re: Why was LSU football so bad in the '90s?

Arkansas was the same in that they won the SWC twice a decade. We also finished ranked in the top 20 just a bout each year. If a coach finished with less than nine wins and can't beat Texas then the seat was getting hot.

Our problem is that Frank Broyles stayed way too long and should have let Terry Don Phillips be his replacement, you know the one who hired Dabo Swinney. But instead we got stuck with Jeff Long who got us Bert, John L Smith and Bobby Petrino. Yes that sounds strange that I would include him but a prime Frank Broyles would not have hired him. Why? Because Frank had the uncanny ability to see weakness or trouble prone coaches.

After the 1989 year, the declined started and we have never recovered since then. Ken Hatfield was run out of Fayetteville and yet he was doing nothing more than winning the SWC and playing in major bowls. But the offense was boring and he couldn't win the big games according to many fans. Well when you play elite teams such as Oklahoma or Miami, what do you expect?

Our football program is dead. It was killed by Bert and Jeff Long. Then the Chad came and incinerated the body. Hunter Yuracheck was hired and had some personality traits that were similar to a young Frank Broyles. Just like Frank, he had high expectations for coaches even telling Eric Musselman after his first win that this better be the first of many wins.


So like anything else. Hire a bad AD and they will hire a bad coach. You get worse until they end up like us. It is that simple and everything else is a bad excuse as to why it can't be done.