What you do with talent is what counts

Published 6:03 am Sunday, February 12, 2017

If anyone knows what the difference between an associate head coach and assistant head coach is, please let me know as soon as possible.

I suspect it’s another handy excuse to spend money in the SEC’s college football arms race. But, at any rate, LSU now has one of both, a matching set if you will.

Dave Aranda is the associate head coach in addition to being the defensive coordinator, while newcomer Tommie Robinson is the assistant head coach as well as the recruiting coordinator.

“I will lean on both of these guys on a daily basis,” head coach Ed Orgeron said without completely clearing up any confusion over the possible line of succession.

Which one is first runner-up head coach and which one is Miss Congeniality?

Anyway, both have day jobs within the organization, Aranda tutoring the linebackers while Robinson tends to the running backs.

But, in also naming Mickey Joseph the wide receivers coach last week, Orgeron kind of showed his hand while filling out his coaching staff.

There’s a philosophy to it.

Orgeron got himself two rock star coordinators in Aranda on defense and Matt Canada on the offensive side to do their particular genius — while a lot of frantic worker bees will follow Robinson’s direction to go round up the best talent available on the recruiting trail.

A defensive line Yoda, Pete Jenkins, fits in there somewhere, and what a story he is.

This isn’t a new concept.

But Orgeron kind of put it there on the table that, first and foremost, he’s all about recruiting.

Probably a wise move.

You don’t win much without it.

Amidst the overblown fears of a New Orleans boycott of LSU over Orgeron’s firing of running backs coach Jabbar Juluke, there is speculation that Juluke’s recruiting wasn’t up to Orgeron’s standards. Recruit or perish — the Tigers missed out on two big-time running backs.

Robinson, the coach who replaced Juluke, was recently voted the Pac-12 recruiter of the year for his handiwork at Southern Cal. Recruiting isn’t quite the Greco-Roman spectator sport out there that it is in the SEC, but it’s real warfare and Robinson’s roots are in SEC country anyway,

He’s nibbled around the fringes of the SEC at places like Memphis, Troy, Georgia Tech, Texas and Oklahoma State among others.

Recruit, recruit and recruit some more.

This, basically, appears to be the master plan to somehow beat Alabama occasionally.

It’s a noble undertaking. It’s always been Orgeron’s expertise.

Orgeron made note of it when, still as interim head coach, he got his first crack at the Tide in November with a not-so-subtle reference to Bama offensive tackle Cam Robinson, the pride of West Monroe, as a random example of one who fled across the border.

And that’s all fine and good.

But, correct me if I’m wrong here. Not to minimize it, but it wasn’t lack of recruiting or talent that got Les Miles canned and opened the door for Coach B?B? in the first place.

Certainly, you can’t have too many players, but how many more can LSU put in the NFL?

Plus, if the idea is to beat Alabama by outrecruiting Nick Saban, better pack a lunch.

As usual, there’s talk about building a recruiting wall around Louisiana, a concept for college football that far predates the presidential shenanigans elsewhere.

But that only seems to be a real problem when it comes to one school, a certain crimson-based evil that kidnapped six Louisiana talents this year, most of whom the Tigers had their eyes on.

It might be easier to just build that wall around Alabama and hope to keep Saban corralled up there.

No other schools seemed to be making much headway in Louisiana.

But, again, LSU’s problem, if the Tigers had one, never was recruiting.

True, the Tigers always seemed to have the one oversight at a fairly important position, something called quarterback.

Orgeron’s first stab at that, getting Myles Brennan (pro-style) and Lowell Narcisse (dual threat) looks encouraging, but there have been false alarms in the past.

So, for sure, keeping recruiting with a vengeance.

But any progress the Tigers make offensively — you’ll recall, they wasted a masterful defensive performance against Bama last November and were shut out by the Tide — will come with what a revamped offensive staff does with the talent once it gets there.

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU

athletics. Email him at

shobbs@americanpress.com