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Question for older LSU fans
Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:15 pm
Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:15 pm
I remember back in the late 80's and maybe early 90's Mike Archer seemed to have LSU playing great football. I went into the military, and when I got back to the state of Georgia,he was gone. I really thought that guy could coach. Do any of you older LSU fans remember why he left? Was he run off? You never really get the full story from simply going to Wiki.
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Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:19 pm to walkerMYdawg1980
Archer was hired in-house when Steve Spirrier and Mike Shanahan we’re turned down. The team was absolutely loaded in 1987 his first year and they were good the next year as well and then they fell off a cliff and it led to Curly Hallman. Archer was a Penn State guy , 35 years old and the job was way too much for him. His players liked him a lot - he was personable and sincere.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:23 pm to walkerMYdawg1980
Mike was a good, not great coach. He appeared to fail on the erroneous assumption that he should be a buddy to his players.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:28 pm to walkerMYdawg1980
I think you may mean Arnsparger, who resigned to become AD at Florida. Archer was Arnsparger's DC and was hired when Arnsparger resigned. Arnsparger had some good seasons.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:36 pm to walkerMYdawg1980
LSU wanted to hire a young Steve Spurrier clone named Curley. A promising young phenomenon from Southern Miss.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:41 pm to Leopard7
quote:
Mike was a good, not great coach. He appeared to fail on the erroneous assumption that he should be a buddy to his players.
Not sure he was much of a recruiter either. This was around the same time LSU started getting locked out of NOLA area for recruits. Tons of generational talent left for Florida State, Miami and the West coast.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:42 pm to Leopard7
It seems like a Larry Coker type hire: try to keep the success going by promoting from within
Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:49 pm to walkerMYdawg1980
Bill Arnsparger put LSU in back to back Sugar Bowls in 1985-1986. He was a great coach. When he left the LSU promoted from within (the players loved their young DC Mike Archer). Archer had a good first two years, finishing #5 in the country in 1987. But by his third year LSU started losing and it led to him being fired after his fourth season.
Moral of the story: sometimes great assistant coaches don’t make great head coaches, and don’t pick your head coach based off of what the players say.
Moral of the story: sometimes great assistant coaches don’t make great head coaches, and don’t pick your head coach based off of what the players say.
This post was edited on 11/22/19 at 1:49 pm
Posted on 11/22/19 at 1:57 pm to LSUBanker
quote:
Not sure he was much of a recruiter either. This was around the same time LSU started getting locked out of NOLA area for recruits. Tons of generational talent left for Florida State, Miami and the West coast.
This.
Imagine if we got Warrick Dunn (FSU) Marshall Faulk (SDSU), Travis Minor(FSU),Major Applewhite (Texas),Reggie Wayne (Miami), Ed Reed (Miami),Brock Berlin (Miami) , Ike Hilliard (Florida) plus many, many more to stay home in the 90s. Bobby Bowden damn near had a 2nd home in Louisiana how much he was here during that time.
This post was edited on 11/22/19 at 2:00 pm
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:04 pm to millerf43
I think you may mean Arnsparger, who resigned to become AD at Florida. Archer was Arnsparger's DC and was hired when Arnsparger resigned. Arnsparger had some good seasons.
I meant Mike Archer. He won a lot at first, then did not do too well after that, I guess.
I meant Mike Archer. He won a lot at first, then did not do too well after that, I guess.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:06 pm to DBeaux225
quote:
Imagine if we got Warrick Dunn (FSU) Marshall Faulk (SDSU), Travis Minor(FSU),Major Applewhite (Texas),Reggie Wayne (Miami), Ed Reed (Miami),Brock Berlin (Miami) , Ike Hilliard (Florida) plus many, many more to stay home in the 90s. Bobby Bowden damn near had a 2nd home in Louisiana how much he was here during that time.
True, but a lot of those guys weren't highly touted. Also lol at Applewhite being on that list
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:10 pm to walkerMYdawg1980
He won with Bill’s players, and couldn’t replace them. He was a good coordinator but had no clue how to run a big time program. Neither did our admin at the time.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:11 pm to TigerFanNKaty
Wasn't he the youngest HC ever at 1-A level at that time?
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:15 pm to Lsupimp
quote:
Archer was hired in-house when Steve Spirrier and Mike Shanahan we’re turned down
LSU has made a lot of curious hiring decisions over the years but not hiring Spurrier or Shanahan was not one of them.While Spurrier had had some success in the USFL no one in their right mind could have predicted he would have the success he wound up having. Nor with Shanahan who was a virtual unknown.
With that said, Archer was 34 and just unprepared for the job. He was too lax with discipline and a mediocre at best recruiter. He shot himself in the foot in 88 or so saying LSU needed to recruit nationally and not rely on in-state talent. That created big problems with HS coaches and for years teams like Nebraska,Colorado and Miami in particular just took over New Orleans.
He 'resigned' but he basically was fired. And of course, his 'resignation' press conference was a circus with Dale Brown storming him putting his two cents in.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:15 pm to Mithridates6
I believe so, and hasn't been the head guy since. I know he was at Kentucky as DC for a while.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:26 pm to TigerFanNKaty
A lot of nutty stuff posted in this thread,
1st Bill never liked to recruit, Archer was the recruiter when Bill was the LSU head coach.
2nd Archer's first year as head coach still had many of Jerry Stovall's recruits as Sr.
3rd Prop 48 killed Louisiana football.
4th Archer's biggest 2 loses in Louisiana recruiting were Michael Carr to Clemson and Baron Jackson to Pitt.
0 recruits from Louisiana going out of state make All American.
Steve was not a big name back then, he wanted the job, but he was one of many, he had not even coached Duke at the point.
Bill was not a college coach.
Mike was not allowed to recruit Juco other than 1-2 players from La. at the time. Miss St Texas A&M recruited juco hard to fill the gaps prop 48 made void.
far different times than todays recruiting.
1st Bill never liked to recruit, Archer was the recruiter when Bill was the LSU head coach.
2nd Archer's first year as head coach still had many of Jerry Stovall's recruits as Sr.
3rd Prop 48 killed Louisiana football.
4th Archer's biggest 2 loses in Louisiana recruiting were Michael Carr to Clemson and Baron Jackson to Pitt.
0 recruits from Louisiana going out of state make All American.
Steve was not a big name back then, he wanted the job, but he was one of many, he had not even coached Duke at the point.
Bill was not a college coach.
Mike was not allowed to recruit Juco other than 1-2 players from La. at the time. Miss St Texas A&M recruited juco hard to fill the gaps prop 48 made void.
far different times than todays recruiting.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:33 pm to Mithridates6
quote:
Wasn't he the youngest HC ever at 1-A level at that time?
No.
Bill Battle was UT's head coach at age 28.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:37 pm to Mithridates6
quote:
True, but a lot of those guys weren't highly touted
I didn't say they were highly touted. I said they got away from our state. LSU wasn't getting highly touted players in the nation during that period.
quote:
Also lol at Applewhite being on that list
Applewhite was a great qb in high school born and raised in B.R. He had Catholic ranked in the top 25 in the country at one time and moved on the Texas and was Big 12 player of the year. It all worked out from not getting him because we ended up with Rohan Davey.
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:39 pm to walkerMYdawg1980
Mike Archer took over for Bill Arnsparger, who was an excellent coach. In his first season he went 10-1, then 8-4, and once Arnsparger's players left he tanked. His last two seasons were 4-7 and 5-6.
I maintain to this day, that Mike Archer did more damage to this program than Curley Hallman. LSU was a good program when Archer took over, and he brought it down. And LSU hired Archer over Steve Spurrier.
I maintain to this day, that Mike Archer did more damage to this program than Curley Hallman. LSU was a good program when Archer took over, and he brought it down. And LSU hired Archer over Steve Spurrier.
This post was edited on 11/22/19 at 2:41 pm
Posted on 11/22/19 at 2:44 pm to Mithridates6
quote:
Wasn't he the youngest HC ever at 1-A level at that time?
Matter of fact. I just checked. Archer was not even LSU youngest coach.
Bo Rein was 34 years old when he died in the plane crash. Even though he was the LSU head coach he died before ever getting to coach a game.
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