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Les won with a lot of left over players from Nick Saban. He took over a juggernaut well oiled machine.

Ed O was just a literal anomaly. Perfect storm. Getting Joe Burrow with a chip on his shoulder to transfer in. Something like that may never happen again.

Spot on re: Ed O, imo.

Re: Miles, that's always been a narrative about him, but it's oversimplified.  LSU was indeed a talented roster when Miles inherited it.  That means less to me because despite what people want to remember, the LSU team Saban inherited from DiNardo was also loaded with over 20 future NFLers, and his first couple of years didn't indicate he was going to become Nick Saban.  DiNardo could recruit, he just couldn't coach worth a damn.  Saban's final team (the year after his NC) went 9-3 with losses to pretty much every decent team they played (although they certainly weren't a poor team, just not a very good one).  Les took that program on a 34-6 3-yr run, the best stretch in LSU history at the time.  The 2007 team did have some guys recruited by Saban, but most of them never played for him and weren't developed by his staff.  And certainly many major contributors of that team were juniors or below, without redshirts, who were not recruited by Saban at all.  Only redshirt juniors and seniors would've even been recruited by Saban.  And then factor in that if "Saban's recruits" were what made Miles successful, his own recruiting classes kept him in the same situation.  Which is no small part of why he then lead the team to another 34-6 3-yr stretch for a second time, this time far beyond Saban's time period.  He did all this in a division with the biggest juggernaut in history overshadowing everything, and he's got the best winning % of any LSU coach in school history, including Saban, and as noted, there's not exactly a lack of history there.  His worst season in 11+ years was 8 wins and an .800 win% across 11 years is great for most any team, and as noted, it made him the winningest coach in school history.  Make no mistake, a huge portion of our fanbase wants to give credit to Saban for every game he won (and blame Miles for every loss, because that totally makes sense), but the facts indicate Miles was just a good fit for LSU and a great coach for us.  

Really? let's have it warts and all,did he go all Les Miles?

I don't know what that means, but he totally lost the team for several reasons I won't get into here, and his personal life suggests somebody who couldn't handle success.  Left his wife of many years, the mother of his children, to be spotted with bimbos here and there, taking pictures with them in bed and having them posted on Instagram, etc....running off at the mouth to opposing team like @UCLA, none of which went over with admin well, and ultimately hitting on one of the board's wife at a gas station.  By "hitting on" I mean apparently explicitly asking her to have sex with him.  It got ugly.  He doomed himself no matter what he did on the field, which was bad enough.  

Spot on re: Ed O, imo.

Re: Miles, that's always been a narrative about him, but it's oversimplified.  LSU was indeed a talented roster when Miles inherited it.  That means less to me because despite what people want to remember, the LSU team Saban inherited from DiNardo was also loaded with over 20 future NFLers, and his first couple of years didn't indicate he was going to become Nick Saban.  DiNardo could recruit, he just couldn't coach worth a damn.  Saban's final team (the year after his NC) went 9-3 with losses to pretty much every decent team they played (although they certainly weren't a poor team, just not a very good one).  Les took that program on a 34-6 3-yr run, the best stretch in LSU history at the time.  The 2007 team did have some guys recruited by Saban, but most of them never played for him and weren't developed by his staff.  And certainly many major contributors of that team were juniors or below, without redshirts, who were not recruited by Saban at all.  Only redshirt juniors and seniors would've even been recruited by Saban.  And then factor in that if "Saban's recruits" were what made Miles successful, his own recruiting classes kept him in the same situation.  Which is no small part of why he then lead the team to another 34-6 3-yr stretch for a second time, this time far beyond Saban's time period.  He did all this in a division with the biggest juggernaut in history overshadowing everything, and he's got the best winning % of any LSU coach in school history, including Saban, and as noted, there's not exactly a lack of history there.  His worst season in 11+ years was 8 wins and an .800 win% across 11 years is great for most any team, and as noted, it made him the winningest coach in school history.  Make no mistake, a huge portion of our fanbase wants to give credit to Saban for every game he won (and blame Miles for every loss, because that totally makes sense), but the facts indicate Miles was just a good fit for LSU and a great coach for us. 

Oh I think Les was a really good coach for LSU. Just noting the fact that he didn't have to really build it like Saban did. DiNardo was an awful coach. His record at every stop shows that. Nick took over a bad team and built them into an SEC power. Les took over a program that was already realllly good. He kept it going and won a title- so he certainly deserves a lot of credit for that. But he didn't have to build it from the ground up. 

Ed O's record everywhere else he's been and without Joe Burrow shows just how mediocre of a head coach he is. Joe had the greatest single season by a college football player ever. I think that isn't even up for a debate. Maybe the only guy who could be in the convo was Barry Sanders' 1988 season- and the QB is far more important than the RB- so yeah- Joe B had the greatest season we've ever seen and probably may ever see from a college player. 

Yeah, pretty much.

The biggest thing Saban did for us was change the culture, and that was no small feat.  The 90's were really, really bad, with three consecutive miserable failures of a coach.  I don't view him harshly because it took him 4 years to win a title when he inherited a talented team.  They just weren't used to winning, and worse, had gotten comfortable with being a bottom feeder.  I don't think there was a quick fix for the job he had to do there.  And it should be noted that he did leave an even better roster than what he inherited. 

Kelly has a somewhat similar challenge.  The program as a whole hasn't sunk too far, but the team itself, the teaching, and having an attitude of a consistent winner hit the toilet. 

Thus my thread here.  I'm just trying to get a read on what expectations should be.  Y'all have had some pretty good input.  Right now the jury is still out, but it probably depends on what Alabama does anyway.  If they remain a juggernaut, they're always going to be an obstacle that's nigh impossible to get past.  If they keep having seasons like this one, then I reckon Kelly can consistently field teams that can occasionally challenge. 

Saban is what, 71? Have to think he's not got that much longer left. Guy just had his 15th straight 10+ win season at Bama and already has 6 Chips at Bama. Nothing left to prove and getting up there in age, can't see him staying around much longer.

 his personal life suggests somebody who couldn't handle success.  Left his wife of many years, the mother of his children, to be spotted with bimbos here and there, taking pictures with them in bed and having them posted on Instagram, etc....running off at the mouth to opposing team like @UCLA, none of which went over with admin well, and ultimately hitting on one of the board's wife at a gas station.  By "hitting on" I mean apparently explicitly asking her to have sex with him.  It got ugly.  He doomed himself no matter what he did on the field, which was bad enough. 

He looks and sounds like a yeti but dayum how the hell did he get so many gigs.You think someone would send out some warning flares

Not to change the subject, but it doesn't overly matter as applies to LSU.  They're plausibly a top 10ish all-time program (I've seen various lists using various metrics have them between about 9 to 13 or so....but haven't checked in a couple years and I could never ascertain how they weighted their categories).  ymmv on what constitutes a "blue-blood," but there seems to be an erroneous perception that LSU had no history when Saban showed up. 

THE consensus "blue-bloods" of college football are the top 10 programs of all time, by win%:
(in no particular order) ND, UM, OSU, Neb, OU, USC, Tex, Bama, Tenn, Penn St
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Those are the blue-bloods going back to the beginning.  It's still those 10.  Then after that, you have, as I've noted in the past, the FL teams and other SECers (in order, FSU, UGA, LSU, Florida, Miami, Auburn).  
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So it stands to reason that of the 2nd group that have had some kind of major success in the last 22 years, those would be the ones replacing the standard BBs' seats at the table.  Nebraska has been down awhile, Tennessee before this year, Texas up-and-down, etc....
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If you're thumbing your nose at the traditional BBs, consider this:  while Tennessee is 10th in all-time win% and UGA 12th, the Dawgs only have 3 fewer wins than the Vols, but 20 additional losses.  And that's with the disparity in the programs the past few years.  It takes a long time to "make up" 20 losses.

All-time win%, LSU was 17th as of 1999. 

And the same 10 blue-bloods comprised the top 10 then, as they do now. 

Why is being a blue blood so important?  In 2022, LSU seems >>>ND, Nebraska, UTenn, UTex, and probably everybody else except Bama.