re: LSU - would you go through another Dinardo again to get to another Saban?

Hard to say. Saban was not SABAN until his 4th year at LSU. Before that he averaged 4 losses a year ( 2000 8-4, 2001 9-3, 2002 8-5) and even after his national championship he lost 2 games and the bowl game the next year.

You cannot tell really how good a guy is going to be. By resume alone Bill Walsh should have taken Stanford to the Rose Bowl each year and won a national championship and corraled the best recruits in the nation who had 3.0's or better in high school. Didn't happen.