January 12, 2005
OC Jimbo Fisher To Stay At LSU
Nick Saban's offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, will remain at LSU with the same title under new head coach Les Miles, after flirtations with Saban's Miami staff and with NC State.
Tiger fans are split on whether this is good news or not. Yes, he was OC during Saban's best years, but the LSU offense in 2004 was exceptionally boring and predictable, and quite often impotent. Some fans argue that this was because of the lack of experience at QB, others say Saban handcuffed Fisher and wouldn't let him open up the offense. My guess is that it was a combination of both.
Another concern whenever a member of the old staff sticks around is internal politics. Players may gravitate toward the more familiar coach, rather than the new coach, which can allow adversarial situations to develop. No reason to think that will happen at LSU, but you can't rule anything out. Miles will have to manage this one carefully.
Link to Shreveport Times Article
Also, Miles' Defensive Coordinator, Bill Clay, has left Baton Rouge and returned to Oklahoma, and will NOT be joining the LSU staff as originally planned. This is universally considered good news by Tiger fans.
Speculation here is that Miles was told by LSU officials that Clay's flimsy "bend but don't break" defense had been tried once at LSU with dismal results (under Lou Tepper, DiNardo's DC), and that
under no circumstances was he running that defense in at LSU now. With that in mind, Miles offered Clay a staff position but not the coordinator slot. Keep in mind that this is all talk radio and message board rumor, so take it with a grain of salt. It does, however, sound pretty plausible to me.
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Jonathan Mellard says:
posted on January 13, 2005 03:02 PM — linkLatest word is that George Edwards is not a done deal for defensive coordinator, and that Les Miles contacted Bill Clay and told him he wasn't out of the running for defensive coordinator. I am waiting to see whom emerges, but if its Clay I will not feel good about Les Miles. A good Head coach usually knows how to surround himself with good coordinators. A 4-2-5 base defense is too vanilla for today's I-A college football. Its that 5th guy that is impossible to find. He has to be a safety/linebacker. That guy is impossible to find. Generally what happens is you get a guy that's either a little more safety (and you hurt in your run defense) or a little more linebacker (and you hurt in your pass coverage); and what you don't get is the complete player. Today's top defenses are based on personnel packages. The defense waits to see what offensive personnel are coming onto the field and the correct package of players is sent out to defend it. If they bring in 4 wides, you rotate out a linebacker and rotate in a DB. If they come with an I-formation, you insert a 3rd LB and remove the DB. Bill Clay scares me. Its too vanilla, and its to passive. We've had great defenses with complicated schemes and attacking style the past 2 years, and I'd hate to see us lose that. George Edwards would be a good hire, and if hes the guy, along with keeping Jimbo, I think LSU can feel pretty good about Les Miles and next season.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/011305/spo_miles001.shtmldave frey says:
posted on January 13, 2005 03:25 PM — linkI'm hearing that Clay may be back in the mix as well. The OK newspaper that originally reported he was not going to join Miles' staff has since updated the story on their website to say it's an unresolved issue. Apparently Edwards is having trouble getting out of his deal with Cleveland or something. It would still be pretty weak at this point for Miles to give Clay the job. If Edwards isn't available, find someone else.
Jonathan Mellard says:
posted on January 17, 2005 09:10 AM — linkDandy Don is reporting that he has heard that George Edwards will be announced as the new defensive coordinator today. Let's cross our fingers and hope this report is right.
http://www.dandydon.com
dave frey says:
posted on January 17, 2005 09:27 AM — linkI really hope that's accurate. (Dandy Don accuracy probablility: 30%) The alternatives are Bill Clay (yikes) or the DB coach for the Aints (can't even remember his name). At some point Campo was in the mix, but apparently not any more. Not sure what happened there.
Bill says:
posted on January 17, 2005 12:05 PM — linkWhy are people happy about George Edwards as defensive coordinator? His one year as coordinator at Washington was a disaster. The year before (2002) the Skins were 5th in the NFL, the year after he left (2004) they were 3rd. The year Edwards was defensive coordinator they were 25th in the NFL. That smells to me like a bad defensive coordinator - am I misssing something? Almost anyone sounds better than this guy.
Here's one link that shows the improvement from Edwards in 2003 to this year...
http://greenbaypressgazette.packersnews.com/archives/news/pack_19205013.shtml
Rob Knodell says:
posted on January 18, 2005 02:12 PM — linkI also wish an LSU fan would explain what's so great about Edwards. Indeed, his year as the 'Skins DC (the only time he was ever a DC) was a disaster, despite having good personnel, just like Bill says. His play-calling was terrible and his defenses were easy to read. I do understand he is good at teaching technique to the players in practices. However, I would think twice (or three times) before turning over a good defense to this guy.
Why are LSU folks excited about this guy?
Scott Snyder says:
posted on January 18, 2005 02:30 PM — linkJust to throw a name out there,How about ex-Auburn and ex-Clemson D coordinator John Lovett?Clemson beat Miami and Florida St in the last 2 seasons because of his defense.
