Ranking the 7 best coaches in LSU football history

There’s a joke about LSU Football coaches.

“It’s so easy, anyone can win there.”

It does look like that with three different LSU coaches having won titles this century. Is it the coach? The program? Both?

We’re going to take a look at that and rank the seven best coaches in LSU history.

This was tough. It was difficult to balance long-term success with shorter tenures that reached greater peaks. Coaches also took over at different points in the program, meaning some coaching jobs were tougher than others.

I’ve tried to take everything into account here. With that in mind, let’s jump right in.

Bill Arnsparger

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Arnsparger was only at LSU for three years, but in that span, the team finished ranked in the top 20 every year and never lost more than one conference game.

LSU appeared in two Sugar Bowls under Arnsparger and in his final year, the Tigers were ranked as high as No. 5 in the AP poll.

Arnsparger’s contributions at LSU were just a sliver of his to the sport. He was the defensive coordinator for the undefeated 1972 Dolphins and was the man who hired Steve Spurrier at Florida, bringing the Gators to national relevance.

What stands out about this era is how consistent LSU was on both sides of the ball. His defensive background paid off and in 1985, LSU led the conference in scoring defense.

By Arnsparger’s final year in 1986, LSU had ushered in an explosive passing offense led by quarterback Tommy Hodson.

The highlight of 1986 came when LSU went into Tuscaloosa and notched a 14-10 win over the No. 6 Crimson Tide. LSU players carried Arnsparger to the postgame handshake in celebration.

Among coaches with at least 30 games, Arnsparger’s .750 winning percentage ranks third.

Bernie Moore

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Moore coached at LSU from 1934 to 1947. It was a different and interesting time. Moore oversaw LSU throughout World War II. On the field, this was still a period where the game was evolving at a rapid pace.

Before taking over as head coach, Moore spent time at LSU as an assistant and as a track coach. He was handed a solid program that had gone 14-2-5 the two years prior.

In the inaugural year of the AP Poll, LSU finished second. Next year, Moore had LSU in the top 10 again.

Moore went 27-5-1 in his first three years. That level of success wasn’t sustained his entire tenure, but near the end, Moore got back to that level and gave LSU two more top 15 finishes.

In 1946, LSU went 9-1-1, with the tie coming in the Cotton Bowl. Following the 1947 season, Moore stepped down to become the SEC commissioner.

Moore ushered LSU into a more modern era of the game and was the first long-time coach of the program.

Ed Orgeron

(Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)

Orgeron was the hardest to rank.

There’s recency bias to watch out for and regardless, the complicated story of LSU under Orgeron is tough to pin down. Coach O took over for Les Miles in 2016. He made a strong push down the stretch and got the full-time job.

By 2018, he recruited Joe Burrow and led LSU to the Fiesta Bowl.

In 2019, well, you might know what happened. Orgeron assembled a modern-day dream team. LSU’s offense set records, went 15-0 and won a national title.

For a moment, Orgeron was on top of the world. Everyone who doubted him had nothing.

But the next two years were a different story. LSU had to replace a lot in 2020, a problem only made worse by the pandemic, which hampered practice time. The circumstances around that season led to star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase opting out to prepare for the NFL draft.

Orgeron made some bad hires, including DC Bo Pelini, and LSU struggled to compete at an SEC level.

Arguments could have been made for Ed O to be higher or lower, which is why I feel five is just right. He didn’t have sustained success, but no coach can match what he did in 2019.

Charles McClendon

Charlie McClendon’s 135 career wins are the most in school history by a wide margin.

Under McClendon, LSU had seven appearances in what are now NY6 bowls and according to the Sports Reference SRS, four of the best teams in school history were McClendon teams.

McClendon was an assistant at LSU before taking over as head coach. He was hand-picked by Paul Dietzel to be his successor.

LSU kept rolling with McClendon at the helm. A smooth transition led LSU to a Cotton Bowl win in year one. Two years later, LSU won the Sugar Bowl before LSU followed it up with another Cotton Bowl win the next year.

Despite the long-term success, LSU never reached the mountaintop under McClendon. He finished seventh twice but never got higher than that.

LSU struggled, in particular, against Bear Bryant’s Alabama under McClendon. But it’s hard to find another era was LSU was as consistently competitive for as long as they were under McClendon.

Paul Dietzel

These final three could be ranked in any order and there wouldn’t be an issue.

Some older LSU fans might put Dietzel higher and they could have a point. Dietzel took over a program that had one winning conference season its last five. It took some time for Dietzel to get LSU rolling.

The Tigers didn’t surpass the .500 mark until 1958 under Dietzel, but when they did, they went 11-0 and won a national title. Dietzel and LSU finished first in the AP poll following a Sugar Bowl win over Clemson.

Dietzel followed up the title with another top-three finish the next year. In 1961, his final year at LSU, he won 10 more games and finished fourth in the poll.

Dietzel left LSU for the Army job but later returned as the athletic director.

Only a few coaches on this last had tough rebuilding jobs and Dietzel was one of them. He didn’t have a long run of success like McClendon or Les Miles did, but he took LSU from a mediocre program to a national title winner.

Les Miles

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I gave strong consideration to Miles at No. 1.

He had seven 10-win seasons at LSU. No other coach had more than two. His three top-five finishes are tied with Paul Dietzel and on top of that, he won a national title.

Miles walked into a comfortable situation. Nick Saban left him a program that was in good shape and the quarterbacks on LSU’s roster Miles’ first year were JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn.

Pair that with an exploding Louisiana recruiting base, and you’re going to have success. Miles is this high because of his sustained success. Among coaches with 30 games, his .770 winning percentage is the best in program history.

He appeared in 12 bowl games and won eight of them and his program produced several stars, becoming a talent bed for the NFL. Like McClendon, Miles struggled against Alabama. LSU began to decline in his later years as Miles remained stubborn and refused to adapt on offense.

But even the bad years weren’t terrible. In his 10 full seasons, Miles never won less than eight games. However, by 2016, it was obvious change was needed.

Nick Saban

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Yes, I get it. He’s the head coach of Alabama. He left LSU for the NFL just to end up at a division rival a few years down the road.

But Saban is the best coach the sport has ever seen and he coached at LSU, so it’s hard to put him anywhere else than one.

LSU had back-to-back losing records when Saban took over. Miles and Orgeron, the other modern-day championship coaches, walked into better situations.

Saban had a real rebuild on his hands. LSU finished ranked in Year 1 and by Year 2, Saban won the Sugar Bowl.

In 2003, LSU won its first national title since 1958 and first of the BCS era. Saban showed what a modern LSU can do. Every coach that followed Saban at LSU has been held to his standard.

That’s really what separates him from the rest of this list. Everyone is compared to him, not the other way around.

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Story originally appeared on LSU Tigers Wire