LSU program in the mid to late 90's. It reminded me a lot of what seems to be going on at Cal.

Quote:

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The LSU program that Saban inherited from Gerry DiNardo in 2000 was in a state of flux. The Tigers had won a combined seven games in its previous two seasons, and failed to win an SEC game in 1999. DiNardo had worked hard to revitalize the once-glorious program that had gone from mediocre under Mike Archer to spectacularly bad under Curley Hallman; by the mid-nineties, the partying program at LSU was more highly-rated than the football team, and probably brought in more money. But the 1995 squad, DiNardo’s first, beat Saban’s Michigan State team in the Independence Bowl, LSU’s first bowl victory since the 1988 team lost to Syracuse in the Hall of Fame Bowl. DiNardo had ingratiated himself to the LSU faithful by petitioning the NCAA into allowing the Tigers to wear their traditional white jerseys at home, and signed arguably the most important recruit in the history of the program in Kevin Faulk, the first in a series of highly-rated high-schoolers to stay in-state for college. He won ten games in 1996, beat Steve Spurrier’s top-ranked Florida team the following year, and proved that the LSU program could be relevant again, even elite. In a state with enough economic and political problems to make Chicago blush, for whom the football team was suddenly the most public representative, he showed Louisianans that Louisiana was worth something. And Louisianans believed him. It’s the reason he was fired when his record slipped.

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DiNardo only lasted 5 years at LSU before he was fired and replaced with Saban. I was 12 when Ginardo took over and I remember him turning around the program that I had only known as a terrible one.

Link.


(edited for clarification)

I think he is referring to when DiNardo took over, which was in 1994.

Prior to LSU, DiNardo was HC at Vandy for 4 years and never had a winning season there going 19-25-0. However, that was probably a good record for Vanderbilt.

Following his stint at LSU, DiNardo was the HC at Indiana for the years 2002-04 and went 8-27-0.

His final two seasons at LSU were losing ones which suggests that while he had success initially at LSU, he really hadn't built a winning program. His 3 consecutive losing seasons later at Indiana confirms that LSU made the right choice in firing him.

...it just seems like once these guys start downhill it doesn't turn around:

Quote:

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After the XFL folded, DiNardo moved on to become head coach at Indiana University in 2002. He was largely unsuccessful in the Big Ten Conference, never winning more than three games in a season, and was fired after the 2004 season

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And also look at Ben Braun's record at Rice: 32-63, with two 10th place finishes and one 12th (now that isn't easy to do).

It is hard to stay on top and as I have said just look at business, the media, sports, politics, any of it. In fact one can even make a case that Steve Jobs was ultimately successful only because he stopped meddling at Pixar, since NexT was a complete disaster and if not for his ignoring of Pixar he may never have been invited back to Apple. No one knows why people peak and if you did you could make a fortune, but the road is littered with shooting stars.

:gobears: