Below is an article from When LSU was considering Nick Saban in 1999.
I'm NOT saying Matt Wells is the next Nick Saban. I am not super excited about Matt Wells myself.
I am offering this article because I found the perspective interesting for multiple reasons.
Most interesting things about the article to me:
The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
November 30, 1999
Section: Sports
Edition: The Baton Rouge Advocate
Page: 6 D
Tigers rolling the dice on Spartans coach
SAM KING
OK, Tiger fans, hold your breath. The dice have been rolled.
LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert and Athletic Director Joe Dean are probably blue in the face waiting until they come up 7, 11 - or craps.
The stakes are big ... big-time ... the biggest ever for the LSU football program. A million a year for six years is on the table - possibly even more.
That, of course, is after having to pluck down a little more than a million bucks just to get rid of Gerry DiNardo and staff to get into the high-stakes coaching crap shoot.
LSU, the Tiger Athletic Foundation, et al, have put more than mere pocket change on the table to tempt Michigan State's Nick Saban to lead the Tigers to football's promised land.
The rash of big bucks on the table defies LSU history in going after football coaches. This is a big-time salary.
The question is - is Saban the big-time coach LSU is paying for?
According to a high-ranking LSU official, Saban accepted LSU's offer late Monday night. Making $697,330 a year at Michigan State, it isn't like Saban is freezing and poor, standing outside in the cold. After all, he turned down $2 million pro offers from the New York Giants and the Indianapolis Colts.
But is he worth it?
The last time I talked with Saban was in Shreveport, where he was trying to explain how Michigan State lost to LSU and DiNardo by a 43-26 score in the 1995 Independence Bowl.
DiNardo was en route to a 32-24-1 record over his nearly five-year stint in the Southeastern Conference. Saban, meanwhile, compiled a 34-24-1 record in the same period in the Big Ten. Not a lot of difference. Reckon it's worth a $2 million-to-$3 million swing? Only time will tell.
Saban's team is 9-2 this year and claimed a spot in the Citrus Bowl against the Alabama-Florida loser. It was the first nine-win regular season for Michigan State since 1966.
In the Big Ten, Saban's teams went 4-3-1, 5-3, 4-4, 4-4 and 5-2 - not exactly the most overwhelming marks you have ever seen.
If you are puzzled why Saban would come to LSU, consider the plight of the Michigan State fans who saw Saban arrive and take a program struggling and on probation to 9-2 in five years.
One Michigan writer described such a move by Saban as stunning, saying he felt Saban was waiting for the right NFL job and noting that a move to the New Orleans Saints would have been more expected than a move to LSU.
Saban reportedly had a good relationship with a very supportive administration in East Lansing, although one member of the media said he dealt primarily with the president rather than the incoming athletic director.
Saban, like all coaches on the climb, has been a bit of a vagabond during his career. He made nine stops in his journey from Kent State to his second layover at Michigan State. Stops at Syracuse, West Virginia, Ohio State, the Houston Oilers and Cleveland Browns were made along the way.
His relationship with coaches and administrators - including Earl Bruce at Ohio State and Pete Rozelle in the NFL - was reportedly good at all places.
"He has no skeletons in his closets, another factor that explains why he is so highly sought," opined one Michigan writer.
"He has an impeccable background and turned down an appointment to the Naval Academy out of high school and played at Kent State."
Saban is said to be a premier recruiter, unparalleled in that phase of the game. He has several commitments from outstanding recruits, including Pennsylvania quarterback Jeff Smoker, regarded as the best quarterback to be recruited by Michigan State in a long time.
You wonder why Saban would come to LSU, and you think about all the talent the Tigers have returning, about how much talent there is in Louisiana and about the warm weather and LSU facilities - and you feel like there is more of a chance the dice may come up 7 or 11 for LSU and the TAF.
Saban is looking like a $6 million man.
Let's hope he's better - a lot better - than a $600,000 coach.
I'm NOT saying Matt Wells is the next Nick Saban. I am not super excited about Matt Wells myself.
I am offering this article because I found the perspective interesting for multiple reasons.
Most interesting things about the article to me:
- Saban was being paid less than $700k at MSU
- LSU thought they were "overpaying" at $1.5mm
- At the time, it was up in the air if LSU was a better job than MSU--LSU was NOT a blue blood prior to Saban. Outside of a brief stint in the 50s and 60s, LSU was a meddling, mediocre program.
- LSU was a blue blood in baseball before it became one in football (could be us!)
- Saban had a nearly identical record in the Big 10 that the coach they were firing had in the SEC.
- The coach they were firing beat Saban head to head in a bowl game.
The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
November 30, 1999
Section: Sports
Edition: The Baton Rouge Advocate
Page: 6 D
Tigers rolling the dice on Spartans coach
SAM KING
OK, Tiger fans, hold your breath. The dice have been rolled.
LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert and Athletic Director Joe Dean are probably blue in the face waiting until they come up 7, 11 - or craps.
The stakes are big ... big-time ... the biggest ever for the LSU football program. A million a year for six years is on the table - possibly even more.
That, of course, is after having to pluck down a little more than a million bucks just to get rid of Gerry DiNardo and staff to get into the high-stakes coaching crap shoot.
LSU, the Tiger Athletic Foundation, et al, have put more than mere pocket change on the table to tempt Michigan State's Nick Saban to lead the Tigers to football's promised land.
The rash of big bucks on the table defies LSU history in going after football coaches. This is a big-time salary.
The question is - is Saban the big-time coach LSU is paying for?
According to a high-ranking LSU official, Saban accepted LSU's offer late Monday night. Making $697,330 a year at Michigan State, it isn't like Saban is freezing and poor, standing outside in the cold. After all, he turned down $2 million pro offers from the New York Giants and the Indianapolis Colts.
But is he worth it?
The last time I talked with Saban was in Shreveport, where he was trying to explain how Michigan State lost to LSU and DiNardo by a 43-26 score in the 1995 Independence Bowl.
DiNardo was en route to a 32-24-1 record over his nearly five-year stint in the Southeastern Conference. Saban, meanwhile, compiled a 34-24-1 record in the same period in the Big Ten. Not a lot of difference. Reckon it's worth a $2 million-to-$3 million swing? Only time will tell.
Saban's team is 9-2 this year and claimed a spot in the Citrus Bowl against the Alabama-Florida loser. It was the first nine-win regular season for Michigan State since 1966.
In the Big Ten, Saban's teams went 4-3-1, 5-3, 4-4, 4-4 and 5-2 - not exactly the most overwhelming marks you have ever seen.
If you are puzzled why Saban would come to LSU, consider the plight of the Michigan State fans who saw Saban arrive and take a program struggling and on probation to 9-2 in five years.
One Michigan writer described such a move by Saban as stunning, saying he felt Saban was waiting for the right NFL job and noting that a move to the New Orleans Saints would have been more expected than a move to LSU.
Saban reportedly had a good relationship with a very supportive administration in East Lansing, although one member of the media said he dealt primarily with the president rather than the incoming athletic director.
Saban, like all coaches on the climb, has been a bit of a vagabond during his career. He made nine stops in his journey from Kent State to his second layover at Michigan State. Stops at Syracuse, West Virginia, Ohio State, the Houston Oilers and Cleveland Browns were made along the way.
His relationship with coaches and administrators - including Earl Bruce at Ohio State and Pete Rozelle in the NFL - was reportedly good at all places.
"He has no skeletons in his closets, another factor that explains why he is so highly sought," opined one Michigan writer.
"He has an impeccable background and turned down an appointment to the Naval Academy out of high school and played at Kent State."
Saban is said to be a premier recruiter, unparalleled in that phase of the game. He has several commitments from outstanding recruits, including Pennsylvania quarterback Jeff Smoker, regarded as the best quarterback to be recruited by Michigan State in a long time.
You wonder why Saban would come to LSU, and you think about all the talent the Tigers have returning, about how much talent there is in Louisiana and about the warm weather and LSU facilities - and you feel like there is more of a chance the dice may come up 7 or 11 for LSU and the TAF.
Saban is looking like a $6 million man.
Let's hope he's better - a lot better - than a $600,000 coach.
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